P3D RBT S1 - I love it! :-), part 2

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

Last year, I was breaking down.  Asked Jon Golden about getting an S1 
but finally backed out.  I was not ready.  This year, I had some money
left from the sales in NSA (heck, I have sold over 30 Realists by now :-))
I asked Jon if it was worth considering a different RBT model, given
that I liked the autoexposure/autofocus, compactness and shorter spacing
of the S1.  Jon, that wise man, said "No".  "OK, fine", I replied, "just
get me an S1!"

Since the camera arrived last Friday, I have been doing a little research
(I always do the research after the purchase :-)... talking about impulse
buying!)  I read everything, from the instruction manual (trust me, that's
harder than it sounds!) to the reviews of the Konica Hexar.  Maybe it is 
the extra two years of experience, maybe it is the fact that I now OWN 
the camera (while two years ago I was just borrowing it) but now I read 
everything very carefully and I understood things better.  And the more 
I read, the more convinced I became that I made the right choice.  

I was under the impression that the Konica Hexar is a "point and shoot"
camera.  The reviewer in http://photo.net/photo/hexar.html clearly states
as a disadvantage that the camera is not a point and shoot camera.  First
it is rather heavy and second it gives you so much control (even in the 
Program and Auto mode) that you must know what you are doing, in order
to take the best advantage of it.  AND THAT'S A VERY GOOD THING, because
stereo photography requires much better control than ordinary photography.
Even if the camera is picking the apertures and shutter speeds for you 
so you can shoot without distractions, you must know and understand
and agree with the logic that the camera uses.  And that's exactly what
the Konica Hexar does.  And you have variables that you can set to make
sure that the camera will think and react as you would have done, if
you had the time to set the controls yourself!

Two years ago I did not realize how unique and clever Hexar's Program 
mode is.  Backed by a very sharp lens and a fine autofocusing system, 
the program mode is ideal for stereo photography and I plan to use it
in 90% of my photography.  In program mode, it is possible to 
hand-hold the camera under low light.  The camera will use a wide
aperture (if needed) but will never drop the speed below a minimum (set 
at 1/30s but can be changed) which eliminates a common cause of blurred 
pictures.  Under low light situations the depth of field might not be 
great but you are sure that your subject will be sharp that's what 
usually counts.  With older stereo cameras you need some decent apeture 
to get sharp pictures.  With the RBT S1 you learn that there is such
thing as f2.0!

After doing my research I concluded that Konica put a lot of thought
into this camera and RBT made a wise choice to pick this one for a
stereo camera system.  But, the final proof is in the pictures, so let
me tell you what happened in my first roll.
 
To be continued...

-- George Themelis


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