P3D Re: My new Realist and affordable mounting questions

[Steve Berezin <Sbere@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dana Nibby wrote:

> I'm now the proud owner of a Realist 3.5! (Some of you may remember me
> in my former incarnation as Xocchi).
>
> Gotta shoot my first roll soon to see that everything's in working
> order, and I'll also need a viewer. Got to see the difference between a
> radex and a red button viewer this morning; I'll definitely want a 2
> button viewer at some point, but starting with a radex will be fine.
>
> Am I reading the Reel-3D catalog incorrectly, or do they want a minimum
> of $5-6 to ship a few ounces of stuff to New England?!? Are there other
> sources of radex viewers and mounts which won't gouge me on the
> shipping? Last time I checked, it was possible to send up to 2 pounds of
> stuff via priority mail for 3 bucks...

I've found that Reel-3D mails out your order almost instantaneously and
generally ship quite nicely.  I haven't found a better supplier of the Radex
viewer, (I contacted Radex directly once and they charge a higher price, not
to mention a 100 unit minimum order), if you are getting their heat  seal
mounts I would recommend combining it into one order.  Also Reel-3D usually
includes a tootsie Roll, which partially offsets the shipping price for me.
:-).

>
>
> What do y'all recommend for mounts for a beginner? I'm not very keen on
> spending 50 to 60 cents per mount (RBTs) at this point - if there's any
> real advantage to using them at all - from what I understand, you've got
> less of a chance of aligning your slides correctly with RBTs than with
> other mounts. Who's got the most affordable mounts with reasonable
> shipping charges?

I use the heat seal mounts from Reel-3D with an iron.  They have bumps that
will aid in mounting, however I also use a lot of spicer mounts when
cropping is needed.  I use the tack iron from the Realist mounting kit,
which I find works better than Weiss tabs.  For the Spicers I use Weiss
tabs.

>
>
> Is there another alternative to using an expensive film cutter or
> scissors (the "butcher" method)? How about an exacto knife and a ruler,
> or something else, as a guide?

I have a used Pero Cut film cutter which I got at a camera store for $6.00,
I also have a realist film cutter which has a guide that guarantees that you
get the same size cut on every slice but I found it did not work well.  It
was more precise than my camera so by the end of a roll it would need
adjusting anyhow. The Pero has a small roller which allows you to move the
film with a knob, I haven't found a satisfactory method that didn't use a
film cutter.  I used scissors once while on vacation but they didn't seem
precise enough..

> Any ideas for "McGuyver"ing a light box?

I took an old drawer, any wooden box will do, put a fluorescent fixture in
it, then put a piece of translucent Plexiglas on it.  I affixed the
Plexiglas with an old piece of molding. Total cost $12.00.  I'm sure it is
not properly "light balanced" but it does a good job in mounting. It is
important that you use a thick enough piece of plexi-glass as to not bend
too much if you put weight on it.

I also made a small light box specifically for a film cutter by using the
bulb type fluorescent lights that are used to replace incandescent lights.
I put it into an old plastic "daytimers" box, cut off the top of the box and
replaced it with the same type of translucent plastic you put in ceiling
fixtures.  It is thin but the area of the top of the box is so small that it
will not bend too much.

BTW I have a new rudimentary Stereo Photography links page at:

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffeehouse/2404/stereolinks.html

Happy Holiday everybody.
--
Steve Berezin
sbere@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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