Re: [photo-3d] Insane suggestions for beginners

[Ron Beck <rbeck@xxxxxxxx>]

Okay, my first stereo experiment consisted of two 35mm cameras (Rollei
35M & Konica FT1)with 50mm lenses mounted together on a bar and attached
to a tripod.  I knew nothing about keeping the cameras level or anything
else.  I shot slide film and had the slides developed at a 1-hour lab
and mounted.  I took care to make sure I knew which roll was from the
Right camera and which was from the Left.

I purchased a 2x2x2 "steal light" viewer to view my creations.  To my
surprise, 12 of the 26 exposures actually provided a pretty good stereo
image without remounting of any kind.  The others just didn't work for
one reason or another (don't remember why now).

Experiment two consisted of the same two cameras, print film and a
lorngette viewer.  Again, not knowing anything about card mounting,
results were mixed.

Experiment three consisted of two disposables connected to a wooden "L"
beam and a View Magic over/under viewer.  Much better success with
this.  On some photos, my coordination was good enough to stop motion. 
And, I found some photo album pages that would allow me to mount my
photos in an over/under configuration for viewing.  I even submitted
some of these views to the "Photo Expo II" circuit that took a year or
two (or three) to complete the circuit.

Experiment four, after much time with the friendly folks on this list,
consisted of a loaner Realist.  This is when I discovered that our local
Target store used Qualex as their processor.  My second Realist roll was
shipped off for Kodak to do their magic and came back in about a week
all mounted in Realist format slides ready for my viewer. (my first roll
was processed in a 1-hour lab and awaited mounting as soon as I
purchased mounting supplies, 8 months later!).  Of course, the next
couple of rolls took over three weeks, mainly because that was the time
Kodak shifted its stereo processing from Dallas (local for me!) to New
Jersey (really far for me!).

Finally, after a particular prosperous time, I was able to acquire a
Kodak Stereo, a VM Personal and assorted mounting supplies (cutter, heat
seal mounts, VM reels, etc...).  At the current time, I enjoy both my
Kodak Stereo and my ViewMaster Personal.  My kids really like the VM and
I get the best response from adults I show my new reels to.  I now do
most of my own mounting mainly because it's the most expedient method of
getting my slides mounted.  Kodak has started tacking on a surcharge
which trippled the price I was originally paying for stereo mounting. 
And I've found a good local lab who does a great job processing my slide
film and _NOT_ rolling it tightly.

Oh, I also have a Loreo that I let the kids play with and a mirror
attachment for the Fuji disposable that will give me a Loreo-like photo
too.  The Loreo photos of my sister-in-law's wedding came out pretty
good in spite of the fact that my 4yr old took most of them.

So, my advice to any beginner is to try them all and have fun.

Regards,
Ron