Realism of lenticulars

[P3D <PTWW@xxxxxxx>]

This past weekend I went to the "Antiques and Collectibles City Wide
Garage Sale" to hunt down some of those $10 Realist cameras and viewers
we all keep hearing about. ;)  Oddly, there weren't any to be found. :(
There were a few View-Master viewers, of course, and a stereoscope or
two; one person also had a large (to me) collection of View-Master reels,
as well as a Tru-Vue viewer...I'm new to this so it was the first time
I had ever seen one of those, and wouldn't have even known what it was
if not for having just received my first Inside-3D from Dalia a few days
earlier.

What really caught my eye, however, was a framed lenticular enlargement.
I had never been very impressed by any of my prior experiences with
lenticulars.  The little P3D debates between the lenticular supporters
and detractors have certainly made me curious as to just what a good
quality lenticular looks like.  I admit I've seen very few lenticulars
(a Nimslo shot or two; a couple in-store display samples for the
single-use lenticular camera; and the Independence Day video jacket--
which I probably would not have even noticed if someone on the list
had not mentioned it), and I had never seen a lenticular enlargement
before.  So, I was quite surprised by the amount of depth in this 
10x13 print, as well as its overall sharpness.  Afterwards, I did a
search of the archives and found an entry that states apparent depth
in lenticulars increases as the image is enlarged.  The item goes on
to indicate that maximum depth of a lenticular is about 2 inches, but
I perceive an apparent print depth of at least 3 inches in this
particular enlargement (assuming you measure from the apparent
location of the back surface of the medium to the apparent location
of the nearest object...which in this case appears to be in front of
the surface of the paper itself).  I doubt this print is an example of
the elusive high quality lenticular image, but it has certainly made a
significant impact on my overall impression of the lenticular format!
The depth and realism, while not equivalent to what I have seen in
Realist format slides in a $3 viewer, are very impressive...far more
than I had previously imagined possible in the lenticular format.

The enlargement apparently was made quite some time ago.  The frame
is backed by a plain piece of brown paper bearing a sticker indicating
it was custom built by a frame shop in San Antonio that, from what I
was told, went out of business or changed its name twenty or more
years ago.  The image itself is interesting in a number of ways; my
next post will discuss the picture and some questions I have about
how it may have been made.

Paul Talbot


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