Bill Ewald Presentation in Rochester

[P3D Bill Davis <bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey, hey, hey!  The guy who currently holds the position of my Most Admired
and Respected Person, Bill Ewald (a.k.a. Mr. Stereo of Eastman Kodak) will
be presenting a stereo talk and slide program at the May 15 meeting of the
Rochester Photo Historical Society.  

This will mark the first public demonstration of his push-button stereo
projector since it was lovingly and completely restored last summer by yours
truly. This projector, subject of an upcoming feature in Stereo World (if I
ever finish writing it) was designed by Bill too late to catch the last
stereo wave, so Kodak never put it into production. Too bad! Those of you
who attended his talk at NSA '96 got to see the projector, although
logistics prevented a demonstration at that time.  There's a picture of it
at the bottom of page 27 in the Sept./Oct. 1996 Stereo World.

This projector has some really impressive and unique features that set it
apart from all other stereo projectors then or since.  Chief among them are
the joystick control for lightning-fast vertical/horizontal registration (no
fiddling with hard to reach knobs), and what I call the "Wow button".  As
each slide is changed, the polarizers are rotated 45 degrees.  This allows
viewing of both left and right images through the glasses (looks just like a
standard 3-D show with glasses off).  The registration can then be
accomplished (with the joystick) without peering over the glasses (and
without eye gyrations by the audience).  When registration is set, the "Wow
button" is pressed, the polarizers drop back into place and the scene
literally JUMPS into 3-D. Wow!  

Other cool features include a magazine fore and aft that feeds slides in and
stacks them up as they come out, and a single control for focusing the
lenses, either as a set or with respect to each other.  Also, it is fitted
with short, sharp lenses that fill a 50" screen from about 10 feet. 

Bill and his wife just got back from their winter in Florida this (Monday)
afternoon, so I don't have all the details on the meeting yet.  Will keep
you posted. 


Best regards,
Bill Davis





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