P3D Re: Club Competition Projection

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrea writes:
 
>We still adjust for every slide during competition, mainly because we 
>have people new at stereo or new at mounting stereo slides themselves. 

You cannot be as "bad" (I should say "unique") as we are:  

We are a new club, less than one year old.  We had 19 members enter our
slide competition in our very first year of operation.  Except for 3-4 
members, the rest had very little or absolutely no experience in mounting 
or projecting slides.  We did not adjust the projector during the 
competitions and yet we had no (or I should "almost no") problems.  
Generally, everything went very well and we had reports of people coming 
to watch these competitions because they found them to be a very enjoyable 
and learning experience.  This is a proof that the system works.

Tony Alderson writes:

>This subject periodically resurfaces here at the Stereo Club of So. Calif.
>The majority always seems to feel that adjusting during projection is the
>better option, to get a "better" view of "beginners'" slides, and to
>accommodate masks of varying types. 

There are a few problems with this logic.  First, has the club tried the
other approach ("do not touch the controls") to see if it works or not?
Second, how many things can go wrong in mounting?  Two: 

1. Vertical misalignment.  If you "correct" this then you are not teaching
   the beginner anything.  He/she cannot "see" the error.  What is even
   worse is that the slide that follows the one with the vertical
   misalignment will be projected with the verticals off, even if it is
   perfectly mounted because the projector has been misadjusted.

2. Horizontal misalignment.  This means that the slide has an incorrect
   stereo window.  So what?  You want to correct this with the projector?
   Why bother?  And, how about the next slide?

("Rotation", is an even greater problem that cannot be corrected by any
projector adjustment and yet I am sure that people are trying to correct
it, depending on which side of the screen they are looking, until they
realize that they are wasting their time.)

There are very few slides that have such a mounting problem that will cause
severe eyestrain.  The rest only need slight adjustments.  Trying to correct
slight problems creates a greater problem:  Makes everyone tired and with
a first class headache.  Tony knows what he is doing when he states that
he does not bother to look until they are done with the adjustments.  But
Tony is experienced... How about the "poor bystanders" who are going 
through this torture of continuous adjustment without knowing how to 
protect themselves?

There is only one way to do it:  Don't touch these controls!  

Sorry but I feel very strongly about this.

George Themelis


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