35mm Stereo slides pre-1950 - anyone able to shed a little light?

I have been given some slides which appear to be 3D and by their content, pre-1950.

Its hard to find any info by searching generally online, but on eBay I came across a viewer which is made the the same company as some of the slides in the box - Stereo-tach, and it looks like it would fit them.

Can anyone tell me how these slides were photographed - I mean, the kind of camera (or attachment?) and how I might go about dating them. Is there any way to digitize these? Or not, since both 'eyes' are on the same 35mm patch. Some are really interesting, such as Havana nightlife.

thanks!

There was a brief fad in the 50's for cameras with two lenses approximately eye-width apart. Prior to that time, 3D photos were made using two cameras, or a single camera shifted between shots. Stereopticon photos were popular from the turn of the 20th century until the late 40's. Now we have virtual reality (having abandoned reality in general).

The best, in my opinion, of the two lens 35 mm stereo cameras was introduced in 1939. See http://www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/appareil-6452-Richard%20Jules_V%C3%A9rascope%2040.html It was preceded by a large range of two lens stereo cameras that shot on glass plates and a smaller number that used roll film. All from many makers, nearly all European.

That Verascope would give you two frames per exposure though.

There is a front-of-lens attachment for the Russian Zorki cameras that puts both halves of the stereo image in one frame: see

USSRPhoto.com - Russian / Soviet Cameras Wiki Catalog - Zorki Stereo Unit

This dates from the mid-50s, a little late for Lottie's guess. Maybe it's a copy of something made earlier for the Leica?

 

.. in fact, check out this 1930s Leitz accessory, codename VOSTN, listed at LeicaShop (I have no connection.., etc.)

VOSTN Stereoly f. Leica - Stereo - Leica Accessories - Leica

Edited December 20, 2018 by Dustin McAmera

There was a company, Stereo-Realist, if I remember correctly, that made cameras, projectors, and slide viewers. They had two lenses at about the width apart of human eyes. They show up on Ebay once in a while.

I found one mention of Stereo-Tach at Stereoscopy.com. Sadly, it's in a list of instruction manuals that used to be available (Reel 3-D Enterprises, Inc.: Stereo Instruction Manuals )

 

The listing says 'Stereo-Tach Attachment & Proj. Instructions, beam-splitter for old rangefinder cameras, 9 pages'

.. so I think it must be the sort of device I suggested above.

Stereo Tach was a screw-in adapter to take two slightly different views on a number of different cameras and formats.

 

Pop Photo 1954-10

 

BTW it is "tach" as in "attach".

 

My personal one is a 52mm version made (by, for) Pentax:

 

 

It goes back a long way, but the last peak of stereo was during and after WWII (e.g., LINK)

Edited December 21, 2018 by JDMvW

Many stereo 35mm cameras take two, close to square, frames with two frames in between.

It should be possible to scan those on scanners that. can scan other than normal frame spacing.

 

In this case, there should be two views on one 35mm frame.

 

Some scanners will be able to do that, and others won't. Maybe scan the whole frame

and then split it in half later. Print the two, mount appropriately spaced, and view on an

old fashioned stereo print viewer.

On the Stereo Realist see LINK: Stereo Realist, David White Co., 1947-1971

 

Some people say that the Stereo Belplasca from the workers' and peasants' state (DDR) is the top stereo camera

LINk

 

Here is a Stereo-Tach slide of Cypress swamp in Southern Illinois (|| viewing):

Edited December 22, 2018 by JDMvW

If you hold a piece of cardboard so as to have your right eye see only the right image and your left eye to see only the left image, you can, with a little practice, see the above photo in stereo. Be warned your eyes might cross first.

 

And lets not forget the stereo images dating back to the American Civil war. Two or more images on one plate to hasten production left us with stereos of Lincoln and lots of other goodies.

 

Did everyone here own a Viewmaster?

I think

Did everyone here own a Viewmaster?

that every one who was alive and sentient in the 1950s and such, did.

 

Here is a view of one of the images on Prehistoric Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde

And the whole reel (scanning these is 'cumbersome')

I loved those Viewmasters.

Used to dream about collecting packs of disks from the list in the Sears Wishbook.

In fact I was thumbing through EBay just the other day.....

A couple of years ago, I did just that. The older ones are somewhat better because they used Kodachrome. The ones done after Ansco/GAF took over .are mostly magenta now.

I have a list of "still in stock" from May of 1955 and I have got most of the archaeological ones that I could find. The last gasp of them in the 60s and 70s were children's fairy tales and movies and very few tourist shots.

The silent movie great Harold Lloyd did a huge collection of mostly (pre-cosmetic surgery) nudes. His granddaughter did a book of them:

Edited December 22, 2018 by JDMvW

The last gasp of them in the 60s and 70s were children's fairy tales and movies and very few tourist shots.

Funny, that.

My parents never bought the cartoons.

They were always geography, history, or science oriented.

You are going to talk me into another trivial pursuit.

Seems old Brian May is into the stereo viewing stuff quite a bit.