I'd written:
> > Forgot to mention this ... one thing I'm considering doing is
> > making some sort of dual-camera tripod/monopod mount for
> > stereophotography. I'd need to rig up a dual cable release,
> > and either work very slowly or find a way to gang the focus
> > rings of the two lenses together reliably (but in a way that
> > could be quickly removed and re-installed so I'd still have
> > use of the equipment conventionally).
William Robb wrote:
> I saw a guy doing this sort of stuff in Utah! a few years ago.
> He had a couple of Canon AE1's on either end of some sort of
> Manfrotto rig. It was very slow work.
*nod* I figured it'd be slow. Basically, the trade is cost,
availability (though it sounds like I was wrong about that),
and flexibility-in-some-situatons versus compactness, ease of
use, and flexibility-in-other-situations.
Tim Engel wrote:
> The Pentax Stereo Adapter and Viewer show up on ebay with some regularity.
> Unless you have a burning desire to do it yourself, why not pick on up in
> an auction?
I check eBay very sporadically -- I'll monitor it for a few days
to look for things I'm interested in, and watch them go out of
my price range (note: my price range is not particularly
realistic, and I know it ... ifwhen I get a reasonable income
stream again, that should change), then I'll sort of forget it's
there for a few months (or decide that there's no point in
looking until I've figured out how to pay my HMO premium that
month). I guess I've just managed to poke my head in there on
the weeks when nobody happened to be selling one.
So the answers to your question are: I didn't realize they were
that available, and gee, I'll have to start looking to see how
much they sell for there.
That being said, I've got some additional thoughts on the
matter:
The Pentax Stereo Adaptor would, as far as I can tell from
merely reading about it, be convenient for most ordinary
stereophotography situations. I wouldn't get a full-frame 24x36
neg/slide for each eye, but that would only really be a problem
in low-light situations where I was stuck with grainy film. So
for _most_ of what I want to use stereophotography for, it's
probably what I want to use if I can pick one up. Plus, if it
comes with the viewer, I can shoot slides and not have to worry
about pasting up the stereo pairs.
But I'm a tinkerer and an experimenter. And I like focal
lengths other than 50mm. And my way, at the price of being
a lot more to carry and fuss with, would let me use apertures
outside the f/4-f/8 range recommended with the Pentax Stereo
Adaptor.
In general, stereophography works best over a fairly limited
range of distances -- too far away and the effect is subtle
enough that it may not be worthwhile. But what if one moved the
lenses farther apart than normal eye spacing? I'm told that
this results in scenes that look minaturized, like dioramas
instead of real life, which would certainly be a _different_
effect, but could sometimes be useful when one wants the extra
information content of a stereo image, and isn't as concerned
with realistic perspective or the "Wow, that's cool!" factor.
And what about the opposite? This wouldn't work with two SLR
bodies side by side, but I wonder whether a dual-pinhole could
be configured to take three-dimensional photos _of_ dioramas,
model trains, etc. to make them look life-size by putting the
pinholes closer together than normal eye spacing?
So the answer is that for most of what I want, finding a stereo
adaptor for a single camera will be the right choice, but I'll
still be toying with the DIY ideas in the back of my head for
all those "what if I did this...?" questions as well.
-- Glenn
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