[photo-3d] Viewer Review - 4 - Price vs. Quality

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <drt-3d@xxxxxxx>]

--- CHAPTER 4:  PRICE VS. QUALITY

Now it is the time to tackle the old question of 
quality vs. price.  

I showed this little Ekeren 5XR viewer to my friends 
at work, asking them how much they thought it costs.  
The answer was $100.  Unfortunately, the viewer costs 
about 6 times as much, making it perhaps the most 
expensive piece of stereo equipment that most people 
own.  More expensive than a Realist 2.8 w/German 
lenses or a TDC 716 projector.  

Two questions might come up:  Why is it so expensive?  
And, is it worth it?

Other than the cost of the lenses, the materials in 
this viewer are not particularly expensive.  Most of 
the cost comes from "labor". This viewer is labor-
intensive.  There are a lot of pieces accurately cut, 
machined, assembled, glued and finished.  In a mass 
production, automated operation, you should expect 
the price of this unit to drop to more reasonable 
levels.  But until this happens, you will have to 
satisfy yourself knowing that you are paying for a 
custom-made job by one of the top authorities in the 
field.

Now, is it worth it?  

I mentioned the Realist 2.8 w/German lenses.  Do you 
think that this Realist is worth 5 times the price of 
a regular 3.5 Realist?  If you do, then you will 
certainly agree that this viewer is worth 5 times the 
price of a good Realist red button viewer.

This is what I call the "law of diminishing returns" in
stereo photography:

$100 (Realist or Kodak w/$3 viewer) can get you from the 
flat world of 2d photography to the wonderful world of 
stereo photography.  That's a HUGE LEAP!  From there on 
you can pay a LOT of money for small improvements.  It's 
up to you how far you want to "play this game."

There are people who do not see a big difference between 
a $3 plastic viewer and a $125 Realist red button viewer.  
Or they do not see a difference large enough to justify 
the investment (I have to keep reminding myself AND MY 
WIFE that this is an investment!)  Similarly, they will 
be those who do not see a large enough difference 
between the Realist red button and this Ekeren viewer.  

Here is what you get with this Ekeren viewer: 

1. Better-looking image, sharp corner to corner.  
While mounting my last batch of slides I could not stop 
admiring the sharpness of my S1 camera.  If you have 
invested a lot of money on a good stereo camera, 
perhaps you can consider investing some money to get 
the most viewing satisfaction out of it?

2. Better coverage of wider stereo formats, especially 
for glass wearers who use wider than Realist formats. 
Do you ever wonder how sharp your stereo camera lenses 
are?  Now you can tell (just look at the edges using 
super sharp viewing lenses).

3. Better illumination: I have always said that 
illumination is an area with most room for improvement. 
With this viewer you get wide, bright, even, flicker-
free light with the convenience of rechargeable 
batteries.   It cannot get any better than this.

4. Convenience: Combination of handling, weight, ease 
of use.  This viewer is more compact and weighs less 
than the red button (but perhaps not as beautiful?)  
It is also more convenient to use than other custom 
viewers with great optics.  

It is this optics plus convenience that won me over and 
made me put down my hard-earned money for this baby and 
tack the red button away.  As a consolation, the Ekeren 
viewer is also black and has a red button switch  :)

Next:  A less expensive alternative.

George Themelis