P3D Re: info needed for new 3D camera

[jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Gabriel Jacob)]

Joseph Covington writes:

>This is where I need your help.  What is the best system to get for
>QUALITY 3-D photos (for prints)...

It all depends on what type of 3-D prints you want to do. If your
talking about the traditional 7x3.5 inch stereo-cards then the 
Realist, Teco-Nimslo (or Nimslo), or a Pentax Beamsplitter (okay
stereo-adaptor for the purists!)are suitable canditates. You'll
notice I haven't mentioned the modern 7p or full frame cameras,
the reason being is that unless you'll be doing alot of cropping
you'll just be wasting film. The aspect-ratio of the above cameras
better fits the traditional ~3 inch width of the individual
stereo-pairs.

If you get a Realist, you'll have to make sure you can find a photo
developer that will process them for you. This is because they have
to manually feed the frames through one by one. Of course there
is no autoexposure but this is not a serious problem since most
often you can get by without one. Advantage is you have full control
of the settings and if you want to use it as a P&S you can do that
also!

As for the Nimslo, don't discount it yet or put it with the same
league with the Nishika or other lenticular cameras. The Nimslo is
an excellent camera optically. As for the Pentax Beamsplitter,
this too is capable of very good quality but there are limitations
as to what apertures you can use and lenses. The advantage taking
this route is that you can get them processed anywhere as standard 
4x6 inch (or other standard sizes) prints. There is a concern with
keystoning distortions but in this case is not objectionable.

Now if your going to be doing full frame stereo-prints then your
probably looking at using a View-Magic viewer (another topic).
In this case your choices would be the RBT, which costs $2000,
,twinning 2-D cameras, or getting a 7-p cameras. My personal
choice would be twinning 2-D cameras. The only disadavantage 
there might be the wider than normal separation between the
lenses, which would be problematic in close-up shots. This would
be an advantage though for scenic shots.

>If the Realist is the way to go (for prints) what do I need to
>'modernize' it and do you guys use a hand held meter or guess at
>the correct exposure?

The only thing you have to do as George said is to file of the
bump for the flash. Other than that the exposure is set following
the sunny day rule which works quite well. Some P3D members mention
you can check you meter by this rule! Indoors you the flash would
dictate the settings to use.

Bottom line is the best value would be to get one of those 50's 
cameras (Realist is my personal preference, others prefer the Kodak)
from someone other than those photoshops. Prices for a fair one goes
from $100 to $150.

Gabriel 


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