Re: 3Discover

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Peter Eggleston just posted this:

>My wife gave me the 3Discover for my Birthday. This is the motorized, panoramic 3D viewer from Canada. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is pretty neat. 

>It came with a sample 12 image cartridge which had a sampling of their other cartridges. Most of the views were hyper stereos, and of great composition. No information for obtaining others was given with the unit except that there was a small paragraph about writing the manufacturer for other titles. 

What a conincidence! I got one of those a few weeks ago, brought it today to work and was planning to write to photo-3d about it. Chris Helms showed it to me advertised in a catalog (will get the info later) and we ordered it right after Rochester.

My 3Discover came with two cartridges, right now I have the Great America 1 with me. This is basically a motorized viewer that accepts special cartridges. Each cartridge contains a roll of regular 35 mm film with 12 full-frame 35 mm stereo pairs. The right and left images of a pair are next to each other with a gap in-between. There is a number printed for each image (1-12) in the left side of the left image which is visible while viewing. The cartridge also has a reflector sitting behind the images, i.e. the reflector is not part of the viewer. The motorized viewer has good quality lenses (appear to be single-element glass? aspheric lenses?) with very little distortion or chromatic aberration, covering the full-frame format rather comfortably. There is an interocular adjustment with only 3 settings (I use it in the wide, my wife in the middle and the kids in the narrow setting - none appears to have a problem). 

Here is how it works: You snap the cartridge at the back of the viewer and then you use two buttons at the top to advance either right or left. Registration is achieved using the sprockets of the film and it is very good. Occassionally advancing is stuck in one direction and you need to advance to the opposite direction to make it going again. The motor works with two AA batteries, makes a bit of a noise but it is fun to operate. 

The images in both cartridges are very good. The one I am looking at right now (Great America 1) is a collection of pictures around the US (Los Angeles, Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon, Gateway Arch, Monument Valley, Chicago (aerial), Mount Rushmore, Capito Bldg in DC, Hoover Dam, New York (aerial), Half Dome - Yosemite). All the pictures are well-recorded hypestereos.

The system is similar in theory to the VM, except that the views are much larger (full-frame 35 mm) and the viewer is more modern and has better lenses. Both my family and coworkers were impressed. I will check the catalog and package for more details. The success of the system will depend on the marketing and availability of titles. I am willing to buy all available titles (if any) at a price between $5 to $10 ea. (remember, you get 12 pairs in each cartridge).

When you see the system you will wonder "why didn't I think of that?" and some of us will try and adapt the viewer/cartridges for other purposes, like viewing our own full-frame slides, etc. Someone (John Dukes?) might even make a gadget to project the cartridges with a stereo projector. Who knows?

Overall, a good idea and execution, worth supporting. A great way to re-introduce good quality 3d to the public. Check it out! 

George Themelis


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