P3D Looking for Realist SN & date data

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

Greetings!

I am working on a book on the Stereo Realist camera and I hope
to complete it by the NSA convention this July.  In this book
I would like to have information about serial numbers and date
of manufacture.  During my Realist repair work I have noticed
that many times (1 out of 2?) inside the lens board there is a
penciled date and initials.  This is the date the camera was
put together.  By collecting data like this, we can have a good
idea of when a camera of a given serial number was made and
how many cameras were sold per year.

Ron Zakowski has this information but, for good reasons which
I don't want to discuss, he does not want to share with others
at this point.  We could use the power of the Internet and collect
this information for ourselves.

What I would like from you is the following:

1. Serial number of your Realist (this is usually stamped at the
   bottom of the camera but in some later Realists it is engraved
   in the side)

2. Special features in your Realist:
   - lenses
   - Double exposure button, Depth of Field (DOF) scale?
   - exposure or hyperfocal table under the cover?

3. Date of manufacture from inside the lens plate.  You can easily
   remove the lens plate:  Set the speed at 1 sec, remove 4 screws
   from the front and two screws from the top, pull lens plate (this
   is totally safe), record any dates or markings in the inside 
   of the plate, put back.

Example of a short entry:

Realist 3.5 Ilex, SN=8743, no DEP/DOFscale, hyperfocal table, 
penciled inside: LHD, 4/49

What you will gain from doing this:  Satisfy your curiosity of when
the camera was made.  Help others get this information (a summary
of the results will be posted in photo-3d).

Please forward this information to me via personal email.

Thank you!

George Themelis
mailto:DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


------------------------------