[LesDMess]

OK. I'm a design engineer with no inside information, either, so that makes us about even, in that regard.

You design it to a standard and I test it to make sure it meets the standard. The problems that usually come up are usually based on interpretations of the standard . . .

[RobA_Oz]

Anyway, I assume here nobody is a fan of Colin Chapman, he was the guy who said "make it simpler".

I've always fancied a Lotus, but the explanation that it's an acronym based on "Loads of Trouble, Usually Serious" did make me wonder. I kid you. Anyway, I knew he said "Just add lightness" but simpler fits, as well, and simpler is something every good design engineer strives for, even if the end result sometimes doesn't appear that way.

---------- Post added 29th Apr 2015 at 08:40 AM ----------

You design it to a standard and I test it to make sure it meets the standard. The problems that usually come up are usually based on interpretations of the standard . . .

Tell me about it…

[tim60]

You design it to a standard and I test it to make sure it meets the standard. The problems that usually come up are usually based on interpretations of the standard . . .

That is a common problem.


But also, if the people who wrote the standard did not address some matter which is significant, or has changed over time.

[RobA_Oz]

That is a common problem.


But also, if the people who wrote the standard did not address some matter which is significant, or has changed over time.

Part of the standard (specification, really) is also provided by clients, many of whom are not "informed" (not a prejudicial word, but one commonly used to describe a client who has no expertise in the area) or by a project leader who may be from another discipline, for whom other requirements or views are dominating.

We have strayed a little off topic here. I say "we" because I'm complicit in it.

[UncleVanya]

Nikon F2a used cost me $500 in 1980, but that was a steal.

The cameras lasted a long long long time. Investing in one wasn't a whim.

[Not a Number]

There's a July 1977 price list (USD) attached to the end of this PDF:

http://www.cameramanuals.org/pentax_pdf/Asahi_Pentax_Lenses.pdf

[17dew]

I paid $200,mail order for my MX body in 1979.

[monochrome]

Here's a post from a prior thread.

My 1977 college graduation present - a black KX and K50/1.4 with an Everready case - cost $487.56 with tax, which amount was almost exactly 10% of the cost of my senior year of college at University of Virginia. $487.56 was also a little less than half the money I earned working 10 hours a week (38 weeks of college) @ $2.60 an hour my senior year.

So, a $5,000 college graduation present in 2015-equivalent terms using cost-of-college equivalence ($50,000 a year +/-)?

Simple CPI calculation makes the fast normal kit $1,909.50. College has gotten stupid expensive.

Here are scans of the price lists

[From1980]

There's a July 1977 price list (USD) attached to the end of this PDF:

http://www.cameramanuals.org/pentax_pdf/Asahi_Pentax_Lenses.pdf

Thanks for posting. I get a kick out of seeing these old pamphlets from the era I worked at a camera store but I never saw this particular one. It`s informative to see the price lists when the K series was still stocked for a while and the M series was new.

[Nesster]

I heard my name mentioned... Here's a whole lot of ads from the last 100 years or so...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/albums/72157621778835031

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/albums/72157626944848453
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/albums/72157627090216500

The last two are Sears catalogs from '58 and 61

[pathdoc]

My 1977 college graduation present - a black KX and K50/1.4 with an Everready case - cost $487.56 with tax

Put it in context for us younguns - what else cost in the neighbourhood of $500 back then?

[monochrome]

Put it in context for us younguns - what else cost in the neighbourhood of $500 back then?

A 1977 Volkswagen Beettle cost $2,999 List, if that helps. My food budget on the meal plan (14 meals a week) was $675 a semester.

[hollywoodfred]

Put it in context for us younguns - what else cost in the neighbourhood of $500 back then?

In 1977, the U.S Army paid a Private First Class (E-3 with three years service) $504.19 monthly. In January 2016, that monthly pay will be $2,082.00.

Fred

[ChrisPlatt]

Put it in context for us younguns - what else cost in the neighbourhood of $500 back then?

In the early 1980's tuition at my CUNY school was raised to $500 per semester.
Students chartered buses and traveled to Albany for protest demonstrations.

College has gotten stupid expensive.

Today my daughter attends a CUNY school. Tuition is $3500 per semester.

Chris

[Cuthbert]

In the early 1980's tuition at my CUNY school was raised to $500 per semester.
Students chartered buses and traveled to Albany for protest demonstrations.

Today my daughter attends a CUNY school. Tuition is $3500 per semester.

Chris

OT: I assume the target is to block any attempt of social rise from poor people, I am happy to be born in a country where the government paid me to get an higher education and they also paid for my studies abroad.