P3D Stitz in closet

[SHIELDS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi!

I found a Stitz beamsplitter in my closet!  8^>
No, not really! But after all the postings, and especially after
some e-mail from Ben Melton, who is without a doubt the most
accomplished beamsplitter user I've ever heard from, some
things began to come together in my head. I thought about
what I had in the closet, I thought about the Franka splitter
and the studies I've made of pictures of it. I thought about
what I learned about the Stitz from Ben and from people who
posted to the list.

I went into the bathroom, where a giant mirror, similar to the
ones in the Franka (even to its second surface!), swings on a fully 
adjustable axis.  B-) I imagined that I was inside the camera, and I 
held various objects in my field of view and moved them back and forth.
It became clear to me that if something is close to the camera, you
must toe the mirrors in. That's really pretty simple and obvious.
Closeups are something a lot of stereographers do, and if they don't
toe in their mirrors, they toe in their twin cameras, or their one
camera on a slide bar. I wasn't so sure about the telephoto part.
I had tried a splitter on my 85mm lens, and the images were too far
apart. The bathroom mirror proved that I needed toe out for such
a situation. Seems obvious, but you never know 'til you try.

NOW is the part that gets really interesting! If I'm going to use a
telephoto for closeups to avoid toeing in, then that must mean that the
avoidance of toeing in by using a telephoto and the need to toe out
because I'm using a telephoto should cancel each other out at some point,
and a nonadjustable beamsplitter will be just right at that point. Where do 
they cross? I excitedly dug in the closet, producing the 85mm lens and 
the Stereotach splitter. Where do they cross? Right where a +2 closeup 
lens focuses and both images are perfectly centered on their respective 
film chips, at a really nice range for average size flowers!

Thanks, Ben, and all the list people who wrote!

I can't wait to put some Kodachrome in the camera and find some flowers!

Mark Shields

   |\	   _,,,---,,_
   /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_
  |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
 '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)
shields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.netcom.com/~northws1/stmatt.htm
"Let the little children come to Me," Jesus said, "and don't keep
 them away. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
  -Matthew 19:14



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