T3D Re: Copying 'Holmes cards' to slides...

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bill Costa writes:

>I'm thinking of making 35mm slide pairs of old stereo cards for
>stereo projection.  

Great idea!

>I'm going to use a ring light...

Not sure about that.... Ring light comes from the top, around the
lens, right?  It might cause (well, it will cause) reflections
in the glossy surface of the prints.  You might want to try two
flashes at 45 degrees.  One flash should also work if it is not
very close to the prints.  I have used one flash succesfully.
Other ideas are natural light (but watch for color balance, 
especially blue from sky) or photofloods.

>- Should I simply center each image in the view finder and fix up
>  the window on mounting

Yes, that's what you should do.  With the copied slides you can 
fix that window which is in the wrong place most of the time!
Also, remember that some cameras do not show 100% of the view 
photographed.  

You will have to decide if you want to include the arch or not.
(I'd rather leave it out if I have a choice).  You might try some 5p 
and some 7p compositions.

>- I was planning on using a straight edge for the bottom of the
>  card and simply slide the card from left to right when copying
>  each image.  

Yes, that's the way to do it!  Aligning the straight edge might be
a problem since you will not see it in the viewfinder... But once
aligned, you go on shooting without change.

>...do I need to watch for problems of
>horizontal alignment or rotation with the original images, or
>are these problems rare with such cards?

These problems are rare with good publishers (Keystone, U&U) but I have
encountered them with some second class publishers ("Realistic Travels")
    
> BTW -- I'll be using Agfa Scala 

Why?  Any color film should do equally good job IMO, plus capture some
of the original antiquish colors of the card.  One advantage of B&W
film is that you don't have to worry about colors and you could use
any source of light you want.

One last point:  Most cards are curved.  These are copied better if
held flat.  I have built a jig that holds the cards flat for copying
and the releases them when done.

Good luck!

George Themelis


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