Re: Realist etc

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

Wolfie! writes:

>I believe that I would prefer this method in some ways, but looking at
>things from a realistic standpoint... two cameras on a bar would be a
>pain in the butt to carry around everywhere... no wonder 3D is so
>unpopular. :(

As was already stated, you have to consider what your application is.

Dr. T. has stated that the Realist-style camera is great for "snapshot"
work, and to a lesser extent for more dynamic subjects.  You can just
about forget it for serious work in difficult lighting situations and
rapidly-moving subjects, since you cannot take a light reading, set the
exposure and get it back to your eye to focus, frame and shoot quickly
enough not to miss a lot of good action photos.  That's why TTL metering
and in-finder displays were invented!

OK, so a modern SLR gives you those features.  But a single camera on
a slide bar is useless for subjects that move.  Forget the beach on 
a windy day!  And make sure nobody moves during those family photos.
Great if you like statuary and other monuments, though.

You can fix that by mounting TWO of them on your bar.  Now you've got
TTL metering and you can shoot moving subjects (and hopefully your
synchronization is good enough and your lenses match closely enough,
not a problem with a Realist-style camera...).  But it weighs a ton,
and now you've got TWO cameras to focus, set aperture and shutter
speed on.  Hope that subject isn't moving TOO fast while you fiddle...
But you do get full-frame slides that your local 1-Hour can develop
and mount for you, and that can be projected with readily-available,
modern projection equipment.

And for the approximate original selling price of a new 1974 Fiat
Spider, you can get a fully-coupled RBT, which solves all of the
above limitations, except weight, which of course is balanced by
the loss of mass in one's bank balance.  But you *do* get a camera
with zoom lenses, shutter speeds well above 1/200th, auto-load,
auto-filmspeed-sensing, auto-advance, auto-rewind, fully automatic
exposure with manual override, auto-bracketing, up to 2 FPS repeat
exposures, and many, many more.  Perfect for that hockey game where
you got seats just above the boards on the red line... He shoots,
he SCORES!! :-)

So what do I use?  Well, until I can afford an RBT I'm using a
Realist-style camera.  I have to specify "don't cut or mount" when
I send in my slide film, because I prefer to cut 'em and mount 'em
myself, in Reel-3D heatseal mounts.  Except for the ones I'm going
to project, which get mounted in GePe 2x2 glass mounts.  Having
cut my teeth on an SLR, I find the lack of TTL metering, and having
to look at the front of the camera to set aperture and shutter speed,
to be a real pain.  It definitely limits what I can expect to shoot
successfully.  But it offers a lot more options than some of the
alternatives...

The key is to know what you want to do with it, and be aware of the
limitations.

	-Greg


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