Older version is preferred

[FrankS]

Weird that I and some others as well, prefer earlier versions of things, over the newer updated improved versions. It could be human nature to think back on and idolize the good old days.

For me this applies to film/digital photography, film stock, cameras, music, motorcycles, stereo systems, cars. All of them from the era of my adolescenthood (and earlier).

 

[zvos1]

In this day and age when maximum profit is the main and sole driver behind the new products "new improved and updated versions" are not necessarily better. New products are not made to last any more, they are made to break down within a few years so you can go and buy "new and improved versions". It is one big rat race.....

 

[jmcd]

It takes a lifetime to fully savor a set of fine tools.

 

[John Bragg]

It seems true in that some products are the pinnacle of their design and that further "improvement" is futile. Cameras are a good example of this as the modern versions are usually less bomb proof than earlier designs. I love my Nikon Fm 2n for this reason. I have just bought an F90x which uses different materials but still feels very solid and workman like compared to say a dslr.

 

[dave lackey]

Frank, I have thought a lot about this.

It seems that there is a difference between just "old" and classic. I don't idolize the past at all. But I do take comfort in good and beautiful things such as classic cars, classic cameras, classic music including classic rock, and many things that some younger folks think are just "old". Old things I don't care about are in landfills or rotting in a field somewhere having been discarded long ago.

But there is a psychological/emotional attachment to many things and I savor those. Without some foundation, we humans are pitiful beings. Memories are part of it. Owning something now because you could not afford it in the 60s is also a part of it because we can now buy cameras we once lusted for...even the best classic cars can be bought for the price of a new Toyota.

There is a lot to this question about love of old things. It is a healthy condition and touches even to the preservation of families and relationships.

Roger mentioned "neophilia" which is quite the opposite and unhealthy. There is always a balance in life that we all strike with the fulcrum at various locations for each of us and it shifts over time. Me thinks my fulcrum shifted most recently as I resent the consumerism and materialism so rampant these days. But that is another discussion for another day.😛

These days I like old people because I know what they must have been through and we will not be able to have them around much longer. I think of them as classic, too.:angel:

 

[Mackinaw]

Definitely for cars. If you're a car collector, you always collect the cars of your youth. Take a look at all the baby boomers driving around in 1965 Mustangs and 1964 GTOs'.

Jim B.

 

[Bill58]

Me too. I'd add to that mechanical watches-manual and auto. For some reason I enjoy the tactile feeling of winding cameras and watches much more than the digital versions of both.

 

[nikon_sam]

Definitely for cars. If you're a car collector, you always collect the cars of your youth. Take a look at all the baby boomers driving around in 1965 Mustangs and 1964 GTOs'.

Jim B.

I had that thought this morning about cars...you might remember the kind where you could tell the year of it coming and going either by the bumper/grill or headlights/tail lights...before they got rid of the chrome and replace it with plastic and the design changed every year...
The kind you could work on without all the fancy electronics...roll up windows, engines you could actually see...
I still have the car of my youth...my 1969 VW Beetle...

 

[*chris]

haha im probably one of the few younger people who will say i wish i would've grown up in the or 60's... my first car was a 66 chevelle but i had to part with it unfortunately. a 57 bel air or 68 camaro will be the car of my dreams though. for some reason i love 50's music and just find the thought of growing up playing ball in the street with all the neighborhood kids is awesome. now it's just school and work work work ... but hell i guess i just have to work hard now so i can enjoy these things when im older

 

[back alley]

i am old but i can appreciate the here and now in most things...

 

[btgc]

I agree, but also disagree. Say, newer Rikenon P 50/1.4 shines over older Rikenon XR 50/1.5 - so it depends.

 

[pakeha]

With some `things` yes. I think the terminology often used to describe gives a hint. For instance I refer to `old` stuff i like as being - made, i.e my autocord was made in 1963.It takes pictures quite well therefore it is usefull and worth looking after.
New stuff is -produced, i.e. my smart phone is produced and for all the stuff it can do, 95% of its use is as a telephone.All the `other` stuff the phone does has no real long term value, so it becomes a throw away item, lose it tomorrow? who cares.
I can appreciate the look and history of certain old cars but I am glad other people own them.Give me late model reliability,safety,economy and comfort.
The marketing folks know all this and that is why there are soooo many retro toasters on the market. Come to think of it there are a lot of micro 4/3 that the toaster designer/marketers have also worked on.

 

[splitimageview]

Does this apply to older threads, too? 🙂

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127590

 

[Richard G]

Not me.
My dad's Mark II Jag was a dog in so many ways.
I hated LPs, wearing out just a little with every listening.
I love CDs & my late model Citroen.
Love the X100 and the M9.
In 25 years from IBM PC to a MacBook Pro:
Give me now or later any time.

 

[begona]

I prefer earlier version of Gallery on RFF 😀 😀

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I think its about yearning for something you can't afford then finding you can many years later on.

Regards, David

 

[Rick Waldroup]

It all depends.

Older cars are beautiful to look at, but for driving, not so much. Modern cars are more safe and handle better. Not all of them, but most of them.

I used to have a huge record collection. Not any more. I now have a huge CD collection, which now may be headed the way of the dinosaurs.

After wearing out numerous modern office chairs, at a garage sale one day, I found a beautiful wood office chair made in the late 1940's. Paid 15 bucks for it. It is not even close to being worn out and it is simply a beautiful piece of furniture.

Cameras? I don't own one single camera from my film days. I was never a collector of cameras to begin with, having believed they were simply tools, but give me a modern digital camera any day over the old cameras I used so many years ago.

Working in a wet darkroom? Forget about it. The day I saw what I could do with my images on a computer was the day I shut my darkroom down after more than 40 years of operating one.

What I am trying to say is that quality workmanship and products really never go out of style. But quality improvements and innovations are part of what eventually makes quality products. Progress is always a good thing.

 

[Sparrow]

Both, I think some new stuff work better sometimes and sometimes they don't ... it's hard to fault XP2 Super exposed through a Rigid Summicron.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Jack Dell of MPP on the transition from the Micro-Technical Mk. VII to the Mk. VIII: "Sometimes you have to bring out new features, because the market is asking for them, but they're not always improvements."

Second interpretation of 'older is better': "I've been doing this so long I know more about it than you Johnny-come-lately peasants."

Third interpretation: What ain't there, can't go wrong -- and if it's old and simple, I can fix it, or get it fixed, cheaply. No electronic diagnoses on my 1972 Land Rover Series III. As as another Land Rover user wrote, "With a Series, the other vehicle is your crumple zone."

Fourth interpretation: A lot of older stuff was better made and reparable. This costs money -- money that many people are not willing to pay when they can buy MUCH cheaper (but sometimes rubbishy) alternatives.

Finally, yes, progress is always a good thing -- when it's actual progress, rather than gimmickry peddled to the hard of thinking. Who else has read J.K. Galbraith's The Affluent Society?

Cheers,

R.

 

[jarski]

am interested old lenses for their look (some might say defects), secondly nice robust build and feel as well. camera bodies in this digital age, guess one just have to accept the plastics etc... unless Nikon makes FE3d some day 🙄