[photo-3d] first XA twin K200

[Mark Shields <beamsplitter@xxxxxxxx>]

I got back my first pair of Kodachrome 200 rolls from my Olympus
XA twin rig today (two XA's on a bar from Rocky Mountain
Memories). I was very pleased overall.

Exposure was excellent and perfectly matched on every frame. What
little bracketing I did was needless. (The shutter speed needles
in the viewfinders were showing about a half stop difference, but
that had no effect on the actual exposure.)

I loved being able to focus with the rangefinders. It is a kind of
slow rig to use, but not too bad. The controls are well laid out
and easy to use. I still don't quite have the hang of pressing
both releases at the same time, but it rarely ruined a shot for
me. (I know, though, that on my second pair of rolls, in the rig
now, I fluffed an action shot of a Trailways bus--I'll have two
good flat shots.  :-\  )  My understanding is that if the shutter
releases of these cameras are linked with wiring, exposure
will vary erratically between the two cameras. (XA2 twin rigs
are not supposed to suffer from these problems.)

The extra lens separation (about 110mm) ranged from mildly
annoying on macro shots and portraits to pleasing on medium
scenery shots like my house in the snow, but it never ruined a
shot. By contrast, the Nimslo doesn't have quite enough (50mm)
for my taste. (The Pentax beamsplitter, and most Realist-format
camreras, have 70mm.)

It is truly a "camera for all occasions," and for my purposes
beats the Nimslo hands down. I did indoor shots without flash
(hard with the Nimslo--possible with 400 film and bright light),
macro (Barbie dolls--not _too_ close, but useable), portraits
(my mother's 80th birthday), and scenery (my house in the snow).

The Nimslo is lighter and shorter, but the XA twin rig is slimmer
and fits more nicely in my briefcase. The Nimslo will do nicer
close portraits using an adjacent pair of lenses, _if_ you can get
the exposure right. The Nimslo can't touch the XA for exposure
accuracy. The Nimslo will also do better for flowers, but I've
never made a good focusing aid for such close shots, and a lot of
my attempts have been not quite sharp. I'll probably keep the
Nimslo for some applications--portraits can be bracketed--and it's
the only true stereo camera I have for action. The beamsplitter
rig, because of the horizontal shutter, isn't good for fast
action, although it handles most stuff O.K. (I have a "portrait"
lens--about 30 inches--for the Nimslo, and a "macro" lens--about
9 inches--both from StereoType [Craig Daniels] as well as
"Scenics" distance lenses, but they are a pain to use compared
to the continuous rangefinder focusing of the XA twin rig, and
easy to lose. I have Velcro on them to hold them in front of the
Nimslo lenses, and Velcro patches to store them on the camera when
not in  use.) For serious flower shots, the beamsplitter rig with
an 85mm lens, +1 closeup, and Stereo-tach beamsplitter can't be
beat.

On the minus side, I noticed a lot more light falloff
in the corners (vignetting) than on my first test rolls (Elite
Chrome 200). I'm sure this was accentuated by Kodachrome 200's
higher contrast. I would never use this rig as my main one for
full frame shots, if at all (I crop my slides down to the half
frame vertical beamsplitter format, which makes light falloff
meaningless, since I use only the center of each frame). I
consider the Nimslo flawless in this respect, although I hear
that those who have converted the Nimslo to an 8-perf format
have had really severe problems in this area.

FWIW, I still plan to keep the beamsplitter my main "user"
rig. Much as I liked the results tonight, beamsplitter rolls
are _much_ easier to cut, evaluate, and mount. I mounted nothing
tonight--just evaluated and did rough trimming so I could stick
the pairs in a mount and have a quick look. I'll go back later
and mount them permanently. If this had been a beamsplitter roll
[and _one_ roll instead of two, for 36 exposures], I would have
all my best shots mounted by now, or could have let Kodak mount
them in ordinary 2X2 mounts--no way to make pseudo pairs, etc.
The XA twin rig is just to keep with me all the time, and perhaps
on bike trips when I don't want to carry an SLR with beamsplitter,
although I've been thinking about putting a little basket on
the front of my bike, just for the beamsplitter rig (Olympus
OM-10, 50mm lens, Pentax beamsplitter).

Also FWIW, I am near the end of 72 exposures on Provia 400F
with my Yashica Samurai X3. Two of these would be quite hefty,
although I've heard they can be twinned using the remote release
socket, and I paid only $78 for mine (one) on eBay. It will be
interesting to see what the 400F can do with what I've subjected
it to. It's my first time having an autofocus camera, and I've
been learning how to deal with that. I have some more 400F on
hand, and will push a roll to 800. If that looks good, I may
try 1600. But I will say that, so far, I'm still stuck on
Kodachrome--200 for general use (and no filter except an 80C
for partial correction under incandescent), and 64 for fine grain
in the bright light of summer, using an 81A filter at all times.
Pushed (to 200) Provia 100F has finer grain, but bombs out on
reds (exaggerated), shade (very blue), and fluorescent (Kodachrome
200 looks great without any filter at all).

Happy shooting!

Mark Shields
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beamsplitter@xxxxxxxx
http://www.stmattpitt.org
"Whoever welcomes a child in My name welcomes Me," Jesus said.
"Whoever welcomes Me welcomes not Me but the One who sent Me."
  -Mark 9:37

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