photographing olf computers/parts

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_at_infinet.com>
Date: Fri Jan 29 10:28:39 1999

 
> I have variable (mostly good) luck with ASA 400 Kodak (Fuji too
> green) in a Minolta X700 in manual mode, with a 28 - 210 variable
> lens.

Good advice. I love Fuji for outdoor shots in Greece, but it is very
responsive to greens and blues. Kodachrome is muchmore sensitive to
yellows and reds
 
> as Sam suggested... a colored towell or sheet, contrasting the device, does
> fine. Towels are nice because of the texture.

Nice suggestion.
 
> I have them developed commercially and scan the prints, then
> I can massage them as necessary.

I prefer slides to prints, but slide work is less forgiving.
 
> I am circling around buying a digital still camera... but none of
> them under USD$3000 really crank my tractor yet. If I had to buy
> tomorrow, for me it would be the Kodak DC260. YMMV.

Over the years, I have used the Apple QuickTake 150, Kodak DC-40, DC-50,
and DC-120. My current favorite is the DC-260, too. I may buy one
this year. One nice feature of the DC-120 and DC-260 is "no compression"
mode. You only get a few pictures in the camera, but they only have to
go through lossy compression once, at the conversion-to-JPG stage.

> This is, to me, a very on-topic topic. There are many systems now,
> I am sure, whose legacy is reduced to photos and descriptions.

I have some photos of the machine room where I used to work in 1984. I
wish I had taken more vintage shots than I did. At least I now own most
of the equipment in the pictures!

As a trained historian and archaeologist, the value of a picture taken
at the time artifacts are in use is inestimable, especially for objects
in situ. So take pictures anyway you can, but if there is any way to
take pictures _before_ a rescue, those are really valuable.

Got to fly,

-ethan
Received on Fri Jan 29 1999 - 10:28:39 GMT