P3D the amazing Realorama

[Rod Sage <rsage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>It's probably too late to get the Realist Realarama viewer that
>was advertised on S3D, but I was just wondering how one
>works, and how good are the lenses? I'm supposing it has
>to use mirrors somehow so that both eyes look at the same
>slide. Would you have to put new lenses in one to make it
>really good? My school has an Agfascop viewer that has one
>big plastic lens to view a slide from a distance of about
>8 inches away from the viewer. It seems to impart a feeling of
>stereo to flat slides. It also has a yellowish bulb (110V)
>and I can feel sharp edges on the slide changer that would have
>to be smoothed off before I would trust it with valuable slides.

>Mark Shields

I have a Realist Realorama and I have to say it is amazing. The
Realorama uses a curved mirror which is about 2"x5" and is about 5" from
your eyes. The slide goes in vertically in the top front of the viewer
about 1" from your forehead. The image on the mirror is about 2"x2" and
is very distorted. I have a hard time focussing on the image and there
is no focus adjustment. The diffuser in front of the slide is too clear
and grainy. It is hard to get light to shine evenly through the slide
since your head is in the way. Since the light must come from above and
behind you to reach the slide, you can't help but get light bouncing
around inside the viewer. To get a bright image you would need to lop
off the top of your head. Other than that, it is a fine viewer.
I also have a Tower viewer which is a similar idea, having the curved
screen etc., but the slide is flat on top of the viewer, with a battery
powered light source above the slide. Vastly improved design.
Finally, there is the battery powered Sawyer Bi-Lens and it's clone the
Twin-Lens which are often confused with a stereo viewer. It uses a
combination of mirrors and partial mirrors to redirect the single image
into both eyes.
I would recommend the Bi-Lens first, if you can find one with clean
mirrors. The Tower second and the Realorama somewhat better than looking
through bubble wrap. But if you are ambitious and could replace the
diffuser and add a light source, you might might have something. I don't
know what, but something.
RDS