P3D Re: Clarification on deWIjs COMBY viewer

[fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Dr. George A. Themelis)]

Bill Walsh wrote:

>(the viewer) will not handle Realist format glass mounted slides the slot
>is not long enough and needs to be milled down a hair.  Bill

and Jon Golden replied:

>Actually Bill thats partially right. The deWijs viewer CAN handle the
>glass EMDE and Albion slides....but not with the aluminum glass binder
>jacket.  If the glassed slide is bound by tape...it works just fine. 
>
>Maybe Dr T can do a test for us...he has the COMBY STL too.

Yes, Jon is correct.  No problem with the tape bound glass slides, but
the EMDE aluminum bider at the top of the glass exceeds the dimensions
of the holder.  I think Hugo de Wijs should give an extra mm or two
(that's all it's needed) in the slot.  I don't see a reason for such
tight fit.

I have been enjoying the viewer too!  It is custom machined from aluminun
and even carries a serial number.  The slide holder can be flipped
over in a second to change from 41x101 to 50x50 mm viewing.  That's the
most ingenious design I have ever seen.  Mr. Hugo is a genious!  (BTW,
if you want to see a picture of him and his wife working on these
viewers, check "3D Past and Present" (available from 3D Book Productions
in the Netherlands)  Hugo is pictured in the first pages "The Third
Dimension as a Career" is the title of the chapter.  This was written
in 1986 so Hugo has been around for a while... I am thankful to Jon
Golden who "discovered" him and made his products readily available in
the USA.

When I saw the viewer in Jon's room in the NSA convention, I experienced
a visual shock by the image clarity (a good demo slide helps too :-))
So I had to have one and I did get one the last day of the convention.

I liked this viewer so much that I got both lens pairs, 45 and 50 mm.
The 45 mm is the same FL as the Realist red button, only in his one
you can see the entire width of the full frame with no problem.
The 50 mm FL are huge coated achromatic lenses.  Quality of the image
is superb.  Almost as good as the Realist red button. :-)

The only drawback of the system is that the power supply costs more
than the viewer!  So I skipped the supply.  As it turns out, the viewer
has "a three layer cobalt glass diffuser which efficiently gathers light
even from low light sources" (that what Jon's brocure says and I can
testify that it is certainly true!!!)  So, you really don' need the light
supply as you can point the viewer to any light source and pick up a very
bright & totally diffused light.  You can also experiment with various
light source colors easily...  However it would be nice to have some kind
of light source, especially if the viewer is used in display/demonstrations,
so I am ready to order the compact FL table per Greg Erker's suggestion.

I will have both the RBT S1 and the comby viewer in our next club meeting
(Tuesday Dec. 1st).  Hope to see some of you there!

George Themelis, reporting from Cleveland OH, home of some 
expensive stereo toys... and tools.


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