[photo-3d] Stereo for Beginners

[Bill C Walton <bill3dbw3d@xxxxxxxx>]

Might as well add my two cents to this discussion.  I started stereo in
1973 with a Tri-Delta Beam splitter mounted on a Canon SLR making stereo
prints, of course.  I bought the whole Tri-Delta "kit" including the
adaptor for a standard slide projector to enable me to project the
slides.  I tried a roll of slides, but found little satisfaction in that
facet of stereography and went back to prints.  I was happy with the
stereos I was making but realized I was losing so much of the image when
I enlarged the negatives to standard stereo card height (about 3 1/4
inches), since the Tri Delta negatives are split lengthways and are "long
and skinny"..

 Sometime in 1974 I read about a Iso Duplex which used 120 roll film. 
Figuring I would get bigger negatives I ordered one of these from Oldens
in New York for $110.  When it arrived I realized the "big negatives" I
had been hoping for were not in the deal.  But now I had two vertical
negatives which were easily enlarged to stereo card format without losing
so much of the image.  However the lens separation was to narrow for the
kind of stereography I was doing, following soldiers through various
types of infantry training, and the "apparent depth" I was looking for
was not there.

Not realizing that the IQ of a rocket scientist was required to operate a
Realist I bought my first one in April 1978 (just after joining the SSA
in March) I figured that if I could repair the very complicated fuel
control of a disabled helicopter, located in a combat zone with a guy on
a hill about 300 yards away occasionally shooting at me, then I could
surely take pictures with a simple manual camera.  (The "guy on the hill"
problem was solved when I called for help from one of our helicopter
gunships and he put 4 pairs of 2.75" high explosive rockets into the top
of that hill and eliminated the problem)  Been using a Realist since
then, 99% of the time for prints, of course. I bought a TDC  716 for $5
in 1985, shot my first Realist size slides then.  I shoot enough slides
to enter some of the PSA sponsored stereo exhibitions (mostly to provide
comic relief for the judges)

I recommend to stereo beginners that they shoot with whatever kind of
camera they now have, using the Astronaut Shuffle to make their pictures,
and I also recommend they start with prints.  It is so easy to explain 
how to make stereos by this method. I suggest they start with something
they are familiar with, like their car or their home, moving the camera a
sufficient distance to create the apparent depth. No complicated
formulas, no measurements.  Take one picture, move right or left and take
the second. Then if they get interested I encourage them to either put
two cameras together or to think about a stereo camera.  

I collect Stereo Cards of Vietnam Veteran Memorials and I am constantly
searching for more of them.  I ask folks that have these Memorials in
their locations to make me stereos of them using the Astronaut Shuffle
and the success rate is quite high.  I always suggest that they make
stereos with several different base separations and I pick out the ones I
like the best.

I still have my Tri-Delta Rig as well as my Iso Duplex although I don't
use either of them very much. But I do put a lot of Black & White Film
through my Realist.

Just some musings from Georgia

Bill C Walton
Bill3DBW3D@xxxxxxxx
Promoter of Stereo Card Activities
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