P3D More on TDC Vivid quirks

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some time back there was a discussion of various quirks
of the much-loved TDC Vivid stereo camera.  Around that
time I acquired one of these charming cameras and ran a
test roll of film through it.  I was surprised to find
that every shot had a 1 mm frame overlap.  It seemed too
consistent to be a film advance slippage problem.  The
overlap was enough to make it extremely difficult or
impossible to adjust the stereo window with the chips
from the Vivid--there just wasn't any room for adjusting
the position of the chips without causing the overlapped
part of the frame to show.  I decided not to keep the
camera.  :-(

Well, I recently learned that this is probably a
feature of many TDC Vivid cameras.  The designer of
the Vivid, from what I'm told, was a speaker at the
NSA conention in Bellevue.  Don Lopp recently told
me that he spoke with this man at the convention, and
tried to secure an explanation as to why on earth
anyone would design a stereo camera with no "wiggle
room" in the chips.  Don says no satisfactory answer
was provided.

Don also indicated that he modified a number of
Vivids for friends of his by a) masking down the
film gate apertures to eliminate the frame overlap;
and b) grinding down that pesky little protrusion
in the left film chamber that causes flare problems!

Bruce and other Vivid owners, how do you deal with
the Vivid frame overlap problem?  Or is ther more
than one "edition" of the Vivid, some of which lack
the overlap characteristic?

Paul Talbot