[photo-3d] Re: No more Kodachrome

[Bob Aldridge <Bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 26/4/2001 10:36 am, Marshall Rubin wrote:

> yes, most of us agree that the discontinuance of k25 is a great loss.  i've
> received a hail of criticism for asserting that the future of photography
> lies in the digital realm, and that instead of investing in antique 3d
> cameras, it might be a good idea to open up to the new format. i even went
> so far as to predict that digital will equal or surpass film very soon. i
> mean VERY soon!

And I tend to agree with you, but with certain reservations.

Density of storage is the main one. A piece of Realist format film holds
many megs of data - I know, I'm nearly at the end of my project to digitise
the Pat Whitehouse "Tribute to Handel" show. The 116 stereo slides (film
only - no mounts) take up very little physical space. The digital files
stored onto CDs will fill about 16 CDs, and I have two versions - raw and
"film ready" which means that I'll need more than 30 CDs.

People regularly go off and shoot 116 stereo slides on a weekend trip. How
will they store the files? They'll have to compress them, of course. And
lose quality.

> eventually all film-based cameras will hit the dust, though not for a while.
> the main problem right now is in digital projection.  digital projectors are
> costly, but when was the last time that someone described the rbt projector
> as "cheap"?

Well, if you look at digital projectors, how many can you find AT ANY PRICE
that will project 2700 pixels high? Most are well under 1000. Yet the RBT
(and every other film projector does this routinely. 2700 pxels is what it
takes to get a film quality output from a digital file...

> if your precious slides have ever been melted or mangled just once by a tdc
> stereo projector, that might be an incentive to move on.

But what is wrong with the hybrid approach? Shoot film and digitise it
later. That way you can get 29 pairs (Realist format) on your film,
comparing favourably with about 30 pairs of 2.1 megapixel compressed scans
on a 64 Meg smart memory card. Of course, you can't re-use the film. But you
can buy about 12 of them and get them processed for the same cost as the
smart card...

> i expect more criticisms, and name-calling, but the more we cling to the
> past, the longer it will take for a stereo digital camera to be produced.

Well, until the technology has caught up, there's no point in switching. And
digital projection has a very long way to go.

Personally, I can't wait! No more setting up multiple format projection
systems (I've had to use up to four different systems in one session before
now!) just let the computer adapt the formats.

I just think that you are a little premature!

Bob Aldridge
Projectionist
The Stereoscopic Society


 

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