Purrrrrrrfect, Mark. Don't forget the blinking lights. And remember, I've got your back, so forge ahead without fear.
PS: Thanks for sharing that Polaroid camera photo. Until I Googled it, I had somehow missed that camera altogether. The swivel lens Nikon Coolpix 990 that I owned was a wannabe camera, for those too timid to wield the styling of the Polaroid. Had I only known.
Man, I had a PDC 2000 and a 3000. Those were some cameras back then, really. They even had a RAW feature built in to the software. At that time, the only major cameras that could compete were the Kodaks with Nikon lenses and the Minolta digital 35mm cameras.
The Minolta RD 175 was quite the camera in its day. It was the only game changer at the time. All these cameras were several thousands of dollars as well, but not the $10-15K of the Kodaks of the day. Either the Minolta or the Polaroid PDC's were the only other option, except maybe the 4x5 scan backs that were being developed.
The Minolta RD175 was also sold as the Agfa ActionCam and cost about $10,000.00 in 1995 - and had a whopping 1.75 mega-pixel resolution. I had one of those bad boys. The photo below is the snap I took when I sold it on Ebay. The crazy thing is that they are being sold as collectors items today:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=minolta%20rd%20175&clk_rvr_id=505231088558&adpos=1t1&crlp=10271137326_2416792&MT_ID=70&tt_encode=raw&keyword=minolta+rd+175&geo_id=10232&adgroup_id=3087780726&crdt=0The PDC 2000 and 3000 are still around on Ebay - you can pick them up for a song: http://www.ebay.com/itm/POLAROID-PDC-2000-40-VINTAGE-DIGITAL-CAMERA-CASE-MANUAL-SHIP-WORLDWIDE-/111130527718?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item19dfe547e6
"In 1996, Polaroid released the PDC-2000 and established a new image-quality benchmark, at a retail price ($2,495) that fell squarely between digital point & shoots and the much more expensive high-end portable digital cameras...."
At the time (1995-1996) these cameras were no joke. I got a Nikon Coolpix 990 next and thought I was sitting in high cotton! Man that swivel lens was the cat's pajamas wasn't it? The good thing about the Polaroid and the Minolta Digital cameras was that they got me into Photoshop relatively early on in the game with release 4.0 (Big Electric Cat), then Adobe 5.0 and so forth.
I quickly graduated to a DSLR and spent more and more money staying on the bleeding edge, even had a Phase One 4x5 Back at one point - what a pain. I have pretty much quit at the Nikon D3s with a closet full of really good glass now, and find it serves most of my needs, except when I have to do something more major. It's amazing what can be squeezed out of the current DSLR's right now - just amazing, considering using a printer like the Z3200ps. When I think of how we struggled to get really clean really super prints and mostly thought a Cibachrome was the cat's ass, I can't believe pulling all those 8x10 chromes and 4x5, etc, for so many years. But surprise, surprise, they still hold up, even today.
Now as for printers, that's a whole nother story, LOL.
Have to say I'm really very happy with the Z3200ps. It is a marvel, just an awesome machine. As far as the redesign, some of the things I mention in the list could be important improvements, but obviously, anything of the scale I'm talking about, no one could afford. But wouldn't it be fun to take that baby out for a spin?
Are there NO OTHER
gadgeteers on LL? Come on gear-heads, chip in with your ideas!!! I can't build this by myself....