[MF3D.FORUM:981] MF 3D developments at NSA Mesa

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

I realize this is rather tardy, but I'd like to pass
along some MF 3D news from the NSA 2000 convention.

The Mesa convention saw plentiful (!) availability of
the Alan Lewis SaturnSlide(tm) viewer kit, probably for
the first time ever.  That is primarily due to RMM's
large stock of the rectangular 85mm lenses, and our
current use of Edmunds' commercial quality lenses for
the high-end version of the kit.  Spotty availability
of the viewer kit, I'm glad to say, should now be a
thing of the past!  (Lightbox kits--we're still working
on that one!)

During room hopping and the trade fair, I had four
assembled SaturnSlide(tm) viewers on display.  During
room hoping I had a mix of Sputnik and Rolleidoscop
images, but during the trade fair I had all four
viewers loaded with Sputnik images.  As usual, there
was a lot of astonishment that the demo images were
made with a Sputnik.  That, in turn, led to a lot of
interest in "ready to go" Sputniks that RMM is in the
process of adding to its product line.

It was also great to see David Lee exhibiting some
medium format stereo slides.  David works mostly in
prints but recently started to dabble with MF chromes.
With a sale of a beautiful, understated original MF
3D chrome image, I believe David easily established
a new record high selling price for a medium format
stereo slide!

But perhaps the biggest MF 3D news this year was the
introduction by 3-D Concepts (Jon Golden) of the Jacob
von Ekeren medium format stereo viewers.

While his viewers are not yet ready for retail delivery,
Ekeren was showing 3 different demo models: one to fit
Hugo de Wyjs MF stereo mounts (black paper and glass, 70
x 130mm); one to fit overlapping pairs of 2-1/4" Gepe
mounts; and one to fit King Inn/RMM 80x132 mounts.

I'll post a detailed review of the new Ekeren MF 3D
viewers in my next message.

Paul Talbot