3-D film developing

[HenryJ]

I have a 3-D camera which has 3 lenses. You use 35mm film. Does anyone know where I can get it developed for 3-D prints?

 

[Stephen Frizza]

the process is called lenticular printing, there are a few companies which do it. you will need to get the film processed and possibly the printing company can scan the film or will ask you to supply a digital copy of the 3 images from the 3 lenses. one company which does this is http://www.lenticularprinting.com/

but if you look up lenticular printing in Google Im sure you will find many more companies which do it.

 

[reellis67]

The last I heard, there was only one place left that did this type of developing at the consumer level, and I've not heard anything about them in some time. Use caution when attempting this type of service - I lost two rolls of film that had a, now departed, family member on them when I sent film to Click-3D some years ago. I never saw the film, or my money, again. I would suggest getting the film developed, scanning the negatives just in case, and then sending them in for printing. The best place to ask if you can't find anything concrete here would be the Yahoo! group 'photo-3d'. They will be able to tell you for certain who is still able to handle consumer lenticular printing like what you are asking about.

By the way, which camera do you have?

- Randy

 

[srs5694]

The 3D cameras with which I'm even passingly familiar have two taking lenses and one viewfinder. For instance, the Dead Link Removed and FED Stereo work like this. Sometimes, as in the case of the Realist, the viewfinder lens looks like a third taking lens, but it's not. The point of all this is that the camera forms two images on the film, not three. Checking eBay, I see 3D cameras with as many as four taking lenses, so clearly the stereo cameras with which I'm familiar aren't the only kind. I just want to be sure that Henry knows that his third lens might or might not be a taking lens.

I know nothing about the lenticular printing referred to by others, and in particular I don't know how many images it requires (two, three, four). My father owned a Stereo Realist and shot slide film with it, which was mounted in stereo slide mounts and viewed with a handheld stereo slide viewer. I've also used simple devices for viewing stereo prints that are printed side-by-side. If you don't mind the inconvenience of using a viewing device, either of these might be options if you can't get the lenticular printing done.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Some 3D cameras appeared to have 3 lenses, but the center "lens" was a viewfinder. Of all of the ones I know of, excluding lenticular, they used normal reversal color 35mm film and the stereo pairs were mounted in special dual mounts for viewing in a special device or with a special 3D projector.

The mounts, viewers and projectors are hard to come by, but the film is easily processed by normal E6 chemistry. Viewmaster and a fiew of the disk mounted pairs will be almost impossible to deal with, but the 35mm half frame variety is more common and last I checked still had mounts made for them.

Lenticular printing was never (AFAIK) commercialized beyond the very earliest market stages. It was used to print color lenticular films in the 30s but these were not 3D.

PE

 

[HenryJ]

The 3D camera I own is an Image Tech. I have taken several rolls of film (color negative iso 100) and the resulting prints were very good. You have to set up the shots for the 3D effect or you won't get it. I know it's a novelty, but it certainly makes for good conversation when you pull out the prints and show them to your guests - especially the 8x10's!

 

[sun of sand]

I have a nishika camera with 4 lenses
I'm more inclined to use it as a stereo camera by blocking out the two innermost lenses and then butting the furthest images together to get 3D

Won't be as good as a stereo camera because the lenses aren't far enough apart but it should work kinda well

stereographs are very cool

 

[reellis67]

I've got some pictures of stereo cameras on my personal web site if you would like to see what the different cameras look like. The David White Stereo Realists and similar (Kodak Stereo 35, various TDC models, etc.) make a pair of 5 perf images for each exposure, which are then either mounted in stereo mounts (available here) or printed and mounted as stereographs. You can scan them too if like, and print off a complete stereograph which can be dry mounted to a card and viewed in a Holmes viewer.

The camera you have is a true lenticular camera, which can have two or more lenses, the average seeming to be either three or four. Mine, a Nimslo, has four for what it's worth. It's not really a novelty, or at least not in my mind. I find that it's more of a great idea that was passed over for what ever reason, but which is likely to return with the increasing emphasis on stereoscopic movies these days (the next logical step in cinema I would think). The depth is quite striking, and not at all gimmicky - at least the quality prints that I've seen. At one point you could but the lenses and print your negatives at home to make up to 8x10 lenticular prints. I have no idea if these kits are still available, but this is really something that everyone should see (done well) at least once.

- Randy

 

[Chazzy]

I would love to see a lenticular print--I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but it sounds fascinating. I have a Holmes-type stereograph viewer.

 

[Mike Wilde]

120 tri lens - wow

This spring I crossed paths with Dave Nardi - who posts here from time to time. He was showing off 6x6 stereo transparencies and the image generated by the pair of images was WOW. Dave uses a tri lens camera of current manufacture made in China. If you are instrested in streo this is cretainly an impressive way to go.

 

[reellis67]

It's a tad pricey for me (link), but you can also use a slide bar and any medium format camera if your subject does not move. Or, you can link a pair of cameras to fire at roughly the same time as long as your subject is not moving really fast.


- Randy

 

[Photo Engineer]

The easiest thing is to go see an I-Max 3D movie. They are truly stunning. I loved bugs as did our granddaughters. They thought the 3D effect was wonderful.

PE

 

[David Nardi]

This spring I crossed paths with Dave Nardi - who posts here from time to time. He was showing off 6x6 stereo transparencies and the image generated by the pair of images was WOW. Dave uses a tri lens camera of current manufacture made in China. If you are instrested in streo this is cretainly an impressive way to go.

Thanks Mike,

I have a 3D camera made by 3DWorld in China. It uses 120 format film to create six pairs on a roll. This camera creates extremely high resolution images that look mouthwatering in the accompanying viewer. Check the camera out at www.3dworld.cn. I bought mine via an American distributer in Las Vegas, Nevada. They are www.3dstereo.com. Unfortunately the price jumped from $1395 when I bought it a year ago to $1745 today. Check here for full specs and to see the accessories that it comes with, including the mounting jig. www.3dstereo.com/viewmaster/cam-tl120ii.html

I process the film myself (standard E-6) and mount the pairs by hand using the cardboard mounts that this company offers. They are much cheaper than the plastic ones.

If you can afford the new price and love the idea of taking ultra sharp 3D photos then I recommend this camera. Most of my photos are taken with a tripod but I often use it handheld. It is fairly bulky but it fits nicely in the hands.

Just a note on the creator: I was told that that the guy is a wealthy individual who formed this company becasue he loved 3D so much. It is inspiring to see someone develop thier passions into products we can all enjoy. It may look bleak at times for us film types, but I believe there will always be someone who takes the next step to keep the products we like to use alive and kicking. Another great example is www.fotomancamera.com, a company who specializes in panoramic 120 film cameras. They sprouted shortly after Fuji discontinued their highly acclaimed GX617 panoramic camera.

Cheers,

David

David S. Nardi Photography
david@davidnardi.com
www.davidnardi.com