20 Years in The Nikon Forum

I joined photo.net on April 17, 1997. At that time, I had a different email and account, presumably, I would be dan_brown|1 in today's parlance. Anyway, Philip Greenspun was posting regularly back in the day, and the place was extremely cool.

 

Cheers to all, and I hope to be here for another 20 years :^)

As of August I will have been around for 20 years as well. Don't know what's wrong with my original account; I can log in but can't post anything. I get an error message saying "Please enter a valid name".

 

I shouldn't turn this into any kind of gripe session, but I miss the old look as well as the type of discussions when film was king. I enjoyed trying different types of film over different post-processing software tools.

I can't remember when I first stumbled across Photo Net and joined, but 1997 sounds about right.

 

I too originally joined and posted under a different name; my real name - "You mean Rodeo Joe's not your real name!?" - I can hear you cry in astonishment. However, some responders back then got quite personal and insulting when I challenged their opinion, and I found some of the comments a bit hurtful. My current avatar of Rodeo Joe has a much thicker skin!

 

I don't mind the new format now that most of the bugs have been ironed out. Still can't find the "Insert Quote" button though.

 

I certainly don't miss film. 40 years using the gritty muck and printing in a stifling darkroom was enough for me.

 

Anyway. Here's to Photo Net, and indeed photography, surviving the onslaught of cellphone cameras and the selfie, and carrying on for a good long time!

Edited April 22, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1

I first started shooting Nikon in June of 1997,but didn't find photo.net until a bit later. Signed up with a different email (which I still use, just not here) and my own name. I miss the old format and the old discussions, although not the acrimony. I could never use a darkroom--some early childhood exposure to noxious chemicals makes me feel like I can't breathe even in a well-ventilated one. Severely limited my enjoyment of negative film. I have fond memories of Kodachrome--its look and the demands it made--but don't miss it.

 

Still can't find the "Insert Quote" button though.

 

The only way I can find to do it is to highlight the portion to be quoted and using the "Reply" button.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Hector Javkin

I also joined photo.net in 1997 upon invitation from Bob Atkins. Back then both of us worked for AT&T/Lucent in New Jersey. Bob has since retired and moved to Maine, and I left AT&T and moved back to California. There was no Nikon Forum back then, just a General Forum and a Nature Forum. I bought my first Nikon camera in a Nikkormat FT3 and a 43-86mm/f3.5 AI lens in 1977; that was some 40 years ago and I have sold that body, but I still own that lens.

 

Hopefully we all have many years of photographing to come.

I have been around for 12yrs. I have 3 nikon 35mm cameras and probably will only rarely contfibute to the digital threads going forward as i am not up on the upgrades and stuff. Still i am a nikon user. I just bought a 645 so probably the MF forum will be my main interest going forward.

I was a bit slow. I think I was still on rec.photo or somewhere thereabouts in 1997. Did finally make it here in 99.

 

Congrats on 20!

Congrats on the 20!

 

I did not start photographing until 2006, and it took me a while to get to English language-forums (it's my second language after Dutch), but I think photo.net was the first in 2007? 2008? A bit of a shame I can't get it back from my account details...

 

I mostly check forums (or actually sites in general) without logging in, so my account activity is a bit slower than my actual presence ;)

 

20 years ago... my first internet connection had been established, but anything with pictures would have bogged it down too much anyway :))

My PNet record shows I joined in 1/2001. So it's been 16 years. Before PNet AOL had a Nikon forum that I participated for a while; it was dominated by a strong personality and often got personal - no moderator. A friend recommended Naturescapes but somehow, as a light forum browser and a Nikon user, I felt more comfortable at PNet. I have always shot Nikon until recently when I also use Olympus Mirrorless Micro 4/3, mainly due to the lightweight advantage. Edited April 23, 2017 by Mary Doo

Congrats on 20, Dan! I have been around a while, also. There have been some insightful answers questions by others and myself on this forum, so I do enjoy participating.

 

I started with an FM & 50/1.4 in the late 70's on a photography path that has led to a lot of great adventures! The FM was stolen a long time ago on one of those adventures, but the 50 is still around and is still a very good lens.

I was a bit slow. I think I was still on rec.photo or somewhere thereabouts in 1997. Did finally make it here in 99.

 

Congrats on 20!

 

 

Wow, I'd forgotten about that site! It was pretty interesting - every 5th thread was "Canon sucks! Nikon rules!".

Congratulations. I remember Phillip posting and the old web interface. I, too, miss it.

 

I thought I had joined in the mid- to late-90's but the system says June 21, 2000. In any case, it's been a great tool through the years.

