Re: Realist - Stereo Camera

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jerry Gore writes:

>1. Does the Realist have glass lenses?

Yes!  The Realist came with several different types of lenses, but they
are all of excellent quality.

>2. Does it make Prints as well as slides? If not why? I mean, it does 
>    use 35mm film. But, I haven't heard anyone talk about Prints with 
>    this camera.

The frame format of the Realist and all Realist-format cameras is a 22.5mm
wide by 24mm tall image (this is typically masked down slightly by
mounting).  The height is the same as for a "normal" 35mm camera (that is,
it is the full height of the image area of 35mm film), but the width is
much narrower (5-perf 22.5mm vs. 8-perf 36mm).

Because of this, the automatic film printers used by almost all the
major processing labs won't deal with it correctly.  At best, you would
get a print with one full image and part of one or two others.  With my
Realists (I can't speak for everyone else's), there is often practically
no unexposed area between some frames.  This would make it very difficult
for automatic printers to deal with, since they depend on those black bars
to locate the frame boundries.

Even if you could get prints properly made (say, by hand at a custom lab),
the left and right images of a stereo pair are separated by two images,
so you would still have to custom mount your prints to get a stereo pair.
It isn't impossible, just a lot of trouble compared to slides, which you
*can* still get commercially developed and mounted in Realist-format
mounts (although I think most of us on this list probably do our own
cutting and mounting).

>3. Is $175 too much for one? There is a guy who runs a camera shop
>    around here who said he had nice ones for 175 and others for 145.
>    He also had a Kodak Stereo for around $120. Suggestions?

These are not bad prices.  The Realist is a better-quality camera than
the Kodak, and I say that from personal experience.  They are very
different in operation, however, and you might like the features of one
over the other.  Your best bet is to check them both out and decide for
yourself.

McKeown's Law:  "The price of a classic camera is entirely dependent on
the mood of the buyer and seller at the time of the transaction."  From
"McKeown's Price Guide to Classic and Collectable Cameras".

>At this point I just want to be able to make Slides and stereo pair Prints
>in 3D. Will the Realist or Stereo Kodak do both these? I'm really getting
>confused about film formats now. What price should I pay?

The Realist and Kodak were designed for slides.  As I said, you might
be able to get prints made, if you can find a lab that will do the
work for you, or if you have a darkroom you could do it yourself.

	-Greg


------------------------------