Anyone Playing Stereo Attachment on Digital Camera?

[Einst_Stein]

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I encountered a stereo attachment (two object lenses, splitting the image to two halves to the sensor/film). 

Stereo photography is interesting on film photography. You either view the paired slides, either two slides or one slide with two halves, through a "binocular", or project them through two polaizers and view them through matching polarizer glasses. But how would it work in digital?

I guess there might be some mixer software to modulate the two views and then display to monitor or TV, then to view the picture with colored filter pair like watching 3d movie?

Or, something else?   

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[jankap]

There is the StereoPhotoMaker of course. I am planning to use the lenticular method for prints. In German, see: "Lenticular Feeware".

If you still can find the camera: Lytro Illum; for little money, you have a good start. This camera saves depth information of a picture. Also, it can output stereo pictures.

Smartphones - at least my iPhone X - can store depth information too.

Edited July 31, 2024 by jankap

[willeica]

9 hours ago, Einst_Stein said:

I encountered a stereo attachment (two object lenses, splitting the image to two halves to the sensor/film). 

Stereo photography is interesting on film photography. You either view the paired slides, either two slides or one slide with two halves, through a "binocular", or project them through two polaizers and view them through matching polarizer glasses. But how would it work in digital?

I guess there might be some mixer software to modulate the two views and then display to monitor or TV, then to view the picture with colored filter pair like watching 3d movie?

Or, something else?   

I have a friend who is an eminent optical scientist who has been at the forefront of optical design for many years. His hobby is stereo photography. He has a stereo digital camera (I forget the make) but the results from that are inferior to what he achieves using a 120 film stereo camera. His 120 stereo transparency images are absolutely stunning and I doubt if they could be improved upon by using digital. Panasonic started to do something with digital stereo between 10 and 15 years ago and I saw it demonstrated at camera fairs . Panasonic had a double objective involving both cameras and TVs. The demonstration I saw was startling with a snake appearing to come out of a TV set, but the overall image quality was anything but good and the thing was not really comfortable to watch. I suspect this may have had to do with the complexity of digital electronic images compared to flat transparencies which makes viewing more difficult. I believe that Panasonic dropped its digital stereo program. I should be seeing my friend again soon and I will ask him about film v digital for making stereo images. I am speaking from observation, he should be able to add the science behind this.

William 

[jankap]

Aren't 120mm mono slides better than miniature (35mm) slides, too? If yes, the problem is the size of the sensor. By the way, a digital sensor is flatter than a film sensor.

By projecting stereo slides 120mm wins, because the amount of light the projector has to spend is much lower than with miniature slides. A polafilter takes 50% of the light, at least. Perhaps LCD is a solution, because the lumen/watt is much better. I don´t believe, that in a 3D-movie theatre 120mm for both left and right pictures are used.

Fuji has created a stereo hype some years ago. Recording of stereo pictures is simple, the problem is the display of the results.

Edited July 31, 2024 by jankap

[jankap]

vor 15 Stunden schrieb Einst_Stein:

I encountered a stereo attachment (two object lenses, splitting the image to two halves to the sensor/film). 

 

Such an attachment gives two pictures in portrait mode. Landscape mode is better.

You can take 2 pictures with 6cm horizontal difference. Moving objects are not possible. 

With film, there are several possibilities. The Nimslo (4 pictures) is the best, I think. On digital Fuji is a possibility.

My favourite is the Lytro Illum with one lens! Zoomlens, relatively big and heavy, good software (forget the camera reviews!!). After several years of use, I still discover new features. In the RFF (Range Finder Forum) I have published several pictures: member jankap (46394). Look for anaglyphs OR for pictures with f/stop change in post.

 

Edited July 31, 2024 by jankap

[jankap]

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Pictures handheld with the Sigma fp. My eyes cannot combine such parallel stereo pictures.

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23 minutes ago, jankap said:

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Pictures handheld with the Sigma fp. My eyes cannot combine such parallel stereo pictures.

There's a simple trick. Swap the pictures. You then can look at them cross-eyed. Takes a bit of practice but works for many people.

[Einst_Stein]

I am not interested film, only in digital stereo photography. I am also not interested in synthetic method with two cameras. I only want the one camera approach. I understand the limitation of fixed distance between the two object lens. It is optimized for 50mm lens on 35mm sensor, or the equivalent.  I can crop it to horizontal format if necesary.

The question is how to view it on digital display. I assume it involves colored modulation and digital mixing the two images into one to display on the TV and viewed with the pair color filters, or, since my old TV is stereo capable, to view it with the polarizer glasses. I hope it can work like 3D movies we watched in the theater.

Is there smooth and reliable software? 

[jankap]

StereoPhotoMaker is! For Windows computers.

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There are several ways to take stereo pictures:

• move a mono camera between shots, with obvious problems
• use two identical cameras
• use a stereo lens pair for your camera (rare and expensive)
• use a so called 'splitter' in front of the lens of your regular camera.

Leica and Zorkii used to make splitters, so did several other manufacturers. The most recent product I know of is the deeper by Kula. Unfortunately, it's out of stock and won't be produced any more, very likely. This is the link to Kula's page describing the product: https://www.kula3d.com/product-page/kúla-deeper

The principle is simple: use a set of mirrors or prisms which split the field of view of the lens. Attach the boxlike thingy with the mirrors or prisms in front of your lens.

Kula's web site also gives a nice summary on how to view stereo pictures: https://www.kula3d.com/how-to-view-3d-methods

They also carry a software which prepares your stereo shots for viewing on a phone.

I was a supporter of Kula's project on Kickstarter when they were launching the deeper for the first time; otherwise, I have no connections whatsoever to Kula.

[Einst_Stein]

Talked around, it seems these type of softwares are all promissing but never passed the beta stage. 

[jankap]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb pop:

There are several ways to take stereo pictures:

• move a mono camera between shots, with obvious problems
• use two identical cameras
• use a stereo lens pair for your camera (rare and expensive)
• use a so called 'splitter' in front of the lens of your regular camera.

Believe it or not, this anaglyph was taken with this camera. A camera with one lens and I shot one picture.

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Edited July 31, 2024 by jankap

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8 minutes ago, jankap said:

Believe it or not, this anaglyph was taken with this camera. A camera with one lens and I shot one picture.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

It's still open to debate if the Lytro counts as one camera or as one device sporting a great many cameras. Also, some here would rather feel that computing an image from an array of cameras didn't count as 'taking a photograph', quite. Still, if your aim is to produce stereo pictures, camera arrays can be useful.

[Einst_Stein]

Remember when some people despise auto exposure, auto focus, firmware assisted lens correction, post cropping, post processing, etc.etc.? 

[jankap]

Not to forget the LCD screen.😀

[Einst_Stein]

Compared two stereo attachment samples, one from Pentax, the other Zeiss Jena.

Pentax has 49mm mount that can fit more lenses, but it has a pretty wide dark vertical bar in the middle. Works at f5.6-f8, distance 1.5m-4m. 

Zeiss has 39mm mount, practically only works with Leica 50mm lens with 39mm mount. But is has clean boundary between the two half images. Works at 2m to infinite.