P3D Re: Wirgin full frame conversion

[Alan Lewis <dlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill Davis wonders about my full frame Wirgin project.

But first; Bob Howard wondered why I would do it because the European
format is his preferred format.  Firstly; The Wirgin is not a Euro
format camera but rather a Realist format. Secondly; it's a full frame
world we live in whether we agree with it or not.  I'm trying to find
various ways to participate in full frame stereo that will offer easy,
inexpensive processing and the satisfying results of the full frame that
I enjoy.  It's a task to pursue this, but I'll get there sooner or
later.

It made sense to me that if there was a "normal" stereo base camera out
there that was as easy to use and as compact as the typical
Realist/Kodak cameras then full frame stereo would be downright
enjoyable.  Oh yeah, the camera needs to be inexpensive (relatively)
too.

Don't worry about the lack of a quality viewer for full frame.  I'm on
that one too.

Now, the progress of the actual Wirgin full frame camera:

The Wirgin stereo is an interesting camera, inside of it is enough room
to fit the full frame format with some room to spare. This is not the
case with other stereo cameras.  I wondered why this was.

One insight came when I bought a couple of Wirgin Edina mono cameras for
spare parts.  These are the same camera as the stereo, except mono.  And
I mean exactly the same!  If you need spare parts (especially winder
mechanism) for your Wirgin stereo then buy Edina's.

What I learned from the Edina's is that the Wirgin Stereo camera is
merely two Edina's joined together.  The factory modified the Edina body
casting die to make a one piece stereo casting.  It didn't try to make
it any smaller for the Realist format, it just joined the full frame
dies together.  That's why there is enough room.  The Wirgin stereo
camera also has hidden inside of it the original Edina 8 perf film
advance mechanism.

My first attempt was to do a full frame conversion to the Wirgin stereo
using the 35mm lenses.

I remachined the frame masks to full frame, keeping the correct stereo
window relationship.  I also undid the Wirgin stereo "add on" gears that
converted the film advance to Realist, thereby making it 8 perf full
frame (which the factory merely added on a set of reduction gears to
change).

I opened up the viewfinder window as much as I could (not enough, but it
was OK for a beginning).

I quickly modified the film counter wheel by blacking out the unused
film numbers so I could keep track of which frames to skip.  This was a
quick way to get the camera into the testing phase.  If the camera
functioned well then I would redesign the film advance for automatic
skipping and counting.

I put some film in the camera and tried it out.  The results were not as
good as I wanted. 

The light falloff towards the edges was too much.  The lenses were not
designed to cover a full frame, and it was very evident.  It was a
chance I was taking thinking that they would cover the format.  I don't
even think the lenses would cover the Euro format competely either.

The other thing that bothered me was the wide angle lens distortion
(bowing of vertical lines inward).  It was too distracting.

So now I am pursuing the other avenue: Siamese two Edinas together to
get the same camera (after all the Stereo and the Edina cameras are
virtually identical); except this camera will have "normal lenses" and
full frame coverage for illumination.

I could just take the Edina 43mm lenses and put them onto the Wirgin
stereo camera, but I feel that getting the lenses mounted the correct
distance from the film plane will be difficult.  The siamesed body
project seems easier, and I'll still be able to use the Wirgin stereo as
a Realist camera after converting it back to that format.
-- 
Alan Lewis  
mailto:dlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.arlington.net/homes/dlewis
Home of Weekend Stereo Projects 
New stereo viewers & Stereo Wedding Photography


------------------------------

End of PHOTO-3D Digest 2761
***************************