[photo-3d] Re Realist part II

[E R Swanson <ers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

//from the post by Linda N//

"What Chuck saw on ebay was probably a Steinheil 25 mm wide angle adaptor
for Realist, perhaps called a "telephoto" by a seller who didn't
understand the difference."

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Just a clarification, in case it was the Steinheil w/a adapter for a Kodak
that was recently on ebay... It was clearly identified as a W/A device. I
know, because I listed and sold it, and the buyer really likes it. The
Kodak Steinheil unit is quite different in how it mounts, but the optical
array looks pretty much the same as the one for the Realist.

I've built telephoto adapters for Kodaks using those high quality Series V
supplemental lens sets that were made for compact cameras (there's a huge
range of quality in them). They worked ok, but nothing to crow about, and
I tossed them after playing a little. If you remachine the W/A (these
adapters always come in sets of one WA and one telephoto, and you really
need to match brands for stereo mods) lens housings in a Kodak, as well as
the back of the lens housings in the adapters, you can fit them into a
Kodak and they work quite well. I made a permanent WA Kodak and even
modified the finder with a W/A lens so you could see the entire field of
view (you also saw the lens barrels on both sides). I say permanent
because I collimated the lens' infinity points for the WA installed. Some
people try to use a Series V extention and stick these things on a Kodak,
and of course, that doesn't work, because you've moved the lens too far
forward to focus.

The modified Kodak, and the Steinheil adapters seat the rear lens element
very close to the first triplet lens element in the Kodak.

BTW I also sold the permanently modified Kodak, and the guy (who shoots
only with Kodak) loves it. 

Kodak stereo cameras are really terrific cameras because they take good
pictures, and they're very simple to completely dismantle and repair. (To
anticipate responses, I don't do repair work-- if you own a Kodak, you'd
best learn how to fix it, and buy junkers for parts when you find them.
They aren't very heavily built. The problem with most of the Kodaks that
don't work are due to oil on the internal parts-- the Kodak factory did
this when they built and also repaired them. It takes about 3 naptha baths
to get all the oil out, and when you reassemble, use only the tiniest
amount of Mr. Zip graphite at crucial points. Do not ever use WD-40 like
Jess Powell says in his otherwise very informative repair video.)

--Elliott