The Fascination of 3D

[P3D Erlys Jedlicka <erlys@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

George "Dr. T" wrote:

>This has always been a big puzzle for me.  Why do people react so
>differently when they see a stereo image?  Why are some people more
>impressed or excited than others?  Why do I find 3d so fascinating while 
>my wife does not care?  (she has passed the classic stereopsis tests but 
>it takes her longer to "see" 3d and sometimes she cannot tell the 
>difference between a 3d image and the same image in 2d like in some 
>Keystone cards).

I have been fascinated with 3D since 1st or 2nd grade, when our teacher 
used to pass around a steroscope card viewer on a rainy day. It was like 
a puzzle to try to understand how it worked. Later, at age 10 or 12, my 
aunt had a Viewmaster which I loved to look at when we visited. I was 
particularly taken with a set of Carlsbad Caverns reels.

Years later I saw a demo of 3D at a fair and found an ad for a Holmes 
Stereoscope in a magazine. I sent for the stereoscope and bought several 
sets of those gray reprints of original stereo cards to use with it. This 
was in early 1980. (Someone was just asking about those.) I then took my 
own slide bar 3D prints as I had seen in the demo at the fair, and 
mounted them on cut-out manila folders to view in my Holmes stereoscope. 
I was thrilled to see my own pictures in 3D for the first time! 

About that time, a friend bought me a Pentax beam splitter to use on my 
Olympus OM-2. I was ecstatic! I took many slides using the beam splitter, 
and I joined Vista Camera Club about this time. Someone in the club 
introduced me to the Realist, and I bought my Realist camera and my red 
dot viewer from members of the club who were selling stuff.

I bought a Viewmaster viewer sometime around those days (it was made by 
Gaf), and at that time they were putting out a catalog of views. I 
ordered, and received, among others, a set of reels of Carlsbad Caverns! 
It is one of my prized possessions.

I know I have been kind of long-winded here. My friends tolerate my 
passion for 3D but they don't all share it.  Today I presented my friend, 
Sally, who is a docent for the SF Asian Art museum, with Jamie Drouin's 
Mandate reel and a viewer, which I bought at Toys R Us. I hope she will 
love it as time goes on. I also gave her the insert from Reel 3-D which 
advertises the last few remaining sets of Chinese art on 3D reels for 
around $50. If she orders it, I'll know.

Erlys


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