P3D Re: Twin 2x2x2

[Michael Watters <mwatters@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

GeorgeT talks about mounting 2^3 slides and viewing in a Realist viewer.

I've done a couple things:

1) For quick and dirty previewing, I just cram the two slides in the viewer.  My viewer is modified  
for very wide apetures so it doesn't physically cut off the slide much.  The interocular can be  
adjusted enough so the two images can be merged as well.  However, since the seperation is  
SO low, part of the slide gets cut off in the middle.  The resulting image appears complete, but  
only the middle 1/3 or 1/2 is in stereo.  Like I said... quick and dirty previewing.  Keeps my  
motivation to buy a 2^3 viewer low enough.

2) The first set of twin camera slides I ever got I did the following to.  I chopped out the outer  
edges of the slide mounts.  They've got to be cut nearly down to the picture itself in order to  
make them fit the viewer.  These extra bits I moved over to the space between the mounts then  
taped the whole thing together.  The bottom edge was then trimmed down so it'd fit into the  
viewer without cutting off the top of the slide.  More tape to hold the mount together...
   Yeah, they look ugly.  I wouldn't try projecting them either, but it works just fine in a viewer.   
You're even left with extra mount sticking out the top for a handle.  :)
   In case you're wondering...  I did this because I didn't have any non-realist mounts at the time.   
If I remember, I was doing all Realist format at the time and letting the processor do the  
mounting.  (The one thing that kept me shooting Realist as long as I did).

Regarding the why's behind the Realist format mount:
   I've always maintained that the particulars of the Realist format were chosen for some very  
short sighted reasons.   Now we're more or less stuck with them.  Even the folks who've  
abandoned the cameras (Here's another Realist peculiarity... what ya wanna bet Seton was left  
handed???  Both the Realist and the Kindar stereo cameras have left-handed releases.  A  
definate rarity with cameras.) are stuck with the mounting system unless they want to build their  
own viewers, projectors and stamp their own mounts.  One can stick with seperate 2x2's of  
course, but that's less than handy.

mike
watters


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