P3D StereAll Viewer

["Norm in S.F." <normlehf@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been pleasantly surprised by the arrival of a StereAll Realist
format viewer, purchased on eBay last week.

The StereAll camera--made by the Universal Camera Corp., bottom feeders
of the photo industry--is not much to brag about. It is a
plastic-bodied, fixed-focus, fixed-shutter speed, low priced ($49.95 in
1954) item for the unparticular.

But the viewer was made for Universal in Germany--by whom, I don't know.

The lenses appear to be of glass and seem to be of more than acceptable
quality. The body is of black bakelite. There is an interocular
adjustment and a focus adjustment--the latter a little spongy. The lamp
is operated by a clever toggle switch. (Universal devices often had
creative little design niceties, despite their low prices.)  The light
is toggled on by the insertion of a slide. You can turn it off and
partially eject the slide by pushing a little dog on the bottom of the
viewer. Of course, setting the viewer down does the same thing--pretty
swift!

The modern halogen lamp fits in it--dimple and all--although I need to
do a little burnishing of contacts, etc. to get it to light reliably. 

Another thing that surprised me is that the viewer pretty much covers
seven-perf film landscape. There is a little vignetting that the spoils
the window in critically mounted slides, but it's clear that the German
manufacurer intended it to be acceptable for seven-perf viewing.

I don't think this one was ever used. There is no corrosion in the
battery compartment and it came in a shopworn box--although there is no
instruction sheet.

I got it from Pittsburgh Camera Exchange for a bid of $49.97. I think
this is a bargain, since Cynthia Repinski, in her book about Universal,
lists this item in the very rare category. I only wanted it to have the
StereAll set for my collection. But I think I will keep in the user
drawer.

Norm Lehfeldt