P3D Stereo slides are easier than some people think!

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

Greg mentioned a friend who got hooked on lenticulars and Tom
mentions his brother who, even though is thrilled with Tom's
slides, is not willing to bother (especially mounting his own
slides) And concludes:

>The Loreo looks like just the thing for him.  Point and shoot, drugstore
>processing of drugstore film.  Built-in flash, easy to mail, duplicates are
>a snap, and no mounting.  And the camera is only 80 bucks.
>    
>If only stereo slides were that easy.

Stereo slides is not that far away.  200,000 people took them
when the only game in town was Kodachrome 10.  Today's fast films
make stereo slide shooting much easier and, the lower your
standards, the easier it is!

The proof:  Ken Mondak from work, Treasurer of our club last year.
He saw my slides a few years ago and was amazed!  He was then
given a Realist for free and I sold him a Kodaslide II for $100
(should have asked more! he can afford it).

When he shows his slides he likes to say:  The most amazing thing
about these pictures is that I took them!  For the longest time
he used his Realist at f11, 1/100 and focused at infinity!!!
That's what he used for every single picture!  He made the
Realist a point and shoot camera and came from his vacations 
with wonderful stereo slides (OK, all of them outdoors in mid
day, some dark, but a very high ratio of good ones - he even won
a couple of awards in our competitions last year).  Lately, I've 
tried to teach him 2-3 more settings and the use of flash.
He still focuses at infinity...

Mounting?  He pays someone to mount his slides.  Kodak still
offers a mounting service and I know many (lazy? :-)) stereo
photographers who use it even though they can mount very well.
(If you think about it, it makes good sense if you are *not* in 
a hurry to see your pictures).

If he can do it, 50% of the adult population (that's a huge
number!) could do it too.  Having very high standards in terms
of sharpness, exposure and mounting accuracy does not help,
but those who are satisfied with Loreo prints cannot be very
picky anyway.

George Themelis

PS. I did not write this convince Tom or his brother, but the
many lurkers in photo-3d who might think that shooting stereo
slides with a 50s stereo camera is too complicate and hesitate
to try it.  Borrow a stereo camera (maybe a Kodak - I hate to
say this! :-)) and try it!!!  Take your first roll on a sunny day 
with a film rated ISO 100 and the camera set permanently at f11, 
1/100 and focused at 15 feet (that's a little bit better than 
infinity!).  Send your film to Kodak to mount.  View the slides
with a $3.25 viewer from Reel 3-D.  You will be happy!!!


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