Immediately behind the lenses of the 3D World focusing viewer are visible, rectangular apertures. I found them distracting so I thought I would find out if I’d like my viewer more if they were gone. The answer is, “yes”!
Details can be found on the Viewer Mod page.
3D World has shipped the second version of their illuminated, focusing viewer for medium format slides. I’ve updated the page devoted to the viewer to reflect these changes. It really wasn’t too hard an edit to make because it involved removing the following from the “deficiencies” list:
Another change a few people haven’t enjoyed is the change in the lens retension system. In the original viewers, the lenses were retained with rings which threaded on the front of the lens barrels. In the new viewer, the lenses are retained with rings threaded behind the lenses (inside the lens barrel). This change doesn’t affect day-to-day use, but it does make it harder to install shorter lenses in place of the stock 75mm achromats.
I still say this viewer is a bargain. If you shoot medium format slides, you need to have one of these viewers.
Digital images just stack up on your hard drive or at flickr. Physical images require physical storage space.
I’m still looking for the perfect way to store my medium format stereo slides, but have made some notes covering some things I’ve tried. Special mention is made of Peter Thomson’s 3D Treasures storage boxes.
Since first publishing this, I’ve heard from a couple of other photographers who have offered their storage methods for consideration.
Dan Vint suggests boxes from Light Impressions for storing slides. The company offers several sizes of boxes. Dan says he’s using the boxes designed for 4×5 images with good results. If these sizes aren’t to your liking, he pointed me at building supplies from Hollanders from which you can build your own.
Dorothy Mladenka says she stores her slides in boxes which originally held 250 sheets of 5×7 photo paper. They let her store her slides on edge and appear to be a very good fit. Of course with the decreasing popularity of darkroom printing, these may now be hard to come by in any quantity.
There have been twinned Holgas in the past (holgamods.com offered one for sale). But at the 2008 Photokina, Universal Electronics Group actually displayed a pair of stereo cameras. Stereoscopy.com had this to say (and a photograph of them, too):
This company is exhibiting two pre-production models of Holga Medium Format Stereo Cameras.
One model, the Holga 120 GCF 3D, has a 67 mm stereo base and an image format of approximately 54 x 53 mm (HxW). The lenses are cheap 1:8 f/60mm lenses
The second model, the Holga 120 PC-3D is a pinhole camera, with a pinhole of 0.3 mm and f 135.
Prices and availability are not known yet.
Anyone who expects these to have sharp lenses or light-tight bodies is probably going to disappointed, but they could still be fun to play with. Since Holgas sell for $20, maybe these will go for less than $50.
Behind every good viewer is a good light source. 3D World has built an LED powered edge-lit panel for use in their new focusing viewer. While I think I can build a good illuminator, I know I wouldn’t be able to build anything this good at the price 3D World is offering their viewer.
Because it’s so neat to see someone else’s work in an area I’ve long pursued, I have an entire page devoted to the 3D World Illuminator.
Alan Lewis has created such wonderful items as the Saturn Viewer for medium format slides. He has published photographs of how he modified his viewer to increase the interocular spacing to 70mm.
The new viewer from 3D World has some enticing features:
I costs and weighs a bit more than their steal-the-light (STL) viewer, but it is otherwise superior in all areas. If you shoot medium format stereo images, and you don’t already have an illuminated viewer, you really need one of these.
I actually have a whole set of pages devoted to this viewer which cover its strengths, weaknesses and potential improvements.
