[pcf]

An acient Garrard 401 and lots of records that are over 30 or 40 years old;
A laserdisc player and a few hundred laserdiscs (tragic);
A few analog SLR cameras;
A Nakamichi tape deck;
Pencils.

Soon we can put cds and dvds on the list.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Very interesting reading! I have to admit that I backed down on photography not too long ago. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on a medium format Hasselblad, but picked up a Nikon D70s instead. The film cameras have gathered dust since and I've put at least 10k exposures onto the Nikon. It's not quite the same and I miss the B&W film. Then again, I'll probably pick up a medium format camera sooner or later. I would lve to work in platinum.

 

[pcf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Very interesting reading! I have to admit that I backed down on photography not too long ago. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on a medium format Hasselblad, but picked up a Nikon D70s instead. The film cameras have gathered dust since and I've put at least 10k exposures onto the Nikon. It's not quite the same and I miss the B&W film. Then again, I'll probably pick up a medium format camera sooner or later. I would lve to work in platinum.

I would say forget about it!

I only shoot on film for nostalgic reasons. For a start, I don't have a darkroom and my knowledge of colour film processing is poor. With digital photography you can just use Photoshop and lightroom. I was working for VTech as a graphic designer and illustrator years ago. I had to take 4x5 product shots myself and wish the subject was a super model. Unfortunately they were toys and early video primitive handheld video games.

 

[I Zingari]

The problem with wet photography is it's so expensive compared to digital. My old SLR is just collecting dust now for that reason so I reckon it's obsolete now.

I'm surprised no-one has come up with an example like mine:

I have two mobile phones. They make phone calls, send and receive texts and have a few other minor functions.

They don't have cameras, video, mp3 players, serious games, e-mail, personal navigation, apps etc etc.

I'm almost ashamed to use them in public

 

[pcf]

Forgot to add-

SACD and DVD audio.

If this thread goes on for long enough, I will keep adding when things become obsolete. AppleTV is next.

 

[Genelex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcf Soon we can put cds and dvds on the list.

2nd that dude!

 

[tapehiss]

I freshly grind my coffee each morning, and use either a french press or hand pump espresso machine. If tea is preferred, I boil some water in a tea kettle, and pour it over loose leaves in a tea pot, while minding a sand-timer for optimal steeping time. I cook my breakfast in a cast iron pan, using a mortar and pestle for spices, and wash my dishes by hand. Then I put on my wind-up wristwatch, and head to work in my stick shift. When I get home, I listen to either records on one of my two turntables, or cassettes on my 70's tape deck, each amplified through a series of tubes. Then I'll play some acoustic guitar for a bit, and call it a night.

And for a living I'm a computer programmer at a cutting edge software company. Gotta stay balanced!

 

[FrozenGecko]

Lol, My brother bought a ub3r laser disc player a couple years ago. The discs are humongous xD

 

[craiglester]

If you're still using it, it's not obsolete.. archaic maybe, but not obsolete.

I prefer candles to table lamps, and use a tube amp Oh and use a pencil at work, not pens.. a good hard 2H pencil will last me weeks.. but aside from that, I'm pretty up to date. I have a couple of older watches but I dont wear one anymore, they seem so unnecessary these days.

 

[catachresis]

I swear, I think that we can see the future trend from the increasing ability of new-model digital SLRs to couple with old, "classic" lenses: as a lot of digital photographers are seeing, the old lenses tend to be better quality than all but the very most expensive new DSLR lenses.

It might take another twenty years, but the camera companies will finally release 'Digitial Film Packs' for all the principal formats of old-time liquid processing photography, including 35mm and medium format. The digital film packs will be tiny photo-computers with light-sensitive screens about the size of a single frame of exposed film. With the way that SS storage is evolving, each digital film would have about 1-10 gigs storage capacity. You'd pop it in your antique manual camera, crank 'n clack, and then do something funny to the film-return when your shot-count hits a 36 frame limit--then you'd crank and clack some more. When you were done, you'd push something to get the blind cover to close on your exposed light screen, take your 'roll' out, and pop it into a digital reader, that will by then probably have twice the pixel count of the best old processing film. I'll bet that it will be an expensive niche market for people who still consider manual photography an art (a lot of serious photographers with old cameras). The serious photographers I know are spending big bucks on negative scanners and multi-thousand dollar ink-jet printers for black and white photos. And some people (like me) are still buying old manual cameras. The day will come when all those shutterbugs who bought the classic Nikon SLR rigs and then sold the bodies for a song will be punching themselves.

