[LRflex] Flying Lessons... (a wee bit OT)

Robert O. SHAW wrote:

>David:
>
>
>Impressive research and amazing craftsmanship, given the century.
>
>But David, this has got to stop; you have GOT to get out more...
>
>Cheers,
>
>Bob
>  
>
Good Mornin' Bob!

Truth be told, I've been out a lot recently.  Just returned from a two 
week stint baby-sitting the Grandkids.  

Along the 7 hour drive (each way) Rose and I saw a pair of Juvenile 
Golden Eagles sitting in a tree... where they remained, in perfect 
light, for a full 10 minutes.  In Jasper Park, we saw a spectacular 
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in full curl.  He walked up to the road and 
waited, as you or I would at a crosswalk, for the traffic to stop and 
then slowly ambled across the road.  Further along, we saw several moose 
(including two "babies"), and two full flocks of RM Bighorns... not to 
mention both Blue and Canadian Jays, as well as some Holstien Pheasants 
(Magpies) all within easy photo range.  And all of these were, of 
course, in good light.

I had my R8, 20D and all my lenses with me... and yet I've not a single 
picture of any of them.

Why?  Because it's hard to lift a camera to your eye when your right arm 
is in a sling.  You see, nearly 3 weeks ago, I decided to step off my 
Quad (ATV).  Unfortunately, it was doing roughly 30 to 35km/hr at the 
time.  I took a hard landing, breaking my collar bone. Thankfully, Rose, 
who was with me at the time, was shaken up a bit, but otherwise fine. :-)

This post is not, however, a pitch for sympathy. I'm doing as well as 
can be expected and I'm told I'll be healthy and able to wield a camera 
in time for our planned trip to Costa Rica at Christmas.

It is, rather, a comment on the future of film.

I'd always held that the medical X-ray field would support the b&w film 
industry for some time, for a single X-ray has a surface area equal to 
many 36 exposure rolls.  And we all know that quantity is what keeps 
Kodak and Fuji going.  So I was intrigued (and somewhat saddened) to 
learn that my X-rays were digital.  More so, when I learned that our 
tiny hamlet of Logan Lake (pop. 2,500) will go digital in the next 12 
months... and that it will be one of the last in the province to do so.  
I'm told that the cost of conversion is more than offset within a single 
year, in film costs alone! 

Apparently, the new radiologists being graduated don't even know how to 
develop film!  My X-ray tech was complaining that she cannot get 
relief/back-up staff because they are still using film!

British Columbia is not normally at the forefront of  medical 
advancements... so if we are converting 100% to digital imaging within 
the next year, most others must be ahead of us, or at least not too far 
behind.  And that does not bode well for volume production in b&w film 
coatings. :-(

The digital revolution marches onwards.

Cheers!

-- 
David Young,
Logan Lake, BC    
CANADA. 

Personal Web-site at: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
Leica Reflex Forum web-page: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/lrflex.htm

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