Detroit part II and judging

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

For regular program in Detroit we were treated with the winners of the 
Detroit PSA Salon (any one knows why are these called "salons"?).  As 
expected, 3d photography at its best.

During intermission I demonstrated the RBT S1, which, in my mind, is the 
natural extension of the 50s stereocameras with 1996 camera automation.  
Naturally, everybody who saw and touched the RBT S1 was excited, until, of 
course, the question of price came up... :-) and :-( 

The night closed with the Nostalgia competition as detailed in an earlier 
posting.  I'd like to add that judging was a new learning experience for 
me.  Briefly, judging starts from the concept of the "average good" slide 
which in Detroit is awarded 7 points  (other clubs go from 1 to 5 with 3 
as average).  A slide better than "average" gets 8.  Top score, reserved 
for exceptional quality, is 9.  A slide with problems gets a 6, and 5 is 
reserved for the worse ones.  As part of a 3 judge system, when I dial a 7 
and hear 21 for final score, I can bet that we all three gave this slide a 
7.  Same for 6 and 18 and 8 and 24.  Thanks to the subjectivity of judging 
there are scores in-between 18, 21 and 24 and the occasional "disagreement" 
when, say, I dial an 8 and hear 21, which means that one judge gave it a 6, 
a pretty wide gap in opinions (6 vs. 8, better vs. worse than average).

After the disappointment in Detroit I was excited last night to find a 
letter from the Potomac PSA competition with 4 acceptances, including 2 
HMs, best I've done so far!  Just to demonstrate the subjectivity of 
judging, one of the HMs got rejected in a previous salon (this is my 
second PSA entry of this slide).  There is a long story behind this
slide that I'll tell in another posting... -- George Themelis


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