Re: Viewers

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fellow half-Greek Gabriel Jacob writes:

>I was and still am tempted to buy it (Realist) but have 
>resisted for many of the reasons you have mentioned along 
>with how hard it would be getting slides or prints developed 
>from local developers.            ^^^^^^

GETTING REALIST SLIDES DEVELOPED FROM LOCAL DEVELOPERS HAS NEVER 
BEEN A PROBLEM!!! (sorry bob, i will not do that again! ;))

>So I am also puzzled by the fact that many profess to wanting 
>to buy the best viewers but balk at buying a FED....

(Bob and John, I am trying to remain calm here...)

Dear Gabriel... you are hitting a nerve of mine... For three
years now I have been screeming and yelling that people spend
too much money for cameras and no money for viewers.  They pay
too much attention to a minor scratch on their favorite lens
while they are using dim viewers with fogged lenses and 
flickering light that cut off part of their 7-p images.
Cameras are worshipped and viewers are totally neglected.  
I am trying to change this... I have done a good progress until 
now that you come to set us a few years back...

You, my good friend, are a good example.  You are proud that
you have modified a $4 VM viewer to view full-frame stereo
pairs. And now you are telling us that it is a mistake to buy
a $100 good stereo viewer before we buy a $400 FED camera?

I have news for you:  You have not seen your own work at
its best through this pair of small plastic single-element
lenses.

If you ever get into viewing 101 mm x 41 mm slides, do
yourself a favor.  Go and buy a $100 red button viewer
(or equivalent).  Or build yourself a viewer with
achromatic lenses.  A few years down the road you will
thank me as this is the best advice that anyone can
give you...

>This reminds me of some audiophiles that buy the best name brand 
>or esoteric stereo turntable, CD player,amp and tuner and then 
>skimp on the speakers and buy a no name brand. 

Sorry my good friend, but you have your example all screwed
up.  As Jon Golden can testify, the speakers is the viewer
in stereo photography and the turnable CD player, etc, is
the camera.  I agree that this does not make sense.  So go
and get the best name brand viewer!

George Themelis

"If you think about it, a stereo viewer is the most often
used piece of stereo equipment  that we own.  We only use the
stereo camera once to take a picture, but we use the viewer
a dozen or more times to view this picture and share it with
others. Given the special place of viewers in the enjoyment
of stereo photography, it is surprising that very little has
been written about them.  Most people take them for granted.
The underlying assumption is that a viewer is a very simple,
easy to use device, that requires little or no care...."

G. Themelis, "Stereo Realist Viewer", 1st edition, May 1994, 
self-published, out of print.


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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 1494
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