Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
Most of the old technologies were way more sophisticated than we give them credit for. My sister sent me an e-mail containing photographs that were taken over a century ago. The photographs were generally of city scenes and in black and white, but the clarity and detail was amazing, as good as, or better than digital photography. The same with vinyl records. A good LP will contain more audio "information" than any digital audio. It always galls me a little when people speak disdainfully of "obsolete" technologies. They are the foundation our modern technologies were built on and there is often much to learn from them.
I read someplace that film resolves to around 35MP. My D800 is 36MP, so only recently are we starting to have the ability to out-resolve film. And the tech can still have dynamic issues sometimes (granted, film can be grainy too). I'm not sure I buy the LP part, if something is recorded with a wide range microphone, into a lossless format, I'm not seeing how the media would be the limiter here.
But your point overall is a good one.... A lot of old technology was quite innovative, and the phenomena harnessed from it gave those people insight into the physical world which is the bedrock for what we know and how we analyze complex phenomena today.
