P3D Amazing slide bar!

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

OK, Tom Deering broke the secret:

> Or you can buy a really swell slide bar from George Themelis for
>$40 that makes doing macro shots a breeze.  (Nice piece of equipment,
>George.)  

More than macro!!!  Just about anything within a normal base and
really fast.  Did you get one Tom?

Here is the deal:  Richard Fier, a fellow club member, discovered
this amazing slide bar and he realized the stereo potential right
away.  He showed it to me and I got hooked.  I bought 5 and brought
them to the NSA trade show.  Those who saw it bought it.  I had
to fight with a couple of guys to keep mine.

What's so special about it?  It consists of a wide base that 
attaches to the camera and then to a platform.  The camera can
slide from side to side very fast and take the pair
in less than one second if you have a winder in the camera.
The distance from side to side is about 80 mm, good for normal
stereo.  For hyperstereo there is quick release that quickly
releases the camera with the base for cha-cha :-) or even slide
in a flat surface.  The wide base helps slide better.

What makes this bar work well is that it slides freely.  No rack
and pinion, just free slide.  Now, why would anyone want to use
a (inherently slow) rack and pinion system when free slide will
achieve the same thing but must faster?  Flexibility. It can be
graduated for macro work or be used for normal tripod single
camera stereos.

Some of things I plan to do:  SINGLE camera portraits of my kids.
Almost anyone can stay still for 1 second.  Advantages:  Same
lens, flexible stereo base, horizontal format for easy cropping.

Plus, it is dirty cheap!!!

Anyway, I just depleted the B&H inventory.  This is a standard
photographic item, BO3273, marketed by Bogen (not for stereo,
of course!)  I will sell my limited stock for $40 which is about
what it will cost from B&H with shipping too.  I will bring it
to Cleveland and Detroit clubs.  And I will write an article/review
in the first issue of the Stereogram.  (Did not see much interest
for the free issue.  All the subscribers as of June will get it
with a renewal notice.)

Go slide!

George Themelis

PS.  I have a "fancy" slide bar myself too... but will most probably
use this new one for most of my work in the future (plus fast single 
stereos that I could not do up to this point).  I tried to buy these
from the manufacturer but could not.  I hope Dalia will carry them 
for those who cannot get it elsewhere or simply don't know about it.
It's one of the best stereo products I have seen lately.  Check my
full illustrated review in Stereogram 3.1 (remember: FREE copy!!!)
(Also planned for review in this issue:  Paul Talbot's amazing
stereo slide storage pages!)


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