CFLs, LEDs and Edison sockets
 

Does anyone think it a bit strange that we're attaching modern lighting tech to a 130-year old socket design? Or that we're using LED "light bulbs" rather than fixtures of an entirely different shape than that of a glass sphere designed to hold a vacuum.

Not unlike why cameras of today continue a shape that is anachronistically tied to film that is no longer used by most photographers.

That's less strange, since you still need a lense, a flat surface behind it to house the digitizer, and a handle on the side to hold the thing and keep it steady.

It all has to do with infrastructure. The day will come when you will be buying adapters to screw into the existing sockets so you can install the new style bulbs, and as the old sockets wear out they will be replaced with the new type.

I redid the outlets in one of my houses and the new ones looked quite different from the ones that were installed in 1922.

Really? Explain all that to the iPhone.

Cell phone cameras don't compare to SLRs or good handheld digital cameras -- it's not only about resolution in megapixels. Capture/shutter speed, lense design, optical zoom ability, xenon vs LED flash, etc.

My camera guy loves the bigger lens of a real camera. He says they suck up more light which I think is camera talk for they take better pictures.

Look into a room through a keyhole vs opening the door.

With a digital camera you could put the lens and photomultiplier in one hand and the memory chip somewhere else. The viewfinder needn't be attached to the body of a device. It could be worn over the eye.

It's inertia, not necessity, that drives camera design.

You could, but unless the three are wired together, you'd need three sets of batteries. The memory card also isn't very large.

A lot of cameras don't come with viewfinders anymore, but with a screen on back. This being said, optical viewfinders as found on some SLRs are actually a good thing. Illuminating an LCD eats power. An optical viewfinder allows the camera to use next to zero power unless actually taking a photo.

Personally, I'm surprised that no one makes a large lens with a pistol grip and a small box or cylinder for the image capture electronics, batteries, and memory card behind it, with a prismatic viewfinder on top. But perhaps that would be too easily mistaken for a hand cannon, leading to lawsuits...

If you look at a lot of camcorders, even the digital ones, they still look like the ones that need a space for a tape.

The newest thing is a video camera that looks like a SLR but records like a camcorder. We have not used them but our camera guy is giving them a hard look.

Form follows function.

A very good example for those of us that are on the dimmer end of the technical spectrum.

The socket works. And theres a ton of em out there. They'd be silly not to make lamps for it.

They are making some radical designs, or should I say different in lighting. We had a rep bring in an LED highbay fixture that was just a flat plate. It had LED's all over and it was really freaking cool. I have yet to sell one yet though as they are expensive and getting people to spend more money is tough when I can get an equally as good LED fixture that looks like a traditional fixture for much less.

There is the issue of codes and standards that apply to the life safety systems of residential and commercial structures to deal with.

Common misconception---The photograph exists in the mind of the photographer before its in ANY camera. Its the photographer that makes the picture.

Large lenses gather more light, and permit getting an image in lower light situations.