Pentax stereo

I took this quick snapshot for the US forum so I thought I might as well post it here.



Pentax stereo adaptor par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity

Nice image of some gorgeous old Pentax gear ...... It would be nice to have an explanation of what the equipment actually did, and its purpose. .....

The camera adapter splits the image into a stereo pair for a 35mm transparency and the viewer lets you look at them, in 3D. Similar theory to the Viewmaster system if you remember that.
A typical slide with a suitable subject appears like this:


Note the gap between flag mast and the yacht to the left of it.

Using 3D glasses and conversion software they can be made viewable digitally but that doesn't come close to viewing the slides in the dedicated viewer.

Stitz did one that was adjustable for focal length etc.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stitz-sa-1-Universal-Stereo-Adapter-USED-/38238415626...

I've still got one somewhere.

Similar products were used for passport photos to get two shots on a single Polaroid.

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Thanks all. The effect is best when you have something in the foreground like the flag above. It only really works with portrait images. I have stereo viewers (of WWII vintage I think) which might let you see the effect from prints, but it is best with a slide through the viewer.

I also have a Stereo Realist 45 which creates pairs of slides. They are, however, of a non-standard format so you have to have the special slide mounts too. The really whacky thing about that camera is the viewfinder is at the bottom and you hold it against your forehead.

Cheers, Kris.



Cheers, Kris.

Brian May is heavily involved with the following site about 3D....

http://www.londonstereo.com/stereophotography.html

Some more Stitz...
http://www.viewmaster.co.uk/htm/stitz.asp

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As a kid I mounted my Agfa Silette on a slider on a tripod, took a transparency at each end. Fixed a pair of simple slide viewers together like binoculars and viewed the results in 3D. Simples!

You can also use a focusing rail sideways to take two shots. Novoflex actually made one specially for stereo with mm markings to vary the offset. This one.

Also this one for people whose eyes are about 150mm apart

I remember seeing some 3D slides done by a shop fitting company they were very good and showed their work very well.


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The plus point of the Pentax system is its convenience. Just the adapter screwed on to take both images simultaneously and an easy to use slide viewer. When it comes to using sliding rails to take two images, the subject may well be quite different in the two images. Certainly that would be the case in my flag image above.
There were some dedicated cameras that produced Viewmaster format stereo pairs on 35mm slide film but the Pentax solution was pretty clever as it didn't require anything beyond a SLR wit 50mm lens and the stereo adapter kit and the images contained on a single slide transparency.

Ah, ok thanks all. So you got the film processed and then put individual slides into the Viewer, hold it up to some light, and with the right sort of subject things could look very spectacular!

I had a Viewmaster and a number of the round serated discs .... As a kid in the 70s my favourite disc was a Star Trek one, with great 3D images of the Enterprise and various scenes from the TV series.

Just had to put the mounted processed transparency as returned by the film processor into the viewer and hey presto, stereo! No remounting or other fiddling around required.
The Viewmaster system would have required purchasing their dedicated empty reels and mounting the pairs in those. The VM images are roughly the same size as 110 stock so the Pentax system potentially achieved higher quality, albeit a bit quirky due to the vertical format making it more suited to portraits rather than landscape scenes (which the VM system was mainly used for with a large range of reels to purchase dedicated to various cities and resorts globally.)

Thanks John ... I've remembered another one I liked back then in my Viewfinder. This was images of the new Boeing 747, called the"Jumbo Jet", and I remember a great 3D shot looking through the giant open "mouth" of the cargo version. Also a great shot with a low viewpoint along the length of the wing, and another with a man standing inside the engine intake. It all comes back! Obviously, yes, it would have been even more impressive if shot with a Pentax Stereo Adaptor!

Did someone seriously say that there was software to view and convert a digital file taken using the adaptor ...? That would be amazing to see, considering the enlargement on screen or even print that could be done now.

There's a lot of interesting stereo stuff on ebay going back to the 1800's. Just put "(stereo,3D) viewer" in the search box and select the "Cameras & Photography" category.

There's no reason why you couldn't just print any stereo pair and view them with or without a viewer. Some of the best I've ever seen were B&W prints on glossy paper.

The problem with the slide viewers is that it only holds one slide at a time. Very slow.

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There must have been a stereo program in some Optio cameras. This is the viewer..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PENTAX-3D-Image-Viewer-for-Optio-Digital-Cameras-O-3D...

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One I've used is:
http://www.stereoeye.jp/software/index_e.html

See it being used here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f75mop9swTI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wrxbE1LabU
Note: not sure I would trust the links given below them, use the author's site above.