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Anyone have tips for stereoscopic photos?


JeTexas

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I'm interested in doing a series of stereographs, but I'm looking for the best method.

 

So far with one camera I seem to get the best results using a slider and putting two or three inches between the shots. The problem is I'd really like to capture action in stereo -- think water splashes around people in a pool, etc.

 

To me, the obvious solution is to buy a second M-P and another matching 50mm Summilux, so I can shoot the photos at the same time side by side, but my wife nixed that.

 

I found the Leica Stemar lens, but those things are way out of my price range as well. Plus, I can't seem to find a single image sample of a photo taken with one.

 

Anyone have experience with the Loreo 3D lens or a prism splitter?

 

Photo of irritated wife included to show current 3D effect.

 

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My best bet would be to look for one of the many forums and other sites specialized in stereo photography. Some offer good advice on hardware, some have lots of sample photographs. Look for "stereophotography".

 

Fuji used to make a very nice compact stereo camera with a fascinating display (Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3).

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I've used a device used for macro photography to move the camera a few mm front and back. Instead, I mount it sideways on a tripod and take two shots taken the distance of my eyes apart, then take the images in Photoshop and make one a blue channel, the other red and view with 3d glasses. Actually, I do a bit more than that, but that is the idea. I used the M9, but any camera would do.

 

A friend of mine who is more into this took two compact cameras and made a device so they fired at the same instant. He had installed hacked firmware so that they were perfectly synchronized.

 

We have a whole camera club dedicated to this for the next time you are in London! http://stereoscopicsociety.org.uk

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Using two cameras for an action shot would have run into the problem of shooting at exactly the same moment!

 

I was just thinking of taping the ends of the cable releases together and mashing the buttons at the same time.

 

I also have the multifunction handgrip and the Leica Shuttle program. I wonder if I had two Ms with handgrips plugged into the computer if it would trigger them both from the laptop. (Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to find out.)

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You can take stereo pairs even with the camera hand-held and moving it between frames by moving your weight from one leg to the other. I have also shot stereo pairs from moving vehicles: aim the camera to the side and take several pictures in short succession.

 

If you can train yourself to look with crossed eyes at the pictures on the screen, you will be able to appreciate your stereo shots with a minimum of equipment. Just show the left picture on the right side and vice versa.

 

It's only the action bit that's difficult to do with only one mono camera.

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We have a whole camera club dedicated to this for the next time you are in London! http://stereoscopicsociety.org.uk

 

We actually moved our worldwide headquarters from Paris to London back in January. Unfortunately with the merger I also got a new boss who is doing all the traveling.

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  • 5 years later...

There are several ways of taking stereo photos with a digital Leica M. The easiest is the two-step method (put your weight on your left leg, snap, shift it to your right leg, snap), or to use a focus or stereo rail. Leica used to make a beautiful one, the FIATE Stereoly slide bar: 

Leica made a Stemar twin-lens device with a prism separator attachment ("beam-splitter"), though they're not easy to find. I got one at an auction. For macro shots I bought an extra dedicated Stemar hood on eBay and epoxied on a step-up ring that takes Elpro closeup lenses.

Zeiss Ikon made something similar, the Stereotar, which is cheaper and more widely available, but requires a Contax-rangefinder-to-M adapter--and it has to be for the external Contax RF bayonet, not the internal one. I modified one of the Chinese adapters from eBay, and Rafcamera is now making them. There are dedicated close-up lenses of various strengths.

Zeiss Ikon also made a standalone splitter, the Steritar , which can be screwed on to a lens (35mm focal length works best) with a 34X43 step-up ring or Rafcamera's 34X49dedicated adapter. It's cheaper and widely available than the Stemar or Stereotar, though with some compromise in image quality. Leica also made a standalone splitter, the Stereoly, though it mounted to the hot shoe of a Leica II or IIIa, and there's no obvious way of mounting it to a modern M.  

With all these devices, the side-by-side half-frame portrait-mode images are easily processed by Stereo Photo Maker Pro. With the high resolution of Leica digital rangefinders (e.g., 60 mpix for the M11), the half-images have plenty of resolution, even after cropping.

I've made many stereo images with these setups (identifiable from the EXIF metadata, manually entered with Directory Opus). Here is a sample, compressed and reduced in size (the originals and many more are displayed in my web galleries ). 

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