Too many cameras...It's Harry Poster's Fault

[JLH3DPHOT@xxxxxxx]

>From the survey ...

>5.  How many Stereo Cameras do you own?
>Fifty-three   -  1

>....are these fifty-three DIFFERENT models-or does he/she have 10 Realist
3.5's etc...?

O.K.....I guess I can't stay lurking anonymously behind my MAC anymore.
It was on Harry Poster's  table at a 1984 camera swap show near Philadelphia
that I picked up a Red Button viewer and was "Blown Away" by a Kodachrome
slide taken with a 3.5 Realist 35mm camera.  I bought a 3.5 Realist and a Red
Button viewer from him that day and I began taking pictures of my four
children.  Family and friends all agreed that present camera systems could
not match this 1950's technological feat.  

A few months later, at the next Camera Show I searched out  Harry's Table.
 Harry, always a wealth of neat stereo information, set up a virtual 3D photo
store.  I found a Kodak stereo 35.  Would it be better than my Realist?  I
bought the Kodak and was pleased with the automatic shutter cocking  ability
and the built in level.  I began to shoot with both cameras.  Also that day,
Harry sold me a copy of Werner Weiser's book STEREOKAMERAS VON 1940 BIS 1984.
 It listed 41 different stereo cameras built between  the 1940's and 1984.
 This book became my map and guide to the new world of stereo camera
collecting.  I made it my goal to search out and use every stereo camera made
for 35mm film.  In the end I would know by first hand knowledge what the best
35mm stereo camera was in the world.  Hah!  How naive can one be?
Twelve years later, the end result is 50+ Stereo cameras sitting on a shelf
(not gathering dust) and thousands of stereo slides of family activities.
 Little League games, sailing skiing, birthdays, holidays, vacations,
weddings , proms, and some ernest attempts to chronicle our lives and times
for future generations.      (Egads!  Who turned this lurker loose?)

A serious stereo camera collector could easily have more than fifty stereo
cameras in a collection.  Some may , however, be variations of the same
camera.  I have three variations of the Realist 3.5........Ilex Paragon
lenses-one button, David White Lenses-one button; David White Lenses-two
button.   One may find at least four variations of the Realist
2.8.......David White Lenses, Ektar lenses, Lenses marked Germany, and the
Olden variation with large knobs-not quite a "Custom" technically.
The Revere Stereo 33 can be found with Wollensak lenses and with the
variation Enna Chromar lenses.  There are at least three variations of the
Viewmaster Personal. 
A collector usually tries to upgrade each camera if he finds one in finer
condition than the one in the collection.  Some cameras in my collection were
purchased from other collectors.  In turn I usually sell my doubles at the
DVPCA Show (Delaware Valley Photographic Collectors Association) Our next
camera show will be March 24, 1996 - 10am to 4pm, at Neuman College, Concord
Road, Aston , Pennsylvania......USA  Look for the table with the sign "3D
SPOKEN HERE"
Surprisingly,  Mr. Poster has become one of my best customers.       

Jim Hollis,  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania     USA 


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