 

[pcf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tapehiss /img/forum/go_quote.gif I freshly grind my coffee each morning, and use either a french press or hand pump espresso machine. If tea is preferred, I boil some water in a tea kettle, and pour it over loose leaves in a tea pot, while minding a sand-timer for optimal steeping time. I cook my breakfast in a cast iron pan, using a mortar and pestle for spices, and wash my dishes by hand. Then I put on my wind-up wristwatch, and head to work in my stick shift. When I get home, I listen to either records on one of my two turntables, or cassettes on my 70's tape deck, each amplified through a series of tubes. Then I'll play some acoustic guitar for a bit, and call it a night. And for a living I'm a computer programmer at a cutting edge software company. Gotta stay balanced!

That is amazing! You for sure have a very balanced life style.
Don't think anyone can top that. But I'll try-
I got job offers from two of the major film studios as computer animation superivisor and directing animator BEFORE I went anywhere near a computer for the first time in my life. I eventually took one of the jobs on. My training time was four weeks before they threw me into a real producion. First week's training included learning how to send an email.

 

[marvin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is it just an affectation to insist on having a clutch or a pen you can refill from a bottle? Or are these things still practical and sensible given the alternatives?

Mostly the latter. The majority of the examples in the thread are more personal preferences that have fallen out of favor, less obsolete technologies. Almost all of them provide some advantage, usually in the form of higher quality or performance, at the cost of convenience vis-a-vis the conventional choice. Merely being old or unpopular isn't enough to confer obsolescent status.

Course, it's also possible for an item to be obsolete for some purpose but not for others. Lever actions and revolvers are obsolete for warfare, but are solid choices for civilian use firearms. Mechanical watches are obsolete for keeping time, but remain adequate for telling time and still make for excellent male jewelry.

There are still some truly obsolete technologies represented in this thread though. (ex. LaserDisc, LORAN, fountain pens, straight razors, cassette tapes, sand timer)

 

[malldian]

Living happily within my means (a twenty year old college student) I have tried to find a balance between old (i assume that's what you are looking for when you say obsolete) and new. I grind my coffee into a press in the morning but use a hot water heater. I have an old alarm clock on my desk but wake up to my cell phone. My headphones use an "obsolete" technology, I have old speakers (huge Akai floor standers) which barley fit in my double, a beast of an Adcom amp, and will occasionally fire up a "black disk" now and then but my turntable plugs into the Central Station along with my over-abused custom desktop with a oversized monitor.

Same with clothing, watches (I have been watching eBay for a used simple looking yet classy watch for a while now), and most other things I do. While I love technology and have a damn good grasp on it (who is 20 in the US and doesn't) I also love the old sturdy things. Maybe it is dealing with the modern junk that broke all the time that made me try to find a balance... or the cost... or the performance... you get my drift

 

[kb1gra]

I have to say while none of what I have is "obsolete," that's only because I live with an electrical engineer who can't resist fiddling with everything, so all those 1980s stereo components are wired into a computer controlled cabinet.

Nothing in there is newer than about early 90s, much of it dates to the 70s, but that crappy little eMachines tower runs it like a champ.

I do still shoot film photography with a 1960s Canon TX camera. Newest film camera dates to 1982. I also have a beautiful vintage Rolleiflex. To be frank, modern film SLRs at the price points these sold for back in the day suck royally in comparison. Never mind the cost of medium format these days.

 

[Aslan123]

In my case...

Badger Hair Brush for shaving.
1930's issue Omega Pocket Watch that I find keeps better time than my 10 year old St. Moritz automatic wristwatch.
I prefer using a Contax Film SLR camera as well, but I can't really say that I like using film.