Stereo Or 3D Cameras

Why take just ordinary pictures when you can now create eye-popping images simply by using an attachment and special 3-D software kit by Mission3-D that is about the size of a typical cell phone. The kit includes the camera attachment, software and several pairs of 3-D glasses. The software can be attached to any digital camera with a standard tripod socket on the bottom for stereo or 3D cameras.

To create a 3-D image, you need two images – one for each eye. A Photo 3-D device can be attached to your camera on a tripod. Just take two quick pictures by clicking the red lens for the right-eye image and the blue lens for the left-eye image and you’re set to go. The 3-D software mixes the two together. You set the focus point and you’re done. You can then input them into your computer and view them with the 3-D glasses.

The Photo3-D can be used indoors or out, but bear in mind that the best photos of this kind require lots of light. As well as photos, there are other unique items you can create, such as 3-D business or greeting cards. A kit for either Windows or Mac users costs approximately $130. Currently, they are only available through Mission3-D, but are expected to be available at other retailers within the near future.

For those of you who don’t like wearing the 3-D glasses, Sharp has come up with what is believe to be the first 3-D laptop that sells for approximately $3,300. The 3DRD runs Pentium 4 2.8 GHz with 512 mb DDR SDRAM and can display two images in parallax. Through two 15-inch LCD panels, one image is created from each eye image. You simply outline the area of a photo that you want to be the foreground and then designate the background areas.

There are still a couple of kinks to be worked out with this new system, such as a loss of resolution when going into 3-D mode, but overall the resulting picture is very good. Some people also complain of eyestrain while trying to view the 3-D picture on the flat 2-D surface. This computer, is also suitable for 3-D games and other applications and includes a 60GB hard drive, optical and floppy disk drive, and a Matsushita DVD-RAM burner.

Snap3D Photography offers 3D cameras and products for consumer and commercial use for those with Nimslo, Nishika or 3-lens cameras. Since a camera can’t translate the “no glass” effect of a 3D lenticular print, a 3D pulsar, normal anaglyph (red/blue) glasses version and a rocker (side-to-side animation) does the trick.

The 3D lenticular camera, 2-lens reloadable is a 35mm camera with a built-in flash and sells for about $99. This camera uses 100, 200 or 400 ISO negative film andhas a shooting range of 510 feet (1.5-3m).

If you’re a novice to 3D picture taking, you might want to try your hand at it first with a Kalimar, which sells for just $15. This compact 3D 35mm camera also has a built-in flash and uses the same film. It has a focus range of 4 feet to infinity and shutter speed preset to 1/100 of a second.

Nishika 3-D cameras incorporate the new stereo/3-D concept first begun in the 1980s by Nimslo. This four-lens camera uses 35mm film and when processed does not need special 3-D glasses for viewing. You can probably pick one of these up for about $50.

When you’re ready for the big time of 3D picture taking, you might consider the 5 Lens Camera 75mm that sells for approximately $1,700. This camera is ideal for portraits, wedding, advertising photographers and other professionals who sell prints up to 16 X 20 inches. It has an aperture range of F5.6 to F22, focus range of 1.5 to infinity and an electromechanical behind-the-lens shutter with speeds of 1/30, 1/60 and 1/125 second.

Advanced Scientific Concepts, Inc. has a line of 3D cameras and video cameras for underwater picture taking. The Ladar camera can take images in dense media such as water, smoke and dust. This camera can take 44 frames at thee nanosecond intervals using a single pulse of laser light. It has a wide range of approximately 10 to 22,000 feet and an array size of 128 X 128.