Re: Mdfrmt slide viewer

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

Brenda Nowlan wrote:
 
> I would recommend the Saturn slide viewer.

So would I.  But not just because I sell it! ;-)

> You can order it from Rocky Mountain Memories.  It is a kit
> that you put together yourself.  I took my time and enjoyed
> the entire process.  I have seen slides in the King Inn
> viewer and in the Saturn viewer.  My preference was for the
> Saturn.  While I can't address the more technical specs (I
> leave that to the more experienced on the list), the Saturn
> viewer seemed sharper and didn't have any halos (chromatic
> abberations?) around the images.

As noted on Robert's viewer gallery, the King Inn uses 34x83
"PCX" lenses.  (Someone will have to help *me* with the meaning
of "PCX" and "DCX" as used in the gallery.  I know "Ach" means
"achromatic.")  I think the King Inn lenses are single element
plastic lenses, but don't quote me on that!

I have been surprised how many people have told me they have
seen MF images in a King Inn viewer.  And in the next breath
they tell me the King Inn doesn't begin to compare to viewing
slides with a SaturnSlide(tm) viewer.  So, Brenda, you are not
alone!  I have even heard a story that Paul Wing finds MF
stereo to have no advantage over 35mm stereo...and speculation
that the reason for this could be that he was using a King Inn
viewer to view the slides!

The lenses in Alan's SaturnSlide(tm) kit are double element
glass achromats.  The kit had been out of stock since the
convention in July because the lens supply was exhausted.
About two weeks ago we were able to start shipping a modified
version with 46x78mm lenses.  The "WOW" factor on these big,
strong lenses is off the charts!  They are about 35% larger
than the King Inn lenses, meaning interocular adjustment is
truly unnecessary--even with eyeglasses and my miniscule
eye spacing, I can see 100% of both chips simultaneously!
And the 78mm focal lenght is about as close to perfect as
you can get for virtually ortho viewing of images shot with
75mm (Sputnik) or 80mm FL lenses.

And now for the bad news: the lens supplier had originally
quoted stock levels that indicated they could supply our
needs for quite some time (perhaps 2 years or more).  As
it turns out, they were only able to deliver less than 20%
as many lenses as we had anticipated at first.  Backorders
from the convention have already exhausted about half the
run of this generation of the kit.  At this point, Alan and
I have no idea what we'll do when this run is gone.  If we
have to use "off-the-shelf" or custom-made lenses it will
easily push the price of the kit up to the $225-$250 range
(from $165 now).  I don't say this to be an alarmist; I want
to warn folks who have considered getting one of these kits
that availabilty and pricing cannot be guaranteed for any
length of time (something I was not aware of before getting
involved from the vendor side).

Members of this list who are interested in the SaturnSlide(tm)
kit should contact me (off-list) for discounted pricing on
one of the few remaining kits.

> Not that this should an
> issue, but I also think the Saturn is more attractive.

Well, in many cases it should be an issue!  Who wants an
unattractive viewer?  ;-)

I might also mention that Alan has been developing a lens
upgrade product for the King Inn viewer.  I know he had
wanted to roll it out in time for the ISU convention, but
haven't heard whether that worked out or not.  Upgrading
a King Inn to double element glass achromatic lenses will
be an enormous improvement, of course.  But the lens size
will be about the same as the originals, due to constraints
of the viewer construction.  And it also won't improve the
looks. ;-)

Well, forgive me for gushing on and on about the kit.  I
just can't get over how much I love viewing images with
those 46x78 lenses.  I have publicly professed on P3D to
have never had a real "being there" experience when viewing
stereo slides, but I recently sat and stared at an image in
this viewer and felt that if I stuck my hand through the
stereo window it would actually be reaching into the real
scene.  And thus I also can't get over being so broken-
hearted that the supply of this kit is so darn small!

Paul Talbot