Vintage 3D Photography

[Chris Dodkin]

I'm sure many of you, like me, remember playing with one of these as a kid

I can remember having hours of fun looking at Jungle Book in 3D!

Well, back in 1950 - you could buy your own Personal Stereo Camera from View-Master, and shoot your own 3D photos.

Here's my 1950s View-Master Personal - which still appears to be in working condition.

It's a fantastic bit of kit - with deco styling, and the most revolutionary twin wheel coupled exposure calculator.

It's a genius piece of mechanics, you can independently rotate the 'lens opening' dial and the 'shutter speed' dials - and all you need to do is twiddle until you match the light conditions with the 'average' exposure line on the dial. ASA is set on the top, and even has recommendations for summer and winter!

The camera takes a standard 35mm film, and exposes up to 70 stereo pairs of shots on a normal 36 shot roll. Focus is fixed, with the stereo window starting about 5 feet from the camera (Objects closer than 5 feet that make contact with the edge of the frame can be jarring to the viewer).

It has advanced features such as a built in filter holder for each lens, before the lens shutter mechanism - and a bubble level in the viewfinder.

Just a gorgeous looking piece of kit - and the fact that it's from 1952 still blows me away.

 

[Pete Askew]

What a wonderful thing Chris. I guess with some cardboard and some glue )and maybe a spot of sticky backed plastic) you could make your own wheels. It reminds me that I used to have a 2001: A Space Odyssey wheel set. I wonder what happened to it.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Pete - the wheels and cutters are all still available online - some vintage, and some modern - not cheap though!

Probably cheaper to just Blue Peter it up LOL

2001 in 3D - now that I'd like to see.

 

[Pete Askew]

I have a horrible feeling my copy went long ago as I didn't find it when I cleared my mum's house out after she died. eBay?

 

[Glen Roberts]

I didn't know they made a View-master Camera!!! When I was a kid I had quite a large collection of view masters discs, from Disney cartoons to African Wild Safaris. I even had a talking view master which had a small plastic "Record" fixed on the back of the picture disk telling you about what you where looking at.

Sadly they are long gone but I wish I still had them.

 

[Paul Lange]

I remember something along th lines of the plastic View Master but I'm not old enough to remember the camera that you have Chris. Looks like another great piece of vintage kit that I would love to own but would have no where to keep it.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Paul - that's why I'm documenting them online - in the photos they will always be clean and dust free - where in reality they sit on a shelf in the home office and get dusty! LOL

 

[Larry Bolch]

Quite a bit of ViewMaster stuff here
http://www.berezin.com/3d/viewmaster.htm

Stereo photography has long been part of my personal photography, though I went the Stereo Realist route. None the less, I expect that it was ViewMaster that got me hooked. I bought the Pentax Stereo Adapter, that worked fairly well with any 50mm lens. It put a stereo pair on a single 35mm frame, and there was a matching viewer. The problem was that with side-by-side images, each was a half-frame, making the lens the equivalent of 100mm. Longer lenses work for stereo, but reduce the effect.

Now I use the excellent Fujifilm REAL 3D W1 digital—the first practical digital stereo camera. I also have the Fuji V1 view-frame which accepts the MPO files and displays them directly with no need for glasses. For on-line viewing, I do anaglyphs, requiring either red/cyan or green/magenta glasses. Anyone with Photoshop can make them nearly automatically. Tutorial here
http://larry-bolch.com/photo_anaglyphs/

Red/Cyan gallery here
http://larry-bolch.com/fuji-3D

I also have an actual Holmes Stereoscope from the 19th century. The Fuji photos work great for making cards for it. I have created a Photoshop Action that completely automates it, reducing the images to fit, placing them side by side in proper position and creating a custom decorated card. They print three-up on a letter-sized sheet of paper in my Epson photo printers, and I cut them apart with a razor knife. Great viewing. Stereoscopes are still being made, and the address above sells them.

Prior to getting the X100, the W1 was my carry everywhere camera. It came with software to convert the native MPO files into left and right JPEGs for whatever use. The camera is small and flat with a sliding plate that serves as both a switch and lens caps, so it is ultimately pocketable. It has been succeeded by the W3. Two complaints—it is so small that it is a bit difficult to hold, and I have all too many photographs of my left fingers. I found a little handle that screws into the tripod mount that fixed that. The other is no RAW. None the less, it does produce very nice JPEGs. Of course, the fact that it is digital makes it a lot more practical and efficient.