The march of silicon

Well this is it. No I'm not going to quit blogging but I am going to retire an old workhorse and friend. In 1966 I purchased a technological and artistic marvel made of bamboo, a Post slide rule. I paid close to $200 for it which in 2005 dollars would get you a good laptop PC today. By the early to mid 70's silicon had sent that bamboo wonder to my curio shelf. Well another old friend, my 30+ year old 35mm SLR, heads to that same shelf today, another victim of silicon. I have spent enough to keep my old friend working to buy several new cameras over the last 30 years and it still works just fine thank you. While I traded my darkroom for a PC and PhotoShop several years ago I have continued to use my 35mm for most of my work, taking slides and then scanning them. Until recently that has been working fine but now it is becoming increasingly difficult to get the slides processed in a timely manner. So today I pick up my new digital SLR system or DSLR, as they are known. This will be even more difficult for me than most. Over the years I have rejected "AUTO" as in auto focus and auto exposure. My old SLR came with a book that was about 8 pages long and most of that was pictures. The new DSLR comes with a book with over 100 pages. And it has "menus". Whoever dreamed it would come this. I will put my old friend on the shelf next to the other "antique cameras" and my prized slide rule. I will gaze at it often and remember the "good old days".