I happen to know a fair number of engineer types in various fields from architecture to CS and being engineers they all have one thing in common: They can engineer anything ONCE they are provided with the idea or a vision. But I wouldn't be waiting for them to dream something up on their own, except maybe for the architects.
That's why they became engineers in the first place - they are good at finding ways to make things work. But imagining a new concept often requires a different kind of mindset. That's what Leonardo, Verne and their likes did.
As for Clark, he was a hard scientist himself, and according to
this Wikipedia article:
It seems kinda hard to invent something without an idea, doen't it?
If those dreamers followed conventional wisdom or listened to the old, crusty men telling them why it is not possible, wise or feasible, we would all still collectively be living on trees. Or would, at the very least, be inhaling mercury vapours because we'd never move further from daguerreotypes.
The only question I have for this concept is: once you have a full size sensor at a reasonable price level, why bother with film at all? Why not just go full hog and do the straight capture? RAW, of course.
Bookmarks