Stereo Cameras

[Charles Hohenstein]

I've had a lot of fun watching the incredible number of stereoviews available on eBay and think it might be fun to experiment with the format. The cards were standardized at 3.5 by 7 inches, so I'm guessing that the cameras were similar to a 5x7, but with a lensboard that took two lenses, and with some kind of septum to divide the inside space. Is anyone here using one of the original cameras, or has anyone modified a 5x7 to do the job? I would love to see stereo photography make a comeback, and the 3.5 by 7 format seems as good as any (I think the Stereo Realist cameras took 135 film).

[Ole Tjugen]

Most of the "classic" stereo cameras were plate cameras, taking either 45x107mm or 6x13cm plates with a few offerings in smaller or larger sizes.

There would be a septum inside the camera, and two lenses with matched focal lengths.

There are always a few stereo cameras on ebay, unfortunately they tend to go for very high prices. I keep trying to find a cheap one to use the plate holders I've already got, but no luck so far. :(

[Greg Lockrey]

I've been into stereo for about a year. I personally must to see the image in 3D, 2D doesn't do it for me. The only drawback is that the observer either must have a viewing tool like a Holmes viewer for the 3.5x7" (most resize to 4x6" pairs) or a Hyperviewer for the 12x18" pairs unless viewed "cross" where the eyes are crossed slightly to see the effect. There are slide projectors that use Stereo Realist format with 35 mm film. Today, guys make up their own stereo 35 mm cameras, 6x6 cameras, and there is even a guy in Austrailia that has a 4x5 pair. More photographers are going digital, I personally paired up a couple of Sony V1's and a Sheperd Lanc controller. I've made image pairs that were 40x64" with it so that I could get a sense of a bee's eye view of our dogwood in bloom. :) My Canon 5D is also equipped with some De Wijis custom made stereo macro lenses that take your image to 3.6:1. I can go on and on. There are forums at Yahoo that cater to all types of stereo. As far as the old large format cameras that Matthew Brady used during the Civil War, they're still around and can be found on E-bay. The work of David E. Klutho is absolutely incrediable, even if your aren't into sports action photography.

[Greg Lockrey]

Here are a couple of beauties on E-Bay from a really stand up guy.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=016&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT\
&viewitem=&item=260051974915&rd=1&rd=1

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=016&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT\
&viewitem=&item=260051982284&rd=1&rd=1

You'll have to copy and paste the entire link to make them work.

[reellis67]

I use a Stereo Realist (which does use 35mm film), but I do not have the disposable income to afford a vintage stereo plate camera. I have, however, though many times of making one from scratch. Most of them are tailboard models so construction would be fairly easy to manage (I should add at this point that I have a woodshop in my garage) but finding matching lenses would be the trick, although I think that you could work around even that as long as you're not a fine-detail junkie.

Stereo photography is very rewarding in my experience and I regularly make Holmes format stereographs from Realist negatives. Idealy, as I stated above, I would like to have a 5x7 stereo camera, but for right now I don't have the time to start making one. Shoot me an email or a PM if you are interested in information on active stereoscopic photography groups (they are not large format so I wont post the info here).

- Randy

[Helen Bach]

Like Randy, I use a Stereo Realist for making Holmes-type stereo cards. I also use a Rollei SL 66 on a slide bar (Heavy Duty Jasper Engineering version - it would be suitable for light LF cameras as well). Gaoersi and Fotoman both have MF stereo cameras in the works, and I believe that they will be convertible to mono panoramic format.

Best,
Helen

[Ernest Purdum]

At one time 5"x 8" was a popular stereo size.

[chris jordan]

I always have wondered what would happen if you reversed the two images on a stereo card and looked at them in stereo. Would all the far away things look close, and all the close things look far away? Has anyone tried it? Seems like if that did happen, you could set up photos specifically to mess with that effect in interesting ways.

[QT Luong]

As I do not need a viewer to see stereo, this happens frequently to me when I cross-view (meaning looking at the left picture with the right eye and vice-versa) pairs meant for direct viewing. If the image is realistic, as opposed to being a graphic, the 3D cues tend to destroy each other, so the result is not particularly striking.

[Greg Lockrey]

I always have wondered what would happen if you reversed the two images on a stereo card and looked at them in stereo. Would all the far away things look close, and all the close things look far away? Has anyone tried it? Seems like if that did happen, you could set up photos specifically to mess with that effect in interesting ways.

Do you mean moving the Left image to Right and the Right image to Left? That' s how you get a "Cross View", where the observer has to cross their eyes to see the image correctly, other wise certain elements go juxtaposed with a normal pair veiwed "cross".

[Charles Hohenstein]

Like Randy, I use a Stereo Realist for making Holmes-type stereo cards. I also use a Rollei SL 66 on a slide bar (Heavy Duty Jasper Engineering version - it would be suitable for light LF cameras as well). Gaoersi and Fotoman both have MF stereo cameras in the works, and I believe that they will be convertible to mono panoramic format.

Best,
Helen

I'll be very interested to hear more about those two new cameras that are in the works, whenever the information is available. But 120 film isn't even close to 3.5 inches wide, so I guess one wouldn't be able to contact print a 3.5x7 stereoview for a traditional Holmes-type stereopticon, unless the height of the images were reduced.