I first discovered Photo.net in 1995 but the last time I checked it said I joined in 1999, which I know is not correct. Perhaps a database upgrade or something else changed the dates. Now, I cannot even find the date I joined. Perhaps becasue I am currently not a premium member?

 

I agree that it was great when Phil wrote lots of the guides, it gave photo.net a personality that it has lost since then. It is still a very nice place to be and I hope it will continue to be so.

I joined in 1998, when I got my Windows 98 Compaq computer. So it has been 19 years for me, and that was back in the Greenspun days for me, as well. I have really enjoyed the forum for its entertainment as well as the information exchange! Having a little trouble getting used to the new format, but overall it's been great!

While not as active as many of you, I joined in November 2001 when I got my first DSLR, a D100. Congrats on 20, and thanks to all of you for your advice and help over the years.

I'll hit 20 in five months.

 

Danny W.

I joined in 2000 according to the file but read this forum from the beginning when Björn from Norway was still a contributor, the tone was milder and things generelly more interesting.

Nikon has been in a downhill slide for quite a while, hopefully the coming management shakeup can change things for the better.

Many photo enthusiasts suffer from the Last Camera Syndrome- for me my D700 has served well and continues to do so. I have no real use for huge files- even an Iphone 6 image can look really good on an iMac screen and 12Mp files serve well.

The promising system 1 has been left to a lingering demise, killed by high prices, an initially too weak sensor and by some unfortunate design features. Thus I use a microFT system when weight and size is an issue.

When releasing new products Nikon always has an anxious sideways glance : "will this hurt the sale of something further up the line?" rather than : "is this something the customer wants in this form and for this asking price?"

A little more excitement and software improvements might go a long way. I expect the Nikon forum will continue to highlight features and unsolved mysteries of the Nikon system if it survives the next 20 years.

When releasing new products Nikon always has an anxious sideways glance : "will this hurt the sale of something further up the line?" rather than : "is this something the customer wants in this form and for this asking price?"

Indeed.

It's been a long time since I thought about the old Usenet/Newsnet server groups and the discussions clustered under rec. and alt. The last years of the 90s they all spun away into trollfests and porn spam... :(

 

I landed here in 2000--having visited on an irregular basis before that. In 2004 I created another account, as I simply could not remember what it had been before. A lot of characters (virtually and literally) have passed in the digital stream. I think that when the last bad attempt to roll out the "new & improved" photo net occurred is when I changed from my given name to the current screen name.

 

Never spent any time looking at the Nikon forum--until a couple years ago I was Canon all the way. And then something happened... :p

I also joined photo.net in 1997 upon invitation from Bob Atkins. Back then both of us worked for AT&T/Lucent in New Jersey. Bob has since retired and moved to Maine, and I left AT&T and moved back to California. There was no Nikon Forum back then, just a General Forum and a Nature Forum. I bought my first Nikon camera in a Nikkormat FT3 and a 43-86mm/f3.5 AI lens in 1977; that was some 40 years ago and I have sold that body, but I still own that lens.

 

Hopefully we all have many years of photographing to come.

 

Shun - you worked for Lucent in NJ in 1997?! So did I! "Retired" in 2001 after 18 years with the company (AT&T Communications). What building did you work in in '97? I was in Basking Ridge at the time of the spinoff from AT&T - went to Warren, Small world.

Super cool to hear all your stories. I joined much later, back in 2003. That was a fun time!

Shun - you worked for Lucent in NJ in 1997?! So did I! "Retired" in 2001 after 18 years with the company (AT&T Communications). What building did you work in in '97? I was in Basking Ridge at the time of the spinoff from AT&T - went to Warren, Small world.

Actually I never worked for Lucent. I was with AT&T Bell Labs and stayed with AT&T upon the split. I was in Holmdel/Middletown area until 2000, when AT&T sold the unit my wife was in to IBM. We used the tail end of the dot com boom wave to move back to California. That was 20 years ago.

 

Bob Atkins was in AT&T research in Murray Hill and migrated to Lucent.

I joined in 2003 and photo net is still my favorite message board for posting questions.

I've been a formal member since Sep 20, 2005, but had hung around without participating personally before that.

 

Classic Manual was always my favorite, but No Words has become a larger part of my participation, since I still haven't got around to testing a bunch of cameras that I accumulated earlier.

 

I was not the first to come here, but certainly have been one of the loudest.

 

I'm still very much past my pique, though.:cool:

I've only been around since 2007. But in dog years, that's at least 20.