Computerized Cameras

Nowadays most everyone uses a digital camera without film. Back in 1983 I became involved in the old fashioned sort of photography. My brother Neil sold me his Canon FTb-n camera and a couple of very nice lenses. This was a completely mechanical SLR camera, the only electronic part being the meter which was a real meter with a physical needle that swung back and forth in the viewfinder.

A couple of years later my brother sold me his Canon AL-1. This was a smaller camera based on their popular AE-1 model. It had a computer in it, and needed batteries just to fire the shutter. It also had an early autofocus system. It didn't actually turn the focus ring on the lens with a motor like modern cameras do. Instead the computer in the camera controlled a red LED in the viewfinder to tell you to turn the focus one way, another red LED to tell you to turn it the other way, and a green LED in the middle to say that focus is achieved.

This was a nice enough little SLR I suppose, but it wasn't as durable as the FTb-n. Also, the batteries didn't last very long.

My attitude at this time towards computers in cameras was "computers are wonderful computers, but computers are not wonderful cameras." I still feel this way about computers in automobiles, but digital cameras have finally come into their own. I still love film, but it's too expensive now.