P3D stereo to go

[northws1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark J. Shields)]

After reading other posts about twin rigs and actual stereo cameras,
I had some thoughts.

This past summer I thought a lot about acquiring a FED. I have a
Nimslo that I take along on bicycle trips. It is outfitted with
Velcro distance and closeup lenses and a Velcro ND filter for
backlit situations. I thought a FED would be nicer with a film
speed dial for exposure compensation and a continuously focusing
lens. I e-mailed a lot of people and asked a lot of questions. The
FED is larger and heavier than the Nimslo, but still not too big
and is rather smoothly shaped compared to a lot of '50's stereo
cameras.

When I have anything in front of me, from beautiful scenery to squirmy
kids, I want to get the picture. I want it to be sharp and
well-exposed. Before I got my Nimslo, I heard it had great lenses.
I have never been disappointed there. But the FED lens test I found
in the archives didn't go below f/5.6, which is the maxiumum aperture
of the Nimslo lenses. No one would tell me that the FED could do well
at f/4 or f/2.8. And I got occasional reports that the lenses weren't
even that great at smaller apertures.

The Nimslo exposes very well until the red light comes on, and
sometimes lower than that. I was told that the FED couldn't handle
low light well at all--not even as well as the Nimslo, despite its
f/2.8 lenses. The metering system just isn't as sensitive.

There was a freak roll midsummer--strange underexposures. I tested
and found nothing wrong. I never "sunned" the camera but have kept
it out in the light more. I've never had a really bad exposure since.
I'm convinced the Nimslo is much more reliable than the FED.

So I decided to stick with the Nimslo, and even got the brand new one
(about 1/3 the price of a FED) so I could keep on shooting if my old
one broke. A sharp, accurately exposed 4-perf image is worth more to
me than a soft, poorly-exposed 7-perf.

Don't get me wrong. If I can ever afford to buy a FED and deal with
its eccentricities, I'll still go for a larger image. Maybe shoot
on manual at 1/30 and whatever f-stop in the shade. But not now.

FWIW, when I rode my bicycle from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC about
two years ago, I took along my Olympus OM-10 and Olympus XA2. I used
the XA2 a lot more on the trail because it was so quick and easy to
get out. I had the OM-10 along mostly to shoot when I got there and
was staying with friends, where quickness and lightness didn't matter
so much anymore. It was good for shooting from the Hilltop House in
Harper's Ferry, WV (I had the 85mm lens on it). I had to crop a lot of
the XA2 images because of light fallof in the corners.

Mark

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