Medium Format

[P3D Victor Varela <vvarela@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

        I am, I must confess, an inconditional lover of MF in 3d.

        As a long experienced amateur photograh, I think the essence 
 of the appeal of 3d photo is the great quality of the image
 you get, and the sensation of reallity in the scene. The thing that
 you include in your 3d photo is more vivid than in usual photos. 
 (This is the reason of the name of the cameras: Realist, Vivid, etc).

         And this sensation of reality is greater in Medium Format 3D
 than in 35 mm. If you see a good pair of stereo slides in MF 3D, the 
 visual impact is very great.

          This is specially true when your photographic subject needs 
 more detail, as with landscapes. Then, the difference with 35 mm is 
 greater. I do usually very much photography of landscapes (I live in 
 Galicia, a country in the NW of Spain with a great richnesse of 
 landscapes), and this is the basic reason for my election of Medium 
 Format in 3D.

           Each format has advantages and disadvantages; the Medium 
 Format is not cheap, but the image is very impresive, and this is the
 most important factor for 3D photographers. If you take  usually 
 family snaps, go ahead with 35 mm; but if you have good landscapes
 at hand, Medium Format 3D slides is your best election.

           In Spain they are a bunch of 3d amateurs using Medium 
 Format; perhaps because the Realist "standard" is not as common as 
 is in USA. So, we the Medium Format 3D people are not a secret 
 sect. 

           The camera I use is a Sputnik (I have two), and is 
 efficient enough; I have an old (circa 1915) German camera with
 Zeiss Tessar lenses, a Ica Polyscop, and my tests do not reveal
 differences in the shrapness of the slide, with Fuji Velvia. The 
 coated lenses of the Sputnik  is a good characteristic, if you 
 want use color slides, and the old very fine 6x6 stereo cameras 
 -Polyscop, Heidoscop, Rolleidoscop- has "white lenses" (not coated).

            The viewer is more critical; I constructed three, with 
 aceptable quality, and latelly I bought a French antique viewer of
 perfect optic, at good price. About 6x6 viewers, I will send 
 another letter (this is very lengthy, and my skill with English 
 language very short).

            Try Medium Format in 3D, and, as Eric Goldstein says, 
 "once you start it, is hard to you back".
            And, over all, enjoy 3D, in any format you elect.



    Victor Varela
    c/ Concejo, 22-7-C
    32003 Orense (Spain)
    Tl. & Fax 34 88 371869
    vvarela@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


------------------------------