Re: [photo-3d] Externally twinnable SLRs

["Dennis M. Hanser" <dmhanser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Davis wrote:
> 
> All this talk about twinning Ricoh and Pentax cameras has gotten me
> wishing.
> 
> So what are the best available models to use for this?  I believe the Ricoh
> and Pentax cameras under discussion to NOT have auto-focus, right?  I've
> heard people praise the Canon Rebel X for this purpose. 

I recently purchased 2 Canon Rebel 2000 (latest incarnation
of the rebel x ??)
and am VERY pleased with the cameras. Bought the bodies for
$259 each, and passed on the 35-70 lenses because of the bad
quality reports. Instead, I looked thru my back issues of
POP PHOTO for the best reasonably priced zooms for the Canon
cameras. Also wanted 28mm at the low end so I looked at
28-105 zooms and settled on a suprising Sigma 28-105 that
had better numbers than some more expensive lenses in the
reports. They were $139 ea(or was that $239, I better double
check that). I would be happy to email you copies of these
lens tests if you would like to see the numbers for
yourself. You might want to spend more, but I thought I
decided to try these first and have been pleased with the
lenses to this point. I did the brick wall test to check how
well they matched. The lenses appear to match well at both
ends. I haven't measured anything, but cannot see any size
differences at either 28mm or 105mm. There is some
distortion (field curvature--pincushion) in this lens but
they seem to match each other in this regard as well. The
distortion is almost non-existant at 28mm but increases to
the point that it is apparent to the naked eye at 105mm.  I
haven't shot enuff film yet ( only about 10 rolls)to make
any in-depth judgement, but what I see so far is extremely
encouraging. With all I had heard about zooms for 3-d I
expected to have problems, but so far have not had any. I
have not linked the lenses yet, and may never do so since it
is not a problem for me to preset focal length. I also tend
to not use auto focus since I also preset using the
hyperfocal distance for max sharpness, etc., but it's there
if I need to use it. Another thing that I am happy with is
the syncronization between the two bodies. Canon makes a
release cord/switch that has a two positions and allows you
to 'preset' the cameras so they are ready to shoot, then by
depressing the same button further, fire the cameras. This
allows sync without any camera mods. It was important to me
to be able to get good sync without tearing into the new
bodies and voiding warranties, etc..   The cord sell for
$19.95. I bought two and spliced them together in parallel
so one button fires both cameras. I added diodes later just
to be safe, but the cameras functioned perfectly even before
the diodes were added.
In all I am pleased with this system and if you have further
questions I would be happy to reply on or off list as the
situation dictates.

Dennis Hanser
Member--Detroit Stereographic Society