Crummy '50s 3-D Slides

[P3D <LeRoyDDD@xxxxxxx>]

     After finding a computer to access my account since before NSACon(those
digests sure pile up!), the only thread I think missed a major perspective
was the one about bad stereo in the '50s.

     Snapshots are snapshots, whether planar or stereo.
     Today, fixed/zone/auto focus, autoexposure cameras allow the snapshooter
to get reasonably ok "pictures" in color, at least technically.
     The Fifties snapshooter could do that, too, absent the color. I've got
lots shot with "Brownies" and only a few that are technically bad... must
have thrown the bad ones away :=). Unlike my folks, some obviously keep them
if the photofinisher sent them back. And if they tried stereo, they kept
whatever came back from the mounting service, too.

     Both eras have generated lots of clinkers from snapshooters, but in the
'50s, moving from black and white planar(from negatives) snapshooting to
color stereo transparencies involved at least an order of magnitude of skill
increase.
     ASA 10 Kodachrome had *way* narrow latitude and couldn't be saved in
printing. Its low speed forced the stereographer who wanted to be in focus
from the window to infinity to use a tripod... well, good shutter release
technique using 1/25@xx will just do it for a seven foot window in bright
sun... and the forehead bracing Realist helps. I used to be more confident
using 1/25, but as I age, I agree with the Realist recommendation of
1/50@xxxx in bright sun, but that'll only get you about nine feet to
infinity.

     My hat is off to the "good" stereographers of the '50s. The bright sun
aperture of f16 that I routinely use with today's film needed 1/10 sec. for
them.
     You could probably tell who they were by the fact they were lugging and
using a sturdy tripod! :=)

     The psychology of why someone would mount a really technically bad
image, in taped glass, even!, is another question. Maybe some mounting
services mounted in glass... high priced, no doubt.
     It is possible that many people couldn't tell an image was really bad
until it was mounted and viewed... but then, why keep 'em?

     Takes all kinds...

LeRoy Barco
LeRoyDDD@xxxxxxx


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