Mount Carrier

Medium format stereo slides can be created with any medium format camera. The Sputnik, Rolleidoscop and Heidoscope are dedicated stereo cameras that many use to create their images. The Sputnik is easily available on e-bay for less than $200. The others can cost $2,000 (when you can find them).

Viewing those images is another matter. There have been very few quality medium format viewers available. If you didn't want to build your own viewer, there were two choices. You could get the plastic King Inn or the wood Saturn viewer. In 2004, however, this changed with the introduction of a new "steal the light" medium format slide viewer.

I have seen this viewer called the "2Q" viewer, Inovatv viewer, and the Uni-Colour viewer. Here is my understanding of how it goes. It is made by Uni-Colour, distributed by Inovatv and sold by Berezin, 3DStereo and 3DConcepts. It retails for $70 (and is worth about $40).

The idea is that you will use this viewer with slides mounted in the manufacturer's plastic side-by-side mounts. This strikes me as a crazy idea and many people have spent some time modifying their viewer to better allow it to be used with the more commonly used 80x132mm cardboard mounts.

I've found that for $2 I can modify my viewer to accept 80x132mm cardboard mounts and the modification is fully reversible and portable from one viewer to another. It is something a moderately handy person can do in less than an hour and represents absolutely no risk to your viewer.

	Start by cutting a section off your Foamies sheet. It should be larger than your plastic mount. 90x150mm should work fine. Place your cardboard mount about 6mm from the edge of the foam. I used a plastic spacer to ensure that my cardboard edge was parallel to the edge of my foam.
	Use your cardboard mount as a pattern and cut a U-shaped hole in your foam sheet. I used an aluminum straight edge to ensure that the cut was straight and did not cut into my cardboard pattern.
	Split open your plastic mount. If it is like either of mine, it will require no effort at all. Select one half and trim down all of its protrusions. You want a flat surface on which to glue your foam.
	Position your newly cut piece of foam along on your newly smooth plastic mount. Use your 80x132mm cardboard mount to correctly position the foam. Make sure you are centered left-to-right and that the bottom and top edges of your views will be visible.
	Glue your foam into place and wait for it to dry.
	Bob's your uncle!

A Perfect Fit