[MF3D.FORUM:1557] Re: The Darcyflex Stereo Camera

[Bob Clark <clark@xxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 23 Feb 2001, Sam wrote:

> >Some pictures of Darcy's work might help stimulate more discussion.
> 
> Perhaps this original message was not received by everyone, so here's the
> repost. Darcy can fill in the rest:
> 
> Here's the first picture of my friend Darcy's stereo camera. This is the
> one he built based on my Stereo Pro. It past the first tests with flying
> colors, no light leaks, focus was bang on and contrast was excellent.
> 
> The url is at: http://www.cadvision.com/3dhacker/darcy.jpg
> 
> This was a lot easier to build then the one I made. It is based on two
> Yashika A cameras. The bottom of the second camera was fused onto the
> first, then modified for two frames on a single roll. The focus was linked
> by a simple but ingenius pulley/sprocket mechanism, and the shutters used
> the basic arm linking arrangment used on both mine and Greg Erker's
> cameras. It has perfect sync at all shutter speeds as well as shots using
> flash.The original viewfinder was retained for focusing, but he'll probably
> add a sports finder on the top as well.
> 
> I'm hoping I can convince him to join our group if that's OK, as Darcy has
> a lot of inspiration and energy from his newly revived interest in MF
> stereo photography.
> 
> 
> Sam
> 

Sam, thanks for poking us on this again.  And Darcy, that's
a great camera!  I am a hacker-at-heart, have collected
lots of parts and have lots of ideas, but so far have
not had the time to hack... Between my work, my house,
my wife, my 5-yr-old, and my 2-yr-old, I go to bed tired
every night with no stereo work having been done :-(

I have some Yashica D bodies and some Yashinon lenses that
are waiting to be put together (as well as some Diacords
for Greg E's design).  Darcy, your design looks great and
would probably work for my 'D's.  Would there be any chance
that you could do a quick write-up of the steps you would
go through to make a Darcyflex?  Some basic questions I
have are:
 o How do you mate the camer bodies?  Cut, grind, measure,
   repeat?  Then screw them together?  Are there any
   special tools you found necessary for doing this?
 o Did you have to modify the film winding mechanism much?
 o I understand how a pulley/sprocket mechanism could work
   for focusing--what parts did you use?

I've been getting good results with my twin Graflex XL
cameras and a double cable release.  The cameras have some
advantages: they are fairly inexpensive, have removable
film backs, available ground glass for focusing if desired,
interchangeable lenses (I have acquired and have had good
results with pairs of 80mm Noritars, 100mm Noritars,
and 80mm Planars).  Don Lopp was kind enough to make
me a couple great viewfinders for them that will let me
do a better job of seeing what I'm shooting.  The main
disadvantages of the system is the weight and the minimum
lens separation of 140mm.

I recently bought a home-made wooden MF stereo camera from
a guy via eBay.  It has an elegantly simple design and
is very well made from basic materials.  I have not had a
chance to take any pictures with it yet, but I suspect that
I will not be happy with the performance of the old Kodak
antistagmat lenses as compared with my Noritars or Planars.
So, my plan was to use this as a prototype and make a new
camera that can use my better lenses.  The biggest problem,
though, is focusing.  Part of the simple design came from
the kodak lenses being front-element-focusers meaning that
the camera body could be a fixed size.

Well, I'll keep collecting ideas and keep trying to nail
down a design that I think I can manage, that will give
me the results that I want.  Then I'll just have to spend
some late nights and do it!

Keep up the inspirational postings!

Bob