SLR twin rig tips

[P3D <PgWhacker@xxxxxxx>]

    Finally, finally got a good set of stereo prints back from my Olympus 
OM2 SLR twin-rig.  In fact, they are excellent stereographs.  Getting the 
system to work took only 10 weeks and several hundred dollars.  Ouch.  
Though I'd share some of the things I learned with the list, in case 
anyone else is thinking about going this route.  These tips should apply 
to most any SLR twin rig.

   I use a light weight point and shoot twin rig for outdoors shots.  
It's never worked indoors.  (Flash won't synch.) Thats the problem the 
OM2 twin ring was to solve:  indoors flash stereo prints.

Tip 0:  The Olympus Zuiko lenses give excellent, crisp focused pictures.  
Remarkably better than anything I've gotten out of the expensive point 
and shoot twin rig.  A surprising benefit I wasn't expecting.


  I mount each SLR on a 4 x 0.5 inch board.  
   Tip  1:  rather than hinge the two halves of the rig together, just 
use separate boards which fit together bottom to bottom.  Easier 
construction.  Easier to handle.
   Tip  2:  The two halves go together easily and quickly, without tools, 
joined with wing nuts and small wing bolts.


  Getting the  flash to synch was the biggest challenge.  (The OM2 offers 
TTL, Through The Lens, flash exposures that make flash photos 
point-and-shoot easy.  Unfortunately setting two OM2s on Auto exposure, 
with one hooked to a TTL  flash, doesn't work flash synch wise.)

   Tip 3:  Olympus makes a heavy duty mechanical double cable release.  
One arm (tentacle?) of the release is adjustable -- you turn a screw that 
moves the cable fractionally in and out, which in practice amounts to 
retarding or advancing the time at which that half of the double release 
sets the camera off.   
     So:  set one camera on Auto exposure, and attach a TTL flash to it.  
Set the other camera to Manual exposure, with an exposure time of 1/15 or 
1/30.  Hook the adjustable dual cable release up so that the Manual 
exposure camera goes off _before_ the Auto exposure.  Result:  the Manual 
shutter opens a fraction of a second early and stays open long enough for 
the flash -- controlled by the Auto camera -- to go off.  Exposures 
between the two cameras are practically identical.



   The double cable release is so short you are sure to bend, damage, 
break either the business end of the cable releases or the cameras' 
shutter release button.  Clearly you have to build a support arm to keep 
the cable releases safe.  I was really dreading this.  Turns out it's 
easy....

  Tip 4: you can make a simple but sturdy and effective cable release 
support out of two right-angle metal L-shaped brackets and a $3 metal 
turnbuckle.  (Turnbuckles are flat 'O's, several inches long and often 
about an inch wide.  They have hooks or i-bolts threaded in each end.  
They are made to pull/hold things together;  for example to hold a camper 
shell on a pickup.)  Fit two metal Ls together to make either an S or a 
C.  (Again everything goes together without tools, with wing nuts/bolts.) 
 Bolt the S or C to the base board in such a way that the upper arm is 
above and just in front of the camera's shutter release button.   Bolt a 
turnbuckle to the upper arm, so that the open middle of the turnbuckle is 
above the shutter release.  Pass the cable release cable through the 
small open middle of the turnbuckle.  The turnbuckle screw can adjust the 
size of the opening, but doesn't have to clamp down on the cable release. 
 That's all the support the cable release needs.


   Tip 5 has more to do with twin rigs in general than this set up in 
particular:  With twin rigs you send in two rolls of film and get two 
packets of prints back.  You need a scheme to prevent right-left 
confusion when you mount your prints.  I use a databack on the right side 
camera.  That way you can look for the date imprint and immediately know 
whether the print is left or right.   Since what I take are family 
photos, it's also nice to have the date on the print.  (You can turn the 
date off for, sniff,  _ART_ shots.)


Finally, the OLYMPUS OM2 TWIN-RIG AS A WEAPON:

   As a follow up on the recent 'Realist as a weapon' thread, I'll close 
by mentioning that whatever its relative photo taking merits, this twin 
rig has it all over the Realist come blunt weapon time.  The thing is 
HEAVY.  When I used it to take snaps of my new 3 lb. 6 oz. baby daughter 
it was, no kidding, heavier than the pearson it was photographing.    I 
challenge Realist junkies to top that!


Greg Kane
Denver




SLR Olympus OM2 twin rig twin-rig cable release flash synch prints 
synchronize




Greg Kane
Denver

PgWhacker@xxxxxxx





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