DISCUSS - If we were transported back in time.

[Steve Russell]

Personally I think I would miss the chimping most!

[Fred Lum]

yeah, hate to admit it but that little glass rectangle is sooo useful

[Moe Doiron]

At my age ... autofocus.

[Phill Snel]

Maybe none will admit it, but being limited to 36 frames was a challenge. Anyone remember having to keep to two rolls of film for a period of playoff hockey? You HAD to...with four photographers that meant the maximum for the eight-reel tank. If the action was heavy, and you were at frame 30+, you had to make some very tough shooting decisions...a new roll or not? Either way, you might miss something because of not enough frames, or caught in the middle of loading.

How would the photographers of today, who have only known digital, react if you gave them a 256MB card? They'd claim that it's much too small, and not enough frames!

[Ken Gigliotti]

Brass  ,heavy glass , hard fast ,precise movement , no play or plastic ,when it was in two hands it had an action like nothing you could ever imagine.  The price was always dear but attainable .Always worth it.  A name that mattered .Nikon F2 backed up by personally by Larry Frank . No better combination or warranty , before or since.

[Robin Rowland]

Of course if you went back further in time, you would be transporting your 8 x 10 view camera on a mule, coating glass plates and developing next to  mountain stream.

[Ken Gigliotti]

Transported back in time , more than a decade?  It may seem  kind of funny , but the feel of the camera meant something . The camera actually had to be operated , there was so much room for error . Focus , exposure , flash sync , right up to loading film onto a reel and developing the neg. More of a trade than a pass time.  Not everyone could be a professional photographer , 8x10 or a manual 35mm camera. The camera was an precision instrument , and a system . A  Rolex just told time . Under pressure it needed more than a fast finger. The biggest adjustment to an electronic / auto focus camera is   the photographer had to fallow the camera and not have the camera fallow your direction . With autofocus  you find yourself  framing action to keep the  focus box on the subject . It is the difference  between flying  a P-51  or  having the CF-18 fly you .
I used to sell cameras at a Nikon dealership , the owner would say , if you put a Nikon camera in a persons hand , and if they could afford it , the camera would sell itself . It was very true, you don't really get that with  the modern camera. There is nothing like the feel of a NIKON F-1 or F-2 , put a soft  release on the trigger , and double  stroke , advance  and shoot ... the feeling of the camera , there was nothing like it . The modern loose , plastic digital camera is better in every way except the feel and the value . The  old Nikons were bought at a premium price , used hard for 5 years and resold for nearly the same price it was purchased for. Hum.

[David Chidley]

I would miss the seemingly unlimited exposures.  I hated having to possibly miss shots because I had to conserve film.  We had no make enough split second decisions, but that one of NOT pushing the button was a killer to make. 

Sick as it might sound I wish we could go back to having to shoot slide film!  Yes for those of us who had to have two cameras one with Black and White and one with slide film in it was a technical challenge.  But that challenge of having to shoot slide film in news/sports situations and having to get it "right" in exposure, not "close" but right on the money with NO post processing/fixing, made us better.  Better shooters, better than the majority of all the amateur photographers out there. A good manual focus hand-eye coordination and GOOD technical skills made us irreplaceable. Now anyone can put the camera on auto everything and shoot enough frames to make a movie, and somewhere in there find some frame that is "good enough" in the eyes of some editor. 

"Good enough" the new mantra for the media

Our crap just have them shoot it on their I phones.  OK now you got me depressed.

Well I do miss sides, and the fact you shot them, they were processed, and that was it.  You got it or you don't.  No Photoshop Fix to save your butt.

[Kenneth Armstrong]

Losing the ability to change White Balance on the fly would be high on my list as well, forget to put on or take off an FLD filter and your shots end up looking like Instagram photos.... Who would have known that effect would end up being worth a billion dollars someday?

[Andrew Vaughan]

If I was transported back in time I would get my M2 and my wonderful M4 Midland back.

 

[Ken Gigliotti]

 The original poll question  points to  attributes of a camera that is technically perfect , like a Japanese motorcycle .Interestingly they also are the things that reduce job stress for working press photographer . Every photographer needs to get THAT photo in focus whether they are 25 or 55 years old. . That 1/1000 of a second image in the entire 60 minutes of a football/hockey  game that captures the section front  matters. There is THAT picture and none other.
 The news photographer wants that same certainty  at 1/60th of a second at f2.8 . A fast camera and unlimited frame capacity, the ability to identify the scene ,to make sure that picture is exposed properly are all essential parts of the thing . The shooter may also have other jobs to rush to ,other masters to serve.  Being able to know that assignment has been captured ,tagged and ready to be delivered is also part of the job . This is the fastest connection between the mind ,the  eye and the image.The DSLR is the ultimate camera , but like modern cars and bikes they are not memorable like the muscle car or the Harley .They blend and blur as new models come out . The consumer camera during the age of the 35mm SLR was durable ,complex in nature but the needle matching exposure was designed for fast hands and minds .Imperfection breeds care.The  supporting lens for consumer  cameras were essentially the same in construction as the pro lens . They were built to last and endure, be resold and last some more . Buying used was a pretty safe bet. The love of photography was tied to the elegance and feel of the camera itself. The cameras was heavy but small , it could be cradled , an interesting feel when associated with capturing moments.   The movement  of dials and rings , film transport , the sound of commitment .The sound of commitment was wrapped in many layers.
 The idea of disposable , the feel of  loose plastic would not have been a selling point. Iconic plastic has not yet been invented.  Plastic cannot be loved.
  Rapid change ,That is a new thing. That thinking haunts our business. Even though our product is disposable , we think of our work as , a for the record  thing , an enduring thing . The online makes no real sense to us as a core value .