Re, Re, Realist!

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tim Smith writes:

>...a year ago I was skeptical that at 45 year old camera
>would be capable of high quality photography.  
Thanks Tim for an interesting posting.  It means a lot coming from 
someone with your experience in quality 2D cameras and equipment.  I 
don't know if *my* Realist is sharper than others but I face this all 
the time.  When people look at those brilliant Realist slides (viewed in 
a Dr. T viewer, of course!) they cannot believe that they are taken with 
a 50 year old camera/technology.  This includes the professional (medium 
format) photographer in the last wedding that I shot.  He and his wife 
went nuts over the Realist pictures.

I have a problem with people who would rather die than use these old 
stereo cameras.  No matter what you say or do, some people will never 
try a classic stereo camera, not willing to believe that it can take 
good pictures, as good as many of todays 2D cameras.  When I was 
shopping for a P&S for my wife, I returned two cameras (in the $250 
range) because I was totally unsatisfied with the results, compared to 
the Realist.  I finally kept the third because I was too embarrassed to 
return that one too.  So much for modern technology.  Not to mention 
stereo viewers... The standards that made the quality stereo slide 
viewers of the 50s, have gone down to hell.  Cheap plastic components, 
single-element lenses, these are the standards today.  And yet I know 
one person who is using a Star-D viewer (cheaper version of the good-old 
Brumburger) and he refuses to "advance" to a red button viewer, saying 
that he will make his own viewer first rather than use the 50s inferior 
technology!  (last time I checked he was still using the Star-D...)

>I agree with George....where for $100 (and sometimes less) can you find 
>an outstanding 3D camera that is practical, usable, rugged and is 
>easily maintained?

Talking about easily maintained, Tim "forgot" to mention this incident:  
The one Realist 3.5 that he bought from me, developed a problem with the 
shutter getting stuck open in mid-roll.  He sent the camera back for 
repair.  I realized that one piece was slipping out of position and 
tried to correct by bending it.  After a while, the camera had the same 
problem.  This time I told Tim to take off 6 screws and compare this one 
with the other 3.5 to see what was going wrong and try and fix it 
himself.  Result:  Tim opened the camera, figured out the problem and 
fixed it properly.  He came back to me with tips on how to do it, which 
parts to take out, how to clean them, etc.  All that from someone who, 
correct me if I am wrong Tim, had only worked on computers before... 

OK, folks... That's my Realist lecture for the day... 

Hey, I said "day", not "today"!  I'll have to wait until fellow half-Greek 
Gabriel gets into the computer tonight... ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)  Gosh, I really
need to do some work tonight as I am running hopelessly behind in all my 
obligations...

George Themelis 


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