Re: Rise and fall of 3-d

[fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Dr. George A. Themelis)]

Regarding the rise and fall of 3-d, I agree with Eric's observations, 
but I would also like to emphasize that if the pictures that someone 
takes are snapshots or of inferior quality then they might as well be 
in 2-d.

A cooworker just sold me a Revere camera and viewer (yes, they will be 
in my sale) and two storage cases loaded with slides from the 50s that 
his father-in-law took.  About half the slides are mounted in glass, 
the rest in cardboard.  I went through them and was amazed by the low 
quality of the 3-d photography.  Instead of throwing them away, I will 
be selling 64 glass-mounted and 80 cardboard in one lot as curiocity 
or mounting material.

In one picture, there is a thumb osbcuring 90% or the left frame.  
This picture is glass-mounted!  Most pictures are fuzzy because of 
camera shake.  Many are mounted pseudoscopic, have soft backgrounds, 
are tilted or suffer from bad composition.  These are typical Realist 
slides from the 50s.

I found that when the photography is not that great, the only subject 
that holds any interest are pictures with people or cars or anything 
that will date them.  The worse pictures are close-ups of flowers in 
faded Ektachrome or monuments/buildings without people around.

The cooworker wants to have *prints* made out of pictures with family 
members in them.  The Revere viewer I got was dim and dirty.  When I 
showed them what I considered to be the best slides in my Realist 
halogenized viewer, they went "wow" and "that's 3-d!" and got a better 
appreciation of the medium.  BUT prints is what this fellow wants to 
have.  I think that most of these pictures, especially the family 
ones, would have been better as 2-d prints, assuming that these prints 
or negatives would maintain their colors.

3-d is a special medium and needs to be treated with respect.  It's 
not for every one.  Bad 3-d photography gave 3-d a bad reputation.  We 
should be doing our best to educate the public about the potential 
value of 3-d by showing our best work and attracting young and 
talented people in this hobby.  Stereo photography deserves a
wider recognition.

George Themelis, 3-d philosopher and viewer specialist...


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