P3D Re: medium format 3d

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Lincoln wrote:
> 
> Does anyone here shoot medium format 3-D?
> 
> I have been thinking about it for quite some time.  Any recomendations
> for what cameras to use?  I would be willing to spend as much as $350
> on a used slr med format, or about $100 on a used TLR.  Are there any
> good ones in those price ranges?
> 

I've been doing medium format stereo for almost two years now.  I
don't think I ever would have gotten into stereo if I started with
35mm.  The images are so much bigger that it's easy to mount without a
magnifier.  (After years of 4x5 I can't get myself to look at 35mm
without a magnifier.  My eyesight isn't that good, and I want to see
all the details.)

I started with (and still use) a pair of Lubitel 166U cameras.  These
are plastic TLR cameras (with glass lenses).  I mount them on a flash
bracket, or use one of them on a macro focusing rail that I use as a
slide bar.  I also have a used Yashicamat 124G that I have used with
the rail.  I recently got the Bogen sliding plate mount that George
has mentioned, but I haven't used it with the MF stuff yet.  It works
fine with my 35mm Pentax and my 4x5 Speed Graphic.  (Unfortunately
technical problems with the film prevented me from getting any useable
4x5 stereo pairs.)

The Yashicamat takes very nice pictures, but the price on these
cameras has gone through the roof as the camera gets popular again.
This is a heavy camera, heavier than both the Lubitels and flash
bracket.  Maybe not as heavy as a Realist.  :) The flash sync lever
(which lets you switch from M (bulbs) to X (electronic flash)) is easy
to flip in the wrong direction, and I lost almost all of the pictures
from a trip to Kennedy Space Center and a roll from my brother's
wedding because of this.

The Lubitels produce nice pictures (at least mine do), but
unfortunately they are no longer in production (according to
Freestyle).  You might want to try Freestyle
<URL:http://www.fresstylesalesco.com/> to see if they have any left.
Lubitels (and the Sputniks and Seagulls) were built without any
Quality Assurance.  This gives them a bad reputation, but my two
cameras are pretty good.  One has a slow shutter, but other than that
they're fine.

Calumet <URL:http://www.calumetphoto.com/>, who also used to sell the
Lubitels, now sells a Seagull TLR.  These are the (in)famous Chinese
TLRs which Porters sold and also were out of production for a while.
They have a very bad reputation, but Calumet has a very good
reputation and doesn't sell junk.  They don't pretend these are
Rolleis, they sell then as a cheap intro to MF.  I played with one in
the NYC store and its fit and finish was about as good as my
Yashicamat.  It doesn't have a meter.  If I hadn't already bought the
Yashicamat I would have bought the Seagull.  I haven't seen any
pictures taken with these cameras.  The current "Web Holiday Price"
for these cameras is $119.95.

You could also look for a used Sputnik stereo camera.  These were made
by the same people who made the Lubitel, and used the same lenses.
Like the other cameras the quality varies and you should be prepared
to fix light leaks.

Alan Lewis <URL:http://members.home.net:80/3-d/> and Sam Smith
<URL:http://www.cadvision.com/3dhacker/> have several MF stereo
projects on their home pages.  Joel Alpers at Rocky Mountain Memories
<URL:http://www.frii.com/~rkymtmem/> sells MF stereo mounts in a few
formats (6x6, 6x4.5) and the Alan Lewis Saturn MF stereo viewer kit.
This is an incredible viewer.

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
reynolds@xxxxxxxxx              | "Oooh!"
http://www.panix.com/~reynolds  |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
NAR# 54438                      |       "Dexter's Laboratory"


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