[ATM] viewing in stereo - a bit off topic, but interesting anyway

[tkrajci at san.osd.mil (tkrajci@san.osd.mil)]

>From: Guy Brandenburg <gfbrandenburg@yahoo.com>

>We got a little demonstration on stereoscopic
>binocular modifications last night at the NCA
>telescope-making workshop at the Chevy Chase Community
>Center in DC....

>Does anybody recall those stereo viewers from the
>1950's and 1960's? I think that those were generally
>made with special stereo cameras which were relatively
>popular back then. 

Yes, stereo cameras had two cameras (or two optical systems) mounted side 
by side at the typical spacing of the eye (65mm?).  Usually they used 35mm 
film and each photo was a half-sized frame.

When I lived in Germany I made some stereo photographs of the mountains on 
which I skied.  Because the mountains were quite distant...I'd use my 35mm 
camera and take different photos from wide spacings.  If I photographed 
the nearest mountain face I'd use a spacing of 10-50 feet...usually 
shooting a series of frames and then choosing the best spacing on my home 
made viewer.  I also shot some glacial crevasses and ice formations that 
were only 10-50 meters distant...so I used a closer spacing of six inches 
to a few feet.

My widest spacing was about 1 kilometer...when making 3D shots of the 
north face of the famous Matterhorn that straddles the Switzerland/Italy 
border.  The mountain was several miles away and it must have looked 
strange as I skied across the flat part of the glacier to get different 
shots of the mountain.

When it's summer and blazing hot...my home made stero viewer of the 
mountain scenery helps me endure the heat.

Tom Krajci
Tashkent, Uzbekistan