P3D Auto vs Manual and camera recommendations

[Watters <mdwatters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joseph Covington says he'd like an automatic camera because it's less 
time consuming:

It's not clear to me if you mean auto-exposure or auto-focus.

If you mean auto-exposure, I'd disagree that it's all that time 
consuming.  For MOST situations where you'll be shooting it just a 
matter of taking a single meter reading, setting the camera and shooting 
away.  If an AE stereo camera is what you're after, there's only two 
choices:  FED (decent 7P camera but a pro photographer will be 
unimpressed by it's construction) or hacked cameras (either twinned 
cameras or siamese).

That leads me to believe you must mean auto-focus.  Rapid and reliable 
shooting is the best argument for AF cameras.  There's no such beast in 
terms of stereo cameras.  If you don't mind hyper though, you could wire 
up a pair of AF SLRs.  The main trick is going to be hoping the two 
cameras actually choose the same point to focus on.  Gives you the other 
advantages of SLRs though.  I've seen people running on twin Maxxum 
rigs.  

If you want a fully automatic system, I think the only serious way to go 
is with twinned (just shutters wired together) point&shoots.  P&S 
cameras are small enough that a twin rig won't be objectionably hyper.  
For fixed lenses there are several models that have been used frequently 
and shown to be reliable (Olympus XA-2 and Nikon Lite-Touch).  You could 
also consider getting a pair of cameras with switchable lenses (28/45 or 
35/70 are common ones).  Gives you a choice of focal lengths without the 
pain of trying to match positions on a pair of zoom lenses.

The downside of shooting automatic camera stereo rigs (twin rigs that 
is) is that usually both camera's exposure systems are running 
independantly.  This is generally OK in typical shooting situations 
(outdoor scenes lit flatly, flash shots etc) but they'll freak out in 
unusual lighting.  (Stage lighting, backlit subjects, etc).  

I've got three different auto-exposure stereo cameras/rigs and one fully 
manual camera.  I'll decide which one to use depending on what I'm 
shooting and what I'm expecting the lighting to be like.  The FED is 
generally the handiest, but the lack of manual override is annoying (my 
main complaint with the camera).  The twin SLRs gives you the ultimate 
in control with electronic cues, but it's REAL hyper.  The twin XA-2 rig 
is much less hyper and real handy to use, but doesn't cut it for odd 
lighting since the two cameras run on auto-only.  The manual camera 
(home-built) is the choice if I need manual exposure control with a 
realistic interoccular.

Of course, if price is no object, just drop a few thousand on an RBT.  
You won't get AF, but it's a nice package of features.

mike
watters


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