Post 16: A New Lightweight 2 Camera setup

My studio rig works well with a tripod, but is fairly bulky and heavy.I also wanted a lighter rig to take on trips, and use handheld as well as on a lightweight tripod. I ordered a really nice and light black anodized basic rail from 3D Stereo.com, and made new brackets out of 2" x1/8" flat aluminum, and a spacer to keep the lenses level with one camera upside down, that can be easily changed from horizontal to vertical. I will add a wide strap to hang the rig around my neck for street pictures. Since it is easy to drop and loose the small screws, I have a few extras on the spacer. The blue graduated rotating plate is used to shoot stitched panoramas. The cable release is connected to the 2 camera with a short 2.5mm stereo jack cable, or when the 2 cameras are connected with the short cable, the shutter release of one triggers the other.

Post 15: The 2 camera Setup

Well, I finally broke down, and since Canon had come up with the new G12 update to the G11 I have been using all along rather than my SLR , I bought one, and modified my slide bar to accept the 2 cameras.  The first tests are good, and I will soon start to shoot some live stuff...

 The original slide bar I made for a single camera was very simple: a section of 3"x 3/16" aluminum, and a slide with a piece of teflon and a lock screw. Plus a vertical mounting bracket with toe in adjustment.


For the 2 camera setup, I first made a very lightweight mini slide bar on a quick mount plate for my extra light Manfrotto 785B tripod(highly recommended, feather weight, and extremely rigid for its skinny legs) using only a 1" length of 3"x3" aluminum angle and a bent piece of 1"x 1/8" aluminum drilled to level the 2 lenses, and with a slot and thumb screw to adjust the spacing. For even more spacing, the G11 can be mounted on the other side of the flipped around bracket:

Then I used the same brackets to reverse one of the 2 cameras so the lenses could get as close as possible on the original slide bar. In the horizontal position. That is a spacing of 3.25".

I then adapted the 90 degrees brackets I already had to fit the 2 cameras vertically with the lenses level, and a minimum spacing of 2.65":

This required the addition of a u channel spacer:

Post 14: "The Cardinal"

I am afraid this one is going to be a little hard to read for somebody who has not seen the barbed wire hoop skirt on the mannequin before. As far as the imagery is concerned, think of "Le Repos du Guerrier" (R&R) after the battle for the Cardinal de Richelieu, Prime Minister of France as well as General on the battlefield. Towards the end of his life, his body was pretty much rotting away...

Post 13: Other versions of "Lady Lib"

I included the footboard and added a few props for this shot.

This is a close up eliminating some of the imagery.

Same image in an OOB version projecting in front of the screen.

This one is what I would call a half-phantogram, which works well with the screen tilted back about 45 degrees.

Post 12: "Lady Lib #1"

  I know this one may seem a little weird.. But I bought an old black velvet pal with a Gold cross the other day on e-Bay, and was simply dying to use it as a bedspread... The rest just happened...
  In any case, for those of you who need an explanation, think along the lines of my own sculpture of Eve(a mannequin mind you) playing the part of Lady Liberty(America as it sees itself), self professed defender of Christianity and democracy, severely crippled(notice the wonderful shape of the pair of antique homemade children crutches), very myopic(if not legally blind), arms and legs wide open, still trying to lead the world, stick in one hand, carrot in the other(Chinese money, billions of dollars we lavish on other countries when they could be much better used at home). I will leave it to you to decide whether she is being raped and pillaged, or just a consenting partner enjoying playing with death(close to a million just in Irak and Afghanistan so far, and counting, including almost 8000 American kids she sent there to die for nothing else but greed). The  ammonite and lump of fossilized baby dinosaur dung in the foreground represent fossil fuels, the main reason behind all those death, the others being the arm manufacturers and merchants(the biggest is our very own Pentagon) symbolized by the offensive hand grenade, the greed of our elites symbolized by the coins, and extremist islamic terrorism symbolized by the kriss and the knife. 
 The plumb bob hanging over her head, an old masonic symbol of rectitude, integrity and honesty can be seen as symbolic of the current distressing lack of these particular virtues in today's world of business and politics, but also as the Sword of Damocles hanging over her head...The watch hanging from a skull mala on her right wrist is ticking, the "weaner" bracelet on her left wrist should be used to wean us from the mother oil cow. One of the Tibetan Kapalas bear a dancing skeleton, the other a Sauwastika(a symbol of good luck, just as the Swastika was before it's association with Nazis). Hope you are not offended by the South headed circumcised limp wooden penis, actually not a dildoe, but a fine antique fertility symbol from the Naga Tribes of India. Let it mean for you whatever strikes your fancy, our impotence facing the problems at hand, or the seemingly  generalized impotence of the American male consuming now millions of Viagra pills...Toads lurking in the shadows are doing fine though. 
   Last but not least, at the head of the cross, instead of the usual I.N.R.I. plaque(for those who do not remember what the letters mean, it was meant as a joke, meaning "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews"), there is a chinese document, symbolizing China waiting in the wings, loaning us money we can't afford to borrow, buying up pieces of America, and waiting for the big crash we are headed to, because of the greed, demagoguery and shameless lies of a few(our real leaders), and the stupidity and gullibility of the rest of us. Last minute touch, the two dominoes reading 666. 

