Mountaineering and 3D-Photography

[P3D Lengel, Franz KIV-STT <Franz.Lengel@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi 3D-members !



3D-photography is a useful thing for mountain hikers as some of you are
likely to know. With hyperstereo photos human is able to see shapes and
forms of the mountain landscape which is impossible in reality. The
on-retina deviation is too small, maybe zero, when object relatively
near to each other but far away from the eyes. So when my slides are
developed after a mountain trip, I look again to the landscape and see
the world with other eyes. But it is not all sunshine:


Clouds

Have clouds ever been considered as a natural enemy to 3D-photgraphy ?
I do 3D photography occasional on my holidays and mountain trips. Until
now, I use an old reflex camera. The only electronic it has is an
exposure meter. No other equipment is used so far. Moving objects are a
problem for 3D done in 2 shots as you know. Fortunately mountains are
not noticably moving. My brother who accompanied me, and myself, we are
able to hold fairly still until both photos have been taken. But clouds
are often unable. They move and even worse: their shadows move. The
result is a somewhat disturbing image in the brain. Maybe comparable to
what you see, if you change left and right view.


2 cameras  +  2 persons  =  1 3D-photo

The only solution to this problem seems to be, to do it in one shot. But
what equipment does it need ?  Since some of the objects are kilometers
away, and we want to see the shapes of the individual mountains, 2
separated cameras are necessary, I assume. (I got good results with
several meters in separation between my shots.) We thought about using 2
cameras simultaneously. The cameras must have the same focal length.
Each one of us would operate one. We would agree to what should be
visible and the moment to 'click'. We will try this next time. 


1 person, 2 cameras -> 3D-walking-stick ?

But how could one person handle both cameras ?  To ensure the alignment
of the cameras, it seems to be necessary to fix them somehow together. I
thought about using a walking-stick for this purpose. So I don't need
other weight to burden on my way to the mountain peaks. The
walking-sticks that we already use for the walk anyhow, are variable in
length. This is appreciated for the 3D photography, because the objects
we photograph are not in the same distance everytime. But how to ensure
the right alignment of the 2 cameras regarding the remaining axes to
ensure that both are directing to the same objects. The stick parts will
have to be fixed against twisting. Otherwise one camera would look to
the sky and the other one to the ground. I don't know if it is necessary
that the cameras could be turned in and outwards. I don't think so. Has
anyone experience in using a walking-stick as 3D equipment ?  Am I
totally insane now ?  If it would work and if I had such a device. How
to operate ?  I would have to look through one view-finder. So the other
camera would be over 1 m away. There must be a remote shutter release.
Hmm, the whole thing doesn't seem to be impossible. Unfortunately I have
no access to a metall workshop and my skills are not sufficient for the
task to produce such a "3D-walking-stick".


Franz


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