I agree with both statements. I'm an electrical engineer and a programmer in my late 30s. I have a pretty good handle on how complex electronic devices are created, because I've worked on them myself. On the other hand, if asked to create a fully mechanical camera, I'd have a long way to go to figure out where to start. There's so much clever engineering and ingenuity that went into them that is mostly gone now, that they indeed feel magical to me.
That said, modern devices feel magical in their own way, which is why I'm an engineer!
You can say the same about non-mechanical devices. You can also say that mechanical devices (and non-mechanical devices) are limiting in ways you can hardly describe by text.
It's like how every other tech-bro thinks they want to become a woodworker. But if you offered my dad (a woodworker) $300K a year to not breathe sawdust and hurt his back, he'd do it.
But this has nothing to do with hard work or even physical work, it's a hobby. People do woodwork with hand saws for fun, pottery with their hands for fun, &c. for office dwellers the extra work is the appeal, the end product might not even be relevant.
Lots of car enthusiasts prefer manual shifting even though it offer worse performance. Watch lovers will buy a rolex over a casio quartz watch even tho the casio will be infinitely cheaper and more accurate. Art people will buy a physical painting over a NFT, &c.
Mechanical cameras always have been regarded has magical, you press a button on a box made of coils, gears and springs, and you get a picture. It's a technical marvel that make people dream in a way a "made in china" pcb based camera doesn't
In a world that is completely parasited with electronics it's a breath of fresh air
One of the more oblivious grass-is-greener statements I can imagine.