Post 11: Bad fake ProAna Glasses

I received the cheap Pro Ana glasses I had ordered from Amazon, and they are awful, showing terrible ghosting. I had also ordered a pair of Pro Ana from 3Dstereo.com at the same time as Michael Beech 's book " 3DStereo Magic Book" to learn more about frames and OOB 3D. Those work fine , and I assume that there are some fake cheap ProAna around, like those on Amazon (the black plastic frame is slightly different and shiny). So DO NOT order the cheap ones from Amazon, but do order the real ones instead from 3Dstereo.com
Now, as far as the Pro Ana being better than the Proview(they claim a brighter image and less ghosting), I honestly cannot tell much of a difference, and since they fit better over my eyeglasses than the wrap around,  I will stick with the sturdier Proview from now on. They have another kind called Anachrome Anaglyph 3D  Glasses which are supposed to be better yet and with slight magnification, but they are out of stock.

POST 10: "Post Partum Bell"

Anaglyphs are easier than Phantograms to make work, and especially large phantograms. I set up this simple scene with one of my almost life size mannequins Eve as a test. I shot down at a 45 degree angle with  28mm lens, with the front of the lens very close to the subject(2ft from the face, 1ft from the baby head), and with right-left eye distances varying  from a standard 3.25" down to 2.25" and 1.25". The best result was with the 1.25" interocular distance, the perspective with wider spacing being too extreme and the ghosting too strong. This is still far from the 1/30 rule, but I just like to break "rules". Click here for a full screen version. 

 I made an OOB version that really pops out of the screen, but the ghosting on the black background is bad. Click here for a full screen version.

To minimize the ghosting, I used a lighter mottled background. Don't forget this is meant to be looked at with the monitor flat. Click here for a full screen sideways version. Open it as big as you can and move around till you hit the "sweet spot".

Post 9: Best red/cyan 3D glasses.

I just read on a forum that the Pro Ana/ Pro X glasses actually better and show less ghosting than the Pro View I am using. And they are actually cheaper on Amazon.
I ordered a pair and will report, as they probably won't fit as well over my reading glasses.

  Also, let me mention that I got the Pro View Professional Clip-on shown above thinking they would be more practical over my glasses, but it turned out the cyan lens has more blue, and produces strong ghosting. Don't waste your money.

Post 8: "Dead Dog Shrine"

I was taking the last composition apart, and thought I could do something else with the dog skeleton... The result was"Dead Dog Shrine". I adjusted the Anaglyph so the whole scene would be just behind the window this time. Click here for a full screen version.
I shot the scene with the camera at a 45 degree angle to the tabletop, so I could also make a Phantogram. I straightened up the sides to make it a rectangular image with the same ratio as the sheet of paper. I had to copy and paste the front corners  of the paper to fill in the missing parts. I could have shot a wider view, but would have lost definition. Here is the resulting Phantogram, which you have to look at on your monitor placed flat on the table. On a laptop, click on the image to get a full screen version and push your screen as far back as possible. 

