I've just stumbled across a pile of stereoscopic images like the one below (not mining related, mostly pictures of the Boer war and the pyramids) and the thingy for viewing them.

It could do with a bit of a clean but how is it supposed to work (obviously you look through it and slide the image towards you!) - I mean are the images supposed to appear in 3D?

Photograph:

🔗Beaver-Brook-Gold-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-29956[linkphoto]Beaver-Brook-Gold-Mine-Archive-Album-Image-29956[/linkphoto][/link]

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Apart from the lack of colour should be just like you are there. The best camera's had a lens separation very similar to the distance between human eyes and so produced very good results. Biggest problem was that some of the photographers did not understand what makes a good stereo image i.e. the effect is distance related so picture of a mountain will be flat, picture of angry dog attacking you should have depth.

The RAFs WWII photos used the same technique but increased the depth of the effect by increased separation of the cameras, one on each wing. This made it a very risky job because they then had to fly straight and level during the photo run.

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we visited an exhibition in edinburgh called camera obscurer exhibition which had quite a lot of stereoscopic images on display! the idea is that it enhances the picture by tricking the brain into falsely registering depth in the pictures, so a early form of 3D.

Pentax, and I dare say some other camera bods, used to sell a 3D kit for 35mm cameras, I've got one here somewhere. Screwed into the filter thread on the front of a primary lens, it would shoot two images onto a single 35mm frame. Primarily for slide film, the kit came with a viewer too. It worked very well, but trying to compose in a half frame was a pain. if you stood close enough to get the full effect, you just couldn't get enough into the frame. Get all you want into the frame and you were almost certainly too far away to get the 3D effect. You also needed to keep the camera absolutely level so each image would coincide with the other when viewed. If not, the effect was like binoculars with a misaligned prism; bring on the nausea....!
I'll see if I can find the gadgets and a few images then post them up..... don't hold your breath mind!
Whilst still on the subject of stereo images, you can view them without a viewer.
How? place the image/s at a comfortable viewing distance and then cross your eyes until the images converge.
At this point the image will be blurred and it will all seem pointless and Now try to relax your eyes a little and presently the image will clear and the 3D effect will be apparent.
This can also be done with two like images side by side. Try it, it works.
You can also end up like Ben Turpin :lol:
Who? Google it.

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focus at the image while cross eyed and it will appear 3d :thumbsup:

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ish

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focus at the image while cross eyed and it will appear 3d :thumbsup:

Any chance of a closeup of you demonstrating this :blink:

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The viewers i've seen in museum tend to look like this.

http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Optical_Recreations/Stereoscopes/Greenslade53a.JPG 

I guess you just need that little divider to stop each eye seeing the wrong side of the image.

To get a stereoscopic view you need two pictures of the one subject but each taken from a slightly different viewpoint. It's particularly useful with vertical aerial photographs because the plane flies in a straight line exposing each image a few seconds apart but ensuring each picture overlaps with the next. As a result each part of the ground appears at least twice in the pictures from two different positions so by viewing adjoining pictures with a magnifying viewer for each eye a 3D view is created. However it's the brain that does the work so not everybody is capable of seeing stereoscopically.

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I found some software that makes old Stereoscopic images into '3D wiggles'

Unfortunately I don't think that view particularly lends itself to the technique as the only thing in the foreground is a bush.

Finally, and as promised, I dug out (came across while looking for something I still can’t find) my stereo adapter and viewer set.
It is designed to screw onto the filter threads on the front of a 50mm prime lens, and to be used with transparency film. It worked fairly well but there were a few obvious problems with it.

1 – You have to compose your picture within the confines of a HALF of the 35 mm frame.

2 – The camera need to be kept horizontally level or the image in one frame will be elevated above the image in the other, making it impossible to view later.

3 – To achieve the best 3-D effect you need to be fairly close to your subject or at least have some elements of the scene close to the camera. Landscapes do not work at all, and this is all due to the separation of the mirrors.
It’s a bit like rangefinder devices, the further apart the sender and receiver are, the more accurate the reading; thus so with the 3-D effect.

This is the part that attaches to the camera and contains the mirrors.
🔗Personal-Album-342-Image-80968[linkphoto]Personal-Album-342-Image-80968[/linkphoto][/link]
Rear of the attachment
🔗Personal-Album-342-Image-80969[linkphoto]Personal-Album-342-Image-80969[/linkphoto][/link]
This is the viewer with one adjustable eye piece.
🔗Personal-Album-342-Image-80970[linkphoto]Personal-Album-342-Image-80970[/linkphoto][/link]
I held it up to my digital camera, but the results are not as good as that using an analogue camera.
🔗Personal-Album-342-Image-80971[linkphoto]Personal-Album-342-Image-80971[/linkphoto][/link]

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/esprit_de_sel/page4/ 

Hugo, the Parisian explorer does this and also 3D images

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SNIP
Whilst still on the subject of stereo images, you can view them without a viewer.
How? place the image/s at a comfortable viewing distance and then cross your eyes until the images converge.
At this point the image will be blurred and it will all seem pointless and Now try to relax your eyes a little and presently the image will clear and the 3D effect will be apparent.
This can also be done with two like images side by side. Try it, it works.
You can also end up like Ben Turpin :lol:
Who? Google it.

Sadly I don't have to Google him :lol:

Yes the crossed eyed method does work, if you go here
http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/index.html 
you can find some images that work with this method. SDM (Stereo Data Maker) is sort of a cut down version of CHDK for those of you who play around with the Canon Camera Hack.

Peter.