For those who don't trust electronics...

[DanOnRoute66]

A couple of months ago I "downgraded" (as many associates contend) by getting rid of the latest Windows-based computer in favor of a Macintosh Power Mac G5 Quad that's several years old. I have used it many hours a day, seven days a week, without a single issue. Every Windows machine I've ever owned has required at least several re-starts a day.

 

[zuiko85]

One word; redundancy
That is how you build interplanetary spacecraft today. Reduce the number of single point failures to as few as possible.

 

[anerjee]

Will the 18 MP camera last another 10/15 years with regular $300 CLAs?

 

[rxmd]

Not to mention the "planned obsolescence" calculated into every electronic consumer product since the light bulb.

This used to happen to mechanical devices, too, until development stalled.

 

[FrozenInTime]

I'm sure Voyager is not RoHS compliant.

Lead free solder is designed in all consumer electronics these days despite problems such as high temperature delamination, brittle joints and tin whiskers. The military, aviation and medical industries are exempt - I wonder why 🙄

 

[batterytypehah!]

Roger -

Agree 100%. I still shoot a two megapixel Panasonic FZ1v2. Leica-desiged lens from 35mm out to 420, stabilized. F2.8 throughout the zoom range, no other camera matches this spec. More than enough resolution for the web and small prints. Bought it in '05, I think.

To your point?

It still does its job.

Dunno Nick, I think there are two ways to think about this. I tend to think what a waste it is that this lovely lens is forever aimed at a 2 MP chip rather than a piece of film you could scan with state-of-the-art equipment.

 

[rxmd]

Every Windows machine I've ever owned has required at least several re-starts a day.

Last time this happened to me several times a day was when I was trying to write a device driver.

by getting rid of the latest Windows-based computer in favor of a Macintosh Power Mac G5 Quad that's several years old. I have used it many hours a day, seven days a week, without a single issue

In other news, the high-end technology of the day before yesterday is sometimes better than the low end of yesterday.

The trade-off comes with things like software obsolescence and the power bill, as my hardware-collecting friends tend to find out rather quickly.

 

[batterytypehah!]

I'm sure Voyager is not RoHS compliant.

Lead free solder is designed in all consumer electronics these days despite problems such as high temperature delamination, brittle joints and tin whiskers. The military, aviation and medical industries are exempt - I wonder why 🙄

Excellent point, too.

At any rate, there's nothing wrong with electronics, but anything I buy today I buy with the expectation that it is inherently subject to unrepairable failure, even before it becomes technologically obsolete.

 

[rxmd]

I'm sure Voyager is not RoHS compliant.

Lead free solder is designed in all consumer electronics these days despite problems such as high temperature delamination, brittle joints and tin whiskers. The military, aviation and medical industries are exempt - I wonder why 🙄

The reasons why they were exempt were (a) to avoid having to get everything recertified all at once, and (b) because those devices tend to be in use for a long time and the medium-to-long-term behaviour of RoHS-compliant solder joints wasn't known and everybody was scared of the things you mentioned when it RoHS was drafted a decade ago.

The military was exempt because there is a lot of extremely old (i.e. 1950s-era) legacy stuff in use in the military and it would be unrealistic to change all that.

The medical industry will no longer be exempt as of 2013, instead manufacturers have to apply for 18-month exemptions themselves. This reflects the "solved problem" state of many of the issues of ten years ago.

 

[Livesteamer]

Wasn't Voyager nuclear powered? Maybe that would work for the M10.

Joe

 

[Rob-F]

Yup, my Marantz 7C preamp and 8b power amp are still working fine after 45+ years.

 

[FrankS]

Mere anecdotal evidence, Roger.

How many wheels still work properly? 😉

 

[Soeren]

Dear Roger
Interesting post remembering the times when you talked battery dependency, dead meters and nonworking AE cameras 🙂
Just yesterday we had the Digicam run out of batteries and I havn't come around to replace either of the two chargers that died during this month the last one less than a week ago.
Though I have accepted electronics and the need for sparebatteries for nearly all my cameras Im glad I still have a couple of the good old mechanical ones in my bags

Best regards

 

[kshapero]

A couple of months ago I "downgraded" (as many associates contend) by getting rid of the latest Windows-based computer in favor of a Macintosh Power Mac G5 Quad that's several years old. I have used it many hours a day, seven days a week, without a single issue. Every Windows machine I've ever owned has required at least several re-starts a day.

I gave up on Macs back in 96. I use a Windows 7 based PC everyday and it has never crashed once. AVG Internet Suite running in the background has helped. And my Nikon FE has never needed a repair. Lets see the last time I changed batteries? Maybe 5 years ago. OK but that paper plane I sent off to space back in 78 has never sent me any signals back.

 

[f6andBthere]

The life of electronics really depends on environment IMO. I lived in a small cottage next to a creek many moons ago ... there wasn't a lot of sun getting through the trees so it was dark, cool and often damp. Everything electronic seemed to have a limited life ... usually only a few years! Video player, TV, cordless phone ... nothing lasted!

 

[ray*j*gun]

How many of us have battery operated wrist watches sitting in the drawer when a wind up would be on our wrists. Its just that some things are better if the battery isn't the last line of operation.

 

[jsrockit]

Will the 18 MP camera last another 10/15 years with regular $300 CLAs?

Perhaps. A good photo is a good photo.

 

[sanmich]

I don't think comparing aerospace electronics to consumer grade ones are a fair game.
I am sure a NASA M9 would be very reliable.
and yet, the "regular" M9 still has (I bet) more reasons to stop functioning than a Nikon F.

 

[NLewis]

Lead-free solder is a concern for all electronics today. There's a reason why the lead was in there. A lot of the stuff made in the last five years or so might start to die after ten years due to disintegration of the solder joints. Of course the electronics makers are quite happy with that.

Also, there may be issues with the resistors, capacitors etc. which can die. One of the reason electronics are so cheap today is that the parts are cheap. This is probably more of an issue with your $35 DVD player than a D700, but a lot of electronics today are not built to last.

 

[sevo]

One real difference is that somebody with the right skills and a few thousands worth of tools can rebuild just about every part of a mechanical camera - given a vise, a small lathe, a drill press, polishing machine and a set of screwdrivers, files, saws and pliers, and arbitrary amounts of time, I could rebuild a Leica M3 from scratch (i.e. bare blocks of metal and glass). It might cost me fifty times as much as buying one used, but it is essentially possible.

Electronic devices on the other hand tend to be irreproducible (and unrepairable) the very moment the last components have vanished from the surplus market, as it is plain impossible to re-build a IC or sensor chip at artisan level. As the whole tool chain has moved on, not even a industrial scale recreation of a past IC is possible without turning back time on a bigger scale, as the tool industry would have to get back to building lower resolution steppers, now prohibited chemicals would have to be legalized and reintroduced etc. etc.