[MF3D.FORUM:951] First Impressions

[Sam <3dhacker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I got Greg's folio last night and just HAD to rip it open for a quick peek 
inside (don't panic-I really didn't RIP it open-figurative). I was very 
impressed with the variety of ideas this time around, except it seems 
landscape has temporarily taken over from portraiture (Greg has the only 
portrait as I recall). Not a problem for me as I'm a landscape guy myself.

I was VERY pleased that Les honored us with some black and white slides 
using Scala. This is the first time I've been able to compare this film to 
other black and white processes available. Les' beautiful scenic views 
of  Utah are fantastic, and the subject matter was the perfect match for 
monotone film. But after hearing many rave reviews about Scala over the 
years, I have to admit I was expecting miracles in seeing the film myself. 
The first thing I noticed was the flatness and lack of detail in the 
shadows. There also to be more grain than I would have expected, and the 
d-max was not very dense. So my question is, are these results typical of 
the film or is it dependant on the processing lab? Perhaps I'm biased, but 
my own process seemed to have far more snap than the Scala results. My old 
process did have more grain, but in comparing it to the new Ort results 
I've just recently achieved, I see little difference. Seeing that most 
people on the folio preferred to use Velvia over other less contrasty 
films, logic would dictate that a more contrasty black and white image 
would be the preference.

What's your feeling Les, or any other Scala users out there?

One last comment, one I'm concerned about but have no solution. I was 
enjoying the folio immensely until I came to a particular slide in the 
folio. As soon as I started viewing it, I got a jolt of pain that I could 
feel right to the back of my skull. This particular view had an extreme 
range of depth, and as my eyes attempted to fuse it the strain caused a 
very pronounced discomfort. That destroyed my viewing pleasure for the 
night, as I was forced to put it all away before a major headache came on.

I have been viewing stereo views since I was a little kid, but now it seems 
I have little tolerance for extremes in depth as well as poor mounting and 
mismatched lenses. Does anyone else experience this? Is there any 
possibility we can label slides with some kind of warning if the particular 
view has an extreme deviation between the left and right images? I have no 
doubt the stereographer was well meaning, and it probably worked well with 
his own eyes.

Any comments?


Sam