[MF3D.FORUM:1654] List intros request

[Sam <3dhacker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ok, I'll give it a go.

My first dip into medium format stereo was when my parents bought a
subscription to Popular Photography in an effort to steer me away from a
life of crime. Around 1974 there was an article about stereo photography,
and this inspired me so much I stole a stereo map reader from high school
and made my own stereo cards using a Polaroid Colorpak 80 in Cha Cha mode.
My sister was an antique dealer, and that got me into collecting cameras
and stereo cards. Anybody remember that pile of Nimslos stacked to the roof
at Olden Camera in 1986? At $20 a shot it was enough to start me into
simultaneous stereo. By 1988 I had a 5x7 Korona stereo camera.

 After aquiring a Realist in 1989 I still felt something was missing. Not
finding anything available I built my first MF stereo camera that spring by
merging two folding MF Ziess Nettars into one. I used Gepe Glass mounts in
a mirrored viewer I made. A friend managed to get me a Sputnik out of
Russia for $100 when they were selling for $750. That lasted a month. I
picked up an old Ontoscope in Vietnam in 1992, but still wasn't happy with
the quality. By 1997 I thought I'd make one more crack at building a decent
MF stereo camera, and made the Stereo Pro. Many hours of improvements are
still going into it, but after 4 years it's still my prime stereo camera.
Although I own a Verascope f40, a Belplasca and at least a dozen other
stereo cameras, most of them never see the light of day anymore. MF stereo
rules.

I still make and modify stereo cameras for my own amusement, but these days
I concentrate more on shooting, mostly nature shots in the Canadian
Rockies. I also attempt to keep active in the folios, and am always trying
to turn others away from crime and into MF3d!

Sam