P3D Math-LESS solution for Realist close-ups

[Tom Deering <tmd@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I took a stunning picture this summer that was a failure.

I found an abandoned train station in a tiny Wisconsin town.  I showed up
at dawn, and snapped several really nice photos.  Perhaps the nicest shot
showed the train station in the background and some brilliant purple
wildflowers in the foreground.  When I proudly showed it to people in
Richmond, it was prounounced a failure.

While the exposure and composition were perfect, it was hard to view.  This
slide had too much depth.  I've designed a simple tool to help me avoid
this situation in the future.  You can see it at:

http://www.deering.org/curves.html

It solves  something that always confused me.  The 1/30 rule says my
Realist can't shoot anything closer than 7 feet, but the camera can be
focused down to 2.5 feet.  Photos I've taken with close objects were
sometimes viewable, and sometimes not, for a reason I couldn't explain.

The tool at http://www.deering.org/curves.html will help.  It shows how
close you can really get with your stereo camera.  It works for most 50's
era stereo cameras, and can easily be tucked into a camera bag. And best of
all, NO MATH at all!

Cheers,

Tom



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