P3D Re: Lens Test?

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

>Well, a bit of reality...in general no one can look at a print (slide) 
>and tell which camera it came from. 

What???  BobH, how dare you spread these heretic opinions in P3d? :-)

How about those who say they can tell a slide taken with a Belplasca
right away?  (I think even Piper's name was mentioned in such claims)
Or a Kodak?  (Yes, I have heard that too!  Too many times....)

I belong to 3 SSA and 1 PSA mail folios and I actively participate in
2 stereo clubs.  I get to see an average of 60 slides in a viewer (not
counting mine!) and 80 slides in projection a month.  Unless aided by
a special subject or format, I have no clue what camera was used.

A few years ago I got these great stereo slides from the 50s. They
looked so good I was afraid they were taken with a Kodak or a Revere
(I was in my Realist-doubting period). I took one apart and looked
at the witness marks (check Piper's Technical Pages on that). Sure
enough: Realist.  Not that I have not seen great slides from a Kodak
or a Revere.  It is just that I cannot tell what camera is used.

Even though my thriving stereo business :-) could allow me to buy
a Wollensak, Custom Realist, etc., I am currently using 2 Realists
(one of which was modified - not by me! - for 7p)  Plus, my SLR(s)
expand my horizons in techniques.  I have no desire to get yet another
5p/7p stereo camera.  I could be tempted by cameras with special 
features not found in the cameras I now own, like reduced interocular 
in the ISO Duplex (I'd like to go for less, not more) or macro Realist!

I participate in PSA sponsored stereo slide competitions and can
clearly see that imagination and creativity and not the stereo camera 
is what makes the difference.

-- George Themelis


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