P3D stereo card mounting

[koganlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Ray Zone writes:

"How, for example, does one set the stereowindow in the card format?  I use
a mask and, working with two prints on a light board, lay the prints on top
of each other to set the window, and then cut both prints at once with a
straight edge and exacto knife with the clear mask overlayed as a ruler to
mark the edge cuts."

        Sounds like a good way to do it. My way is to take a piece of glass 
the width the chips will be (2-15/16 inch) and hinge it to a piece of mat 
board with a piece of photo paper adhered to the mat board with its edge 
perpendicular to the edge of the glass. Put the first chip under the glass 
with its bottom against the photo paper and make a mark on the glass (with a 
Sharpie pen) at the near point (or wherever you want the plane of the window 
to lie). Trim the edges. Then put the next chip under the glass and move it 
until the same point falls under the mark. Trim the edges. Using this method 
you can quickly and accurately trim many images.

Ray goes on to ask:
"What is the best medium to mount with? Many use spray adhesive
(repositionable is recommended) but I use hot wax."

        For RC papers (color and B&W) Positionable Mounting Adhesive (PMA) 
made by Scotch works extremely well. I have mounted at least a thousand 
cards with it. For fiber base I would suggest dry mount tissue, although PMA 
will work, but not as well as with RC papers.
 
"What is the best card stock to use?  Are there suppliers?"

        I would suggest acid free museum rag board of neutral color (white, 
gray, or black). I use white because I've got lots of scraps from cutting 
mats for 2D prints. Crescent, Alpha, Strathmore, Rising all make these kinds 
of boards and are available from any good frame shop or art supply store.

"Is glossy or matte print photo paper best?"

        This is certainly a matter of taste. After having made hundreds of 
each, my preference is toward a slightly less than glossy surface, but not 
pure matt. I think that a "glossy" fiber base B&W paper has the most 
pleasing surface. In RC papers, I prefer Ilford's "Pearl" surface 
(designated .44). RC glossy surfaces are too reflective (for my taste) and 
also have the tendency to show scratches. In color negative paper, Kodak's N 
surface (they call it semi-matt) is among the most beautiful. Fuji's 
equivalent surface is M (for matt). 

"And what size prints should you make to work in this medium?"

        I make them so that the trimmed size will be 3 inches high by 2-15/16 
inches wide. The height could be any size one wanted, though. The width is 
ultimately limited by the infinity separation of the stereoscope lenses. 
Unfortunately all stereoscopes are not the same. The Keystone handheld 
viewers that I measured had infinity separations of 3-3/8", the Keystone 46B 
Visual Survey Telebinocular was 3-5/8" and the 2 Redwing viewers were also 
3-5/8". I try to limit the infinity separation to 3-1/4" in my cards, but 
they are usually less than that. If the infinity separation in a card is 
greater than that of the stereoscope, then it results in eyestrain for the 
person viewing. If you want to measure the infinity separation of the viewer 
put a blank card in the holder, take it out in the sun, slide the holder 
until the images of the sun are best focussed on the card, make marks on the 
card at the points of light, and measure the distance between the marks.

"How would one set homologous points in a stereo card pair?"

        By this do you mean how far apart should the infinity points be? I 
know that some people who do slides like to have the infinity points the 
same for each slide so that they are consistent throughout a slide 
presentation. This is less important with stereo cards. What is important 
with cards is that the infinity points not be farther apart than the viewer 
permits, as I stated in the previous paragraph. 

"What size, if any, should the septum between the print pairs be?"

        This is primarily an aesthetic consideration. I started making them 
1/8" wide, but eventually decided that 1/16" looks better.

"What is the typical "field of view" through a stereoscope and how much of
the 3 1/2" x 7" card can be filled with image?"

        With normal vision, one will see the entire image, and not much more, 
with a typical stereoscope. If you wear reading glasses you can get closer 
to the image and it will cut off some of it.

"How does one make prints from negative film shot with a Stereo Realist or
Kodak Stereo Camera?"

        For Realist format negatives I usually use a 50mm enlarging lens and 
print the images on an easel that I constructed from mat board that expose 
1/6 of an 8x10 paper at a time. That allows me to print 6 images on a piece 
of paper. After I print as many as I want (usually 12 to 24) I print the 
other chip the same way, then trim and mount them. 
        Sometimes I print both chips at the same time on one sheet of paper by 
setting up two enlargers, one for the left image and one for the right, with 
special easels (again from mat board) that position the paper for each side.
        For proofs I have constructed a negative carrier which allows me to 
pull the negatives through (without scratching them) and an easel which 
allows me to postion the paper so that I can print the correct negatives in 
the correct positions so that I don't have to trim and mount them.
 
"How can one build an integrated stereocard using Adobe Photoshop and a
color printer such as an Epson Stylus?"

        I don't know anything about this.

        As I mentioned before, I will be having a workshop on mounting stereo 
cards at the convention (Saturday afternoon). All of these things and others 
may be discussed there. I will try to cover topics of interest to both 
beginners and those who are more experienced.

David Lee
koganlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
(831)476-0702


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