[photo-3d] Why MF and not LF?

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

"David W. Kesner" <drdave@xxxxxxxxxx> asks:

> As for the argument of medium format being so much better - if
> that is the case then why isn't large format being touted as
> so much better than MF?

One significant reason is that with images wider than MF
6x6, you cannot view stereo images without going to some
sort of prismatic viewer design.  The separation is too
great for normal parallel viewing.  By contrast, the Alan
Lewis SaturnSlide MF viewer (proudly carried by RMM3D) is
a superb quality, reasonably priced viewer for MF stereo
pairs.  See http://rmm3d.com/viewers/satslide.html for
details, and Robert Thorpe's MF viewer gallery for info
on other MF stereo viewers.

And of course there are no readily available LF stereo
cameras, whereas Sputniks are inexpensive and affordable.
Twin camera MF stereo is also feasible with some MF cameras,
but twin camera LF stereo would be far more cumbersome.

I've heard of folks who have done 4x5 and 8x10 stereo slides
and viewed them on a lightbox with a View Magic.  Reports
are that the results are fantastic.  But the obstacles are
much greater, so even those who have tried it tend not to
pursue it much.

Interest in MF stereo has been surging.  Membership in the
MF3D discussion list has more than doubled in less than a
year.  http://www.pauck.de/archive/mailinglist/mf3d/mf3d.html

(Large format stereo is also sometimes discussed there.)

Paul Talbot