Digital Stereo?

[frank_horn]

<p>I have not seen such a thing advertised. Is it possible?</p>

[mac_mcanirlin]

<p>you mean like one of the old stereoscopes, only with like two lcd monitors? </p>

[gerber_van_der_graaf]

<p>During the last Photokina in Koln, Germany Fujii introduced a digital stereo camera. Have a look at http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/fujifilms-two-l.html</p>

[ed_lutz]

<p>Its very possible. I've played around with it a bit, nothing serious just playing around. With a little practice you can just view the stereo pair on your monitor. Do some Googleing and you'll find some information.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Stereo photography could be emulated to a limited degree using masking and compositing techniques. Some object(s) could be extracted and placed slightly differently against the background in two adjacent versions, then viewed with a stereopticon device. Recent documentaries produced by Ken Burns use this technique, but with motion rather than for stereo effect.</p>

[joseph_wisniewski]

<p>Common techniques include the slidebar (moving one camera to two positions: not typically suited for live subjects), twinning a pair of point and shoots with a LanC Shepherd controller, or using a split prism lens like a Loreo Lens-In-A-Cap.</p>

<p>Viewing includes dual projectors and cross polarizer glasses, anaglyphs *red/blue images in print or on a computer display) stereo cards with images side by side using some form of prism/lens viewer, side by side on an LCD or CRT using a viewer like a "screen scope". or viewing on an old fashioned CRT (or a select few LCD displays) with LCD "shutter glasses".</p>

<p>A few places I have bookmarked.<br>

<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~dssweb/">Detroit Stereographic Society</a> , coolest #D club in the world!<br>

<a href="http://www.stereoscopy.com/">Stereoscopy.com</a> has more links than just about anyone.<br>

<a href="http://www.stereoscopic.org/">SPIE</a> (the technical organization for displays) has a good stereo site.<br>

<a href="http://www.berezin.com/3d/">Steve Berezin</a> . I get most of my 3D equipment from this guy, including Loreo Maxi Viewers.<br>

<a href="http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/">StereoPhoto Maker</a> is the software I use for processing my 3D cards and anaglyphs</p>

<p> </p>

[GerrySiegel]

<p>It is possible right now with specially mated cameras. such as this one from RBT in Germany:</p>

<p>http://www.rbt-3d.de/front_content.php?idart=192&PHPSESSID=96c3ce0adcd9958b96cf0bd6a9682102</p>

<p>Their products are expensive but essentially hand made and bought in Euros via national distributors who don't stock the full line. It won't be too many years before some company (like Fuji) will introduce a camera to take high definition digital cameras that can show stills or short film clips and that will be projected onto DLP screens or via Samsung and Mitsubishi TVs that have this capability. It is possible to get involved in digital stereo on the cheap, but it would take too long to get into details. Do a search on Google and you fill find a wealth of resources. The challenge is how to view them, and there film still has the simplest method. An optical viewer or slide projector. I see change a comin' ...and not too far. Thanks for the question. Stereo is a wonderful tool.</p>

[Mary Doo]

<p>I was curious about stereo photography a couple of years ago, and even invited a stereo photo expert to do a show in our camera club.<br /><br />Here are some gadgets to help to stereorize your digital camera outfit:<br /><a href="http://www.loreo.com/pages/products/loreo_3dcap.html">http://www.loreo.com/pages/products/loreo_3dcap.html</a></p>

<p>Have fun,<br />Mary</p>

[GerrySiegel]

<p>Most people just want to experience the opportunity to try out stereo and for that it is really simple. Get or make a slide bar. Bogen has one that works fine and is low cost. Move the camera about the distance between eyes, 60 to 70mm will do, but you can experiment. Use a freeware program to align the two images using that Stereo Maker Joe mentioned and then print them out and view them with a cheap viewer that helps your eyes to diverge enough to fuse the images. Easy.</p>

<p>One of my little experiments uses a built in function of double (skinny) images on a single frame with the trusty old Olympus Camedia C 5050. It avoided the need for alignment, but that is no big deal either with the freeware nowadays. If printed small enough one can just learn to "free view" ( look that one up) the images. Here is a sample of a still object for free viewing by the parallel eye method. (As Joe wrote, for live action one needs a little better outfit or two cameras side by side or a real made for stereo camera or a splitter that diverts the light coming in to the lens into halves.) Starting with a single flat image is not the way to go really. A little reading of binocular vision and stereography will convince you, Frank. I been at it a long time, and have never tired of my slides from way back. I am easily copying them and will generate the image if I choose as digital prints. "Stereorize." I like that, Mary:-) Enjoy.</p>

<p>Something else to fool with. Have fun. Digital makes a lot of things easier. Such as 3-D movies.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[JDMvW]

<p>There are lots of ways to convert your existing dSLR into a 3D camera. In the 1930s there were lens attachments known originally as "Stereo-tach" adapters. Similar mirror devices that create two side-by-side images on a single frame are still made today. Special ones are made for dSLRs today as well, but the plain old 35mm film ones work just fine if you use them on a "normal" lens for the format you have. For a "full-frame" that would be a 50mm lens, but on the APS-sized sensor cameras that predominate, just use something like a 28mm lens for the best effect. You can print out the images and mount them for viewing on a Holmes type viewer like your Great Grandma used.</p>

<p>There are also ways to make anaglyphic 3D images (the red-green comic book 3D glasses) if you google that. A rare and usually expensive option is the Vivitar Qdos lens which can be adapted for use on many dSLRs and is available (at a price) in the standard film mounts of its day such as Nikon. It produces a modest 3D anaglyphic effect that is more viewable without the glasses, but still gives 3D when viewed with glasses.</p>

<p>Some searching here on Photo.net will reveal a number of discussions with further links. Ditto for Googling™ the internet as a whole.</p>