So today I was visiting my forums and the following question was asked...

"What is an 'enlarger lens'? I have been trawling evilbay aimlessly for some time looking for a bargain. I have come across several nikkor lens listings labelled as 'enlarger lens'. The one I just saw was 50mm F4. Are they just normal cameral lens? (I have some rather thick pieces of glass for an Otocon Durst (film) enlarger. Is this lens for that sort of thing?"

The answer as posted:

"They are indeed the latter - designed for use in optical printing. You can tell the Nikon ones because they're branded "EL-Nikkor". Other brands made them as well. They're not really suited to use as camera lenses because they don't focus properly at distances that are useful in general photography (unless you want to rig a bellows contraption). "

However this discussion got me thinking, way back when I was a munchkin, I started off with a Kodak 126 Cartridge Film Camera, as I watched my dad use his whole assortment of Nikon cameras. As I got older I guess he finally trusted me and let me use his Nikon Film Cameras. Taking pictures on those cameras were incredible. In high school, I had a friend that had his own dark room and we would always go out shooting and then go and develop all the rolls of film we had shot. Then as I entered college, chose my major, I still found time to take Photography and Photojournalism classes where we were given assignments, and then had to develop and print the photographs for a weekly critique session both from the professor and our fellow classmates.

Well my point being the days of the dark room, film is fading fast. I still love taking that occasional film photograph (I still am considering building a darkroom in my basement), but with the age of the digital camera, Photoshop and other post processing software, the term "burn and dodge" has lost a lot of its luster. Not saying any of that is bad, but just sort of reminiscing about the way I grew up in the world of photography and where it has come today. I am sure kids of today, will all have their digital media cards, instead of film, use Photoshop to edit their photographs and zip them off via the Internet to their favorite printer to get their prints in under an hour.

So therefore today's word of the day: Technology: The branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.