On a regular monitor:  Click here to get a full sideways screen image. 
Fill the screen with the image and turn your monitor the long way flat on the tabletop. It looks like a garbled mess. But put the 3D glasses on, stand and look down at it at a 45 degrees angle, moving left, right, front and back till you hit the "sweet spot" where everything stands straight up above the surface of the screen. When you do, it is amazing, almost looks like a hologram, except that you cannot turn around the virtual image.
 I need to try a print, but I know it won't be as good for lack of contrast. May be if it is spotlighted in a dark room...

Post 7: "Dad's Violin and Stuff" Phantogram version

I also worked on a Phantogram version of my "Dad's Violin and Stuff". I made many tries to get rid of the ghost as best as possible, but with that much contrast and a black background, it is not quite possible. Click here for a full screen version. You have to lay the monitor down, stand up, and look down at it at a 45 degree angle. Move until you find the "sweet spot".

Post 6: "Gimme five", Anaglyph and Phantogram versions

I decided to do a more elaborate composition with the dog skeleton, and made both an Anaglyph and a Phantogram version from the same shots looking down at it at a 45 degrees angle. I had to replace the red in the plumb string and ribbon by blue and purple in order for the images to work in color. Click here for a larger view.

In order to see the Phantogram above correctly, you will have to lay your monitor flat on the table, stand and look down at it at a 45 degree angle. Move around to find the "sweet spot". Click here for a full screen version.

Post 5: "Dad's Violin and Stuff"

Because of the redish tones, this image worked best in black and white. I had a lot of problems with ghosting on the black background, but manage to distort the images so they coincide better  and practically eliminated it. It took trial and error and time, and I suppose it would be easier to shoot on a more neutral textured background, but I do like the starkness of the deep black. Click here for a full screen version.

But I also love the OOB version, which sits partly in front of the screen, but shows a little ghosting. It works because nothing touches the frame. Click here for a full screen version.

Post 4:" Two versions of my Dog Bones"

The position of the subject within the window can be manipulated in from behind to in front within either Stereo Photo Maker(Windows) or the French Anabuilder, as shown by these two examples. I prefer the interface of the Mac Anabuilder, and it does a great job, but the size of the images is limited, while clunkier Windows only SPM handles large sizes and auto aligns the images them much faster.

Post 3: "Old Binoculars on Chinese Paper"

Another test  with a mottled background to hide the ghost images. The bottom of the binoculars is inside the window, but the tops sticks out. Click here for a full screen version.

Post 2: "Box of Veterinary Syringes"

This subject worked well in color because of the absence of red and cyan, and is a bit of a cross between an OOB(Out Of The Box) Anaglyph and a Phantogram. It is best viewed with the screen at an angle. The background wall was created in Photoshop from a 2 D image graciously offered on Flickr by SkeletalMess by using a simple displacement to approximate right and left eye views. Click here for a full screen image.

Post 1: What are Anaglyphs and Phantograms?

This is a 3D Color Anaglyph of an Antique French Monstrance. To view it properly, one has to wear the red and cyan glasses shown on top of the blog and look straight at the vertical screen. Cheap cardboard and gel glasses might work OK, but are more likely to cause ghosting, especially on a black background. The object traditionally appears in 3D behind the window. This particular subject works well because it is golden, with neither red nor cyan. If the subject contains red and/or cyan, it is best rendered in black and white or sepia tones. 
Click here for a full screen version.

The image above is a  Phantogram, a special king of Anaglyph of an object that is photographed on a tabletop at a 45 degrees angle, and looked at from the same angle on a screen or print placed horizontally. The object appears very realistically above the surface of the screen. The perspective has to be corrected and the image distorted anamorphically in order to get the effect. There is a very good tutorial here, and another one there. The black background and high contrast does cause some ghosting.  Click here for a full screen version.