We live in an age where it seems mandatory for everything to have its own built in computer or at least one microchip or some other high tech gizmo.
From the motorcar with its mind boggling array of sensors and warning indicators, the Hi Fi with its multiplicity of buttons and functions and even the humble electric kettle, with temperature control and water filter systems we are inundated with mostly unnecessary technology. I read recently that someone has applied for a patent for an electric iron with a built in radio (why not a radio with a built in iron?)!!!!
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for anything that makes life easier, but sometimes I am convinced that manufacturers add these functions to things simply because they have the ability to do so, even if the consumer doesn't want or need them.
For some years now the camera manufacturers have been vying with each other to provide more and more 'bells and whistles' on their products. Some of functions can be useful, but others are really nothing more than gimmicks and are probably never used once the novelty of the new camera has worn off.
I tend to the view that low technology can sometimes be better than high technology, and that if something works well then leave it alone. The following story illustrates my point..........
A few years ago I went to the Mildenhall Airshow where I was hoping get some photographs of the flying display and the static aircraft.
At that time I had a Praktina IIA Reflex camera which I purchased in 1963. It's an excellent, but basic, mechanical camera with no meter and no lever-wind, but it has a 6-element f2 lens with its own peculiar bayonet fitting lens mount, and it is built like a brick outhouse. This camera has taken many hundreds of pictures over the years and had never failed.
I had walked from my car to the static display area, a distance of probably half a mile, when I saw a good subject. I set the exposure, framed the picture, set the focus and pressed the shutter release! Yes! you've guessed it! Nothing happened. The first thing I did was to check that I had fully wound on the camera. The Praktina has a wind on knob rather than lever wind and if you do not turn it fully the shutter is not set. Every thing seemed to be OK but on further investigation I found that the time delay lever had been moved from its normal position and was jammed, thus preventing the shutter from operating. As I could not free the timer I decided to return to the car and get my camcorder, to record the flying display.
Back at the car I decided to have a snack and out of curiosity I removed the camera lens to see if there was any way I could free the timer. This proved impossible, but I noticed that there was some residual movement of the mirror release lever (about 1mm) when the shutter button was pressed, (when the mirror is released it flips up and releases the shutter mechanism, this action is inhibited when the timer is set). I could also see a small adjusting screw on the mirror release lever. The trouble was, I did not have a small screwdriver in my toolbox, but I did find a pair of fine nosed pliers in the glove compartment. I was able to carefully undo the adjustment screw sufficiently to enable the mirror to release and operate the shutter.
So my day was not wasted and I did get my pictures. I doubt that I would have been able to fix a similar fault on my new all singing and dancing Minolta 600SI, which like most modern cameras, is completely useless with something as trivial as a flat battery.
A final point, when I returned home I dismantled the camera and found a single grain of sand in the gear train of the timer, probably from one of my photographic expeditions along the beach. The camera is now back in working order and it looks as though it will continue to take photographs for many more years.
Iphonyx.
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