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Not long ago I had the opportunity of having lunch with Alexander Klein and Tony Lo. Both of these gentlemen are experts in the stereo photography field. Alexander was in Hong Kong for a visit, and the lunch was arranged at the Jockey Club by Tony.
Being surrounded by stereo experts it was only natural that the topic of making stereo pictures came up. Alexander mentioned that he had made a site especially for the Three Dimensionally inclined at http://www.stereoscopy.com
When I returned home that afternoon, I had a look at his pages. I was astounded at the depth and range of his interest and the shear amount of information he has made available. One page intrigued me more than the rest. I had been thinking of playing with my Sputnik stereo camera, and was eager for some tips on how to get the best out of the beast.
As you probably already know, flare is a major killer of contrast in pictures, whether black and white, color negative or transparencies. When it comes to flare induced loss of contrast few "modern" cameras can compare to the Russian made Sputnik Stereo Camera. Hidden in Alexander's pages is a section on Do It Yourself modifications for Sputnik Stereo Cameras.
This was written by Sam Smith who has his own 3d Hacker pages.
I baalked at making the holes that a few of the modifications reqquired, and didn't have the tools or supplies at hand for others. The only one of his suggestions which I felt I could do at the diningroom table was the flocking of the film chamber interiors. I had been saving a piece of French self adhesive black flocked material for just this sort of project. I had used this material before when my Fuji 6x9 needed interior help, and I was confident that it would do the trick. By the way, when you do find flocking material, be sure that you test the integrity of the flocking by rubbing slightly with a piece of white cloth. If any significant amount of black flock which comes off onto the white cloth you can be sure it is going to come off onto your negatives, leaving nasty BLACK spots on your negatives.
I was able to make suitable templates in note paper, and then transfer them to stiffer.5mm styrene so that they could be traced more easily. Since the right film chamber is a mirror image of the left, only one side needed to be measured. The template is then simply flipped and traced a second time for the other side.
The smallest number of templates I could come up with was 7 pieces. One each for the top, bottom, and roll holder non roll holder side. The Roll holder sides required two patterns, as did the front around the lens. If I had my tools in France, I could have (maybe" made only one for the front, with a much nicer circle for the lens retaining ring.
I was careful to cut everything on the small side. In previous flocking attempts I had learned that smaller is better. Larger only gives grief, and requires removal and trimming of parts. This can lead to disaster if you are using contact cement, and the glue have already set. The resulting gaps between flocked segments are not significant when you consider the actual amount of surface area which is covered. In other words, be as precise as you want to be and still keep your blood pressure in a reasonable range.
The Before and After flash pictures of the film chamber interiors were taken with my Olympus digital camera, and show significant reduction in the amount of reflected light. In real terms this translates into reduced flare, and higher contrast at the film plane.
I am very pleased with the results from my first color negative film. I'll post a stereo print here when I get it scanned. I plan on using the camera with slow transparency film this week in the studio where I pump lots of light out of my Elinchrome flashes. I will try to make lens hoods before doing this. I'll put the results here when I have them.
In keeping with the spirit of camprice.com, I feel I should mention that this modification of the camera should not effect the resale value adversely. In fact it might, IMHO, add about 10-20% to the cameras eventual value.
click on the picture for an enlarged look at the Interior film chambers before the addition of the flocked material.
click on the picture for an enlarged look at the Interior film chambers after installation of the flocked panels.
click on picture for an enlarged view of the templates used in making the flocked panels
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