Alan Lewis's Achromat Lorgnette

[P3D Gabriel Jacob <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well just wanted everybody to know I received Alan Lewis's Achromatic
Lorgnette (or pocket stereoscope) the other day and was pleasantly
pleased. There were no real surprises with it, since the positive
reviews on P3D had been very favorable and I was not at the least 
disappointed. Great work there Alan! I know you don't need any more
publicity on the work you did, but just wanted to make some comments
about it on P3D!

The viewer optics are excellent and addds a whole other dimension to
viewing prints other than the other 3 normal dimensions. ;-)
The fine woodworkmanship doesn't hurt either. :-) Personally what
attracted me to this viewer other than the achromatic lenses were
the portability of the viewer itself. Alan mentions he will be 
coming out with a stand to adapt the viewer to a tabletop version.
In the meantime I am happy with the stereocard stand that was offered
as an accessory. I was a bit confused at first since I thought the
stereocard stand would hold the lorgnette also but then learned that
it was for the stereocards only. I should have read the fine print
more carefully. ;-) My mistake. In anycase the stereocard stand is a
fine addition to the lorgnette (it is adjustable to any angle) and
can't wait for table top stand that will hold the viewer and card.
Thus this viewer is very flexible and can be used to view stereo
cards in three different combinations (with the right accesory).

1. Holding lorgnette with one hand and stereocard in other hand, or
   table, wall, book, monitor, etc.. Offers the greatest possiblities
   of viewing the widest assortment of stereoviews avialable. 
2. Holding lorgnette with one hand and viewing stereocard on adjustable
   angle stereocard stand.
3. Holding nothing, but rather just viewing stereocard on stereostand
   that accomodates both lorgnette and stereocard.

In the above three different combinations, there are advantages and
disadvantages to each. All three will serve a purpose depending on what
is being viewed.

In viewing my stereoprints for the very first time with an achromatic
viewer, I was surprised to "see" some of the pics that I thought were
good were still sharp BUT very grainy. With a $3 viewer this wasn't as 
apparent or of course freeviewing because of the lack of magnification.
Now the predicament is, use a $3 viewer and suffer chromatic abberations
or use a better viewer and suffer graininess. ;-) Of course this is no
fault of the viewer but rather that it is pin point sharp in the light
rays focussing much tighter with the achromats for the different colors.
Some other pics that I thought were fuzzy, were still a bit fuzzy but
were not grainy. Of course, different film speeds were used in both
cases above which accounted for the graininess. The achromats will
result in sharper images if the images are sharp to begin with. 

Now I have heard here on P3D about the Keystone viewer that featured
achromatic lenses similiar to Alan Lewis's viewer. Question is, of
course there must have been other Victorian viewers with achromats!?
All the antique stereoscopes I have seen to date were simple prism
type optics. Does anyone know if this is the case? What does Paul Wing's
book (Stereoscopes, The First One Hundred Years) mention on this subject.

Finally, Alan Lewis has made a first run of 4 of his Achromat Pocket
Stereoscope's. Hayden B. Baldwin got the scoop and recieved S/N 001.
Known owners in list form are.

S/N 001 Hayden B. Baldwin, The 3D Bear
S/N 002 George A. Themelis, Dr.T
S/N 003 unknown
S/N 004 Gabriel Jacob, :-)

Who is mystery owner number 4?

Gabriel 


  


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