[MF3D.FORUM:1225] PSA Albuquerque report, Part II

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

In addition to wanting to introduce people to medium format
stereo (and to RMM), I was drawn to the PSA conference by the
"Medium Format Nature Spectacular" scheduled for the final
day.  Never having seen projected medium format slides, I
really wanted to see what it was like.

My impression of 35mm slide projecting in general is that it
is a seriously compromised means of viewing images, but that it
is tolerated for the convenience of simultaneous presentation
to multiple observers.  Image quality tends to be quite poor,
(though you may not realize how poor, as a result of viewing
from a long distance away from the screen).

The medium format show was very poorly attended and I was able
to claim a front row seat.  The detail that could be seen in
the projected images was amazing!  The whiskers of a cat could
be seen with complete clarity, for example.  The presenter pointed
out the great detail levels several times.  One time he said
something about the uses to which you could put such detail.
Photo-3D's LeRoy Barco, seated next to me, said "Yeah, like
stereo!"  I was thinking the exact same thing.  :-)

This has led me to wonder about some things.  David Kesner recently
wrote on photo-3D about his experience comparing 35mm stereo projected
images versus hand viewed slides:

> I just finsihed viewing my last few rolls by projection. These 
> were images from my recent caving trip and contained some of 
> my best work yet. I honestly thought that there would be some 
> medal winners in this group. In the hand viewer they were 
> truly awesome.
> 
> However, they did not translate to projection very well at 
> all. Some of it was because of ghosting from high contrast 
> between the blackness of the cave and the whiteness of the 
> ice. Mostly it was the lack of detail and definition in 
> projection that ruined them.

I know there aren't many folks on the list with MF 3D projection,
and probably fewer with experience comparing it to MF 3D hand
viewing.  But I'm very interested in hearing any comments comparing
the two.  Does this same tendency for great hand-viewed images to
show poorly in projection due to lack of detail afflict MF 3D
to the same extent as 35mm 3D?  There must still be loss of detail
from hand viewing to projection with medium format.  Is it enough
to change the impact of images as significantly as it does with 35mm?

Paul Talbot