"The fateful doubling of the 3:4 movie film ratio that old Oskar (d. 1936) settled on (who knows how) way back in 1913 is alive and well—and stronger than ever." I suspect Oskar settled on the 24 x 36mm 8-perforation frame size because smaller increments yielded an effectively square image. For example, a 6-perf frame is roughly 24 x 26mm. If memory serves, there were a couple of attempts at 24x24mm cameras, but I don't believe they had much success.

The screenwriter Stirling Silliphant once described to my college writing class his process for completing scripts. He set a personal requirement of writing 8 pages per day, around a schedule: breakfast; 2 pages; tennis; 2 pages; lunch; 2 pages; swim; 2 pages; cocktails and dinner. This way, he could complete a typical 110 minute screenplay in two weeks.

The Exakta V and variants are the only lefty-friendly SLRs I can think of. The Rollei 35, with left-hand wind and right-side viewfinder, was equally difficult to use, regardless of handedness, so perhaps the ultimate in fairness . . .

"Finally, what I consider the next frontier in camera marketing: "Super-Simple" variants of existing designs." Yes, please. The design plan for the late Flip Video camera was "any user should be able to pick up the camera and figure out how use it in 15 seconds, without reading the manual." Something similar for a stills camera, that's not a smartphone, could probably be done with firmware and some thought given to the physical UI on the camera. On a related note, I too am looking for a digital TLR modeled after the Rolleiflex. IMO that's the ideal form factor for teaching photography to young children.

I have a theory about the Sinar vs. Deardorff conundrum. The Sinar has two strikes against it in today's market. First, it looks like it came from outer space. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the P2 was never seen in the field. The Deardorff, on the other hand, looks like the view cameras used by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and others who were profiled in Life Magazine, with their cameras. It's also closer in relationship to various format roll-film folding cameras that grandparents, great grandparents, and crazy uncles** used when we were growing up. The Deardorff is no more or less difficult to use than the Sinar, but it seems more user-friendly. **One of which I've managed to become, according to my nieces and nephew.

I recall an article in (I think) Popular Photography in the early 80s, when motor drives were becoming common. The gist was that, when shooting at 5 fps or so, how did you know that the "right" time to trip the shutter wasn't in the interval between frames. If the camera's microprocessor is making the decision, is it still the "decisive moment"?