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October 18, 1965 Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Electronics,
published 1930 - 1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Are you old enough to remember
when in order to make a measurement on a circuit board it was necessary to physically
connect an oscilloscope probe to a trace or component lead? "Wait," you say, "What
are you talking about? You still do have to physically connect a probe." Right you
are, but 50 years from now your progeny will be asking that question, just as today
I ask you do you remember when in order to get a "screen shot" of an o-scope or
spectrum analyzer display it was necessary to connect a camera to the front of the
CRT? Some instruments had an output port for driving a pen plotter, but getting
a plotter set up and calibrated was often more work and frustration than hanging
a camera on the front. Most of the cameras used
Polaroid film
packs to enable "instant" pictures. Getting a good image usually took a couple tries.
Scope cameras were still in common use when I entered the electronics world in the
1970s. It really wasn't until the later 1980s or early 1990s that printers could
be hooked up to newer test instruments with a GPIB or parallel output port.
Fairchild Instrumentation Ad
 The highest precision and clarity in oscilloscope
photography are insured by a long list of Fairchild design features. Pinpoint focusing
at any object-to-image ratio within lens range is one. Heavy duty synchro shutters
with jam-proof activation are others. With Polaroid Land Back, 6 x 10 cm field can
be recorded 0.9 actual size. Option of f/1.9 or f/2.8 lens. Prices start at $350.
For specifications or a demonstration, contact your local Fairchild Field Engineer,
or write to Fairchild Instrumentation, 750 Bloomfield Avenue, Clifton, N. J.
Fairchild Instrumentation
A Division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation
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