- Stereo Realist
The Stereo Realist was a
stereo camera that was manufactured by theDavid White Company from1947 to1972 . It was the most popular 35mm stereo camera ever manufactured.Fact|date=February 2007History
Seton Rochwite was a camera hobbyist who began designing and building his own stereo cameras in 1929. In 1938, he began work on one that would be suitable for commercial manufacture; he built the first prototype in 1940. He brought it to the David White Company of Milwaukee who, interested in the design, hired him in 1943. The company began advertising the "Stereo Realist" in photography magazines in 1945, although it would not end up being produced until late 1947.cite book | title=Amazing 3-D | last=Morgan | first=Hal | coauthors=Symmes, Dan | isbn=0-316-58283-2 | publisher=Little, Brown and Company | location=Boston; New York | year=1982 | oclc=8851379]The David White Company had great success marketing the Stereo Realist system to the public. In addition to the stereo cameras there were special viewers, projectors, film cutters, slide mounting aids, cases, and other accessories available. Several camera models were offered over the years, some with premium lenses and features. The basic camera architecture was shared among all the variants. By the late 1960s, the public's fascination with stereo imaging faded, possibly due to the complexity of actually viewing the stereo images.
Design and engineering
The Realist uses standard
135 film . The unusual proportions of the slides became the standard for 3-D slides, and is known as "Realist Format". It marked a significant milestone instereoscopy .The routine for taking a photograph with a Stereo Realist is elaborate, compared to a modern camera. One must lift the lens cover, focus, cock the shutter, and manually set the
aperture andshutter speed . The double exposure button must then be depressed (if camera is so equipped) and the film wind lock button depressed briefly while beginning to wind the film to the next frame. The film winding is then completed so that the camera is ready to shoot another pair of images.Published works with the Stereo Realist
Leo Villa , mechanic for Sir Malcom andDonald Campbell 's record-breaking Bluebirds was given a Stereo Realist by Donald in 1955. Many of his photographs with it have recently been published in book form, as polychromatic anaglyphs (i.e. a single composite photograph viewed through coloured viewing glasses).cite book
title=Leo Villa's 3D album of the Bluebirds
author=David de Lara, Kevin Desmond andLeo Villa
publisher= [http://www.chater.co.uk Transport Bookman Publications] |location=London
isbn=085184071X
date=2007]External links
* [http://home.att.net/~drt-3d/toys/realist/index.htm DrT’s Stereo Realist Page]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
