Throwback Tech

It was the last place I expected to see one.

We were in a cloud forest, atop a mountain in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica, a little more than a kilometre away from the continental divide between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean coast.

We had seen coatis, monkeys, and myriad birds, including the quetzal, a gem of a find (and we saw three), among other examples of wildlife. The Monteverde Cloud Forest reserve is a very special place.

At the end of or guided tour, we walked to a hummingbird garden that is next to a gift shop, where you could purchase all sorts of souvenirs. The hummingbirds were plentiful and the gifts were varied.

There was a bench outside the shop so I sat down to rest my legs and feet after hours of wandering on trails. And immediately, on a mannequin next to the bench, I thought a tourist had left something valuable behind.

The mannequin was dressed in a handmade shirt, and donned sunglasses and a hat. But around its neck was an SLR camera.

Perhaps someone had left it behind and someone else had hung it there, in a spot where the owner might easily spot it? But when I looked closer, I saw that the camera was attached to a harness that went around the mannequin's shoulders, arms, and waist. A price tag on the harness showed that this was a demonstrative display. 

But as my eyes fell directly on the camera, I was taken back in time.

It was an old Minolta Maxxim 7000. Minolta's first autofocusing SLR.

I used to sell them in the mid to late 80s when I worked in a camera store. This one looked used but otherwise was in good nick.

I sold a lot of these back then and I remembered fondly of that time while I rested on that bench.

I saw a lot in the cloud forest that day but I never thought I'd see a blast from the past.

Happy Thursday!