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Subject: Framing your Shots (Sputnik Style)
Date: 2006-11-17 16:45:13
From: Zemmy!!
With the difference in the taking lenses vs. the viewing lens on the
Spud does anyone have tips on framing your shots? Until today I didn't
realize that you had to use the front frame and the little square on
the rear panel.


WHAT A PAIN!

I'd like to hear your suggestions!


Zemmy!!
Subject: Re: Framing your Shots (Sputnik Style)
Date: 2006-11-18 18:57:06
From: Timothy Crabtree
> With the difference in the taking lenses vs. the viewing lens on the
> Spud does anyone have tips on framing your shots? Until today I didn't
> realize that you had to use the front frame and the little square on
> the rear panel.
>
> WHAT A PAIN!
>
> I'd like to hear your suggestions!
>
> Zemmy!!

Just remember that what you see is reversed and add a little more head
room than what you want on the final image. Look down into the mirror
(maybe using the little magnifier... it's up to you. I normally
don't) and compose, keeping in mind the differences in the four sides
of the composition.

Not completely sure what you're meaning by the front frame and the
little square on the rear panel...

--
-Timothy
http://frumiousboojum.deviantart.com
Subject: Re: Framing your Shots (Sputnik Style)
Date: 2006-11-18 20:54:54
From: John Thurston
Zemmy!! wrote:
> With the difference in the taking lenses vs.
> the viewing lens on the Spud does anyone
> have tips on framing your shots?

I use a Lopp Finder :) Seriously.

It's the viewfinder from an old Polaroid
that Don has disassembled and masked down
to present the image area of the Sputnik.
It's mounted on a light-weight wooden plate
which slips over the top of the closed viewfinder.

Paul Talbot posted pictures of his Lopp
Finder on the web back in 1999 and they're
still there. You can find the links to
the images at:

http://www.pauck.de/archive/mailinglist/mf3d/mhonarc/msg01456.html

John Thurston
Juneau, Alaska
Subject: Re: Framing your Shots (Sputnik Style)
Date: 2006-11-22 09:15:02
From: olegv@ix.netcom.com
> With the difference in the taking lenses vs. the viewing lens on the
> Spud does anyone have tips on framing your shots?
 
I use a camera-top, two-port sport finder I made out of cardboard and believe it to be the ultimate in framing.  Since you are seeing your shot with both eyes, your slide will will look exactly like what you see, assuming your exposure setting is correct.   I have showed off my device to anyone who would look but nearly everyone ended up underwhelmed, especially stereo buffs. After all, it is just a low tech set of blinders that changes nothing of what you see, except that you see less of it. I have also built such viewfinders for my 35mm cameras, but they are less useful because, unlike MF slides, 35mm slides end up looking somewhat different from what you originally saw, and usually worse.

Now, there are a couple of arguments against using sports finders. One is that they frame inaccurately. True, but since your mounts will be using only 50mm of some 58mm of captured image there is plenty of room for error. The fact is, out of many hundreds of shots I have taken using my viewfinders, not a one could not be mounted as I saw it. The other problem is that the view is some 4 inches higher than the taking lenses. Fortunately, very rarely does a stereo view change noticably lf you lower the taking level four inches. This is in contrast to changes in the horizontal vantage point, where as little an inch can radically change how the view will look. Fortunately again, my viewfinders are pinpoint accurate at determining horizontal camera placement. However, I have taught myself to be aware of problematic vertical placements, and do check how the view appears from a lower vantage point when necessary.

I simply cannot understand why practically all stereo cameras are built with one- eyed viewfinders, including the new Chinese one. The design of Chinese camera is especially unfortunate because its viewfinder is so high and, unlike Sputnik, it has no flat platform to support my six inch wide viewfinder. Thank you, but I pass.

Oleg Vorobyoff




-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy Crabtree
Sent: Nov 18, 2006 4:35 PM
To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MF3D-group] Framing your Shots (Sputnik Style)

> With the difference in the taking lenses vs. the viewing lens on the
> Spud does anyone have tips on framing your shots? Until today I didn't
> realize that you had to use the front frame and the little square on
> the rear panel.
>
> WHAT A PAIN!
>
> I'd like to hear your suggestions!
>
> Zemmy!!

Just remember that what you see is reversed and add a little more head
room than what you want on the final image. Look down into the mirror
(maybe using the little magnifier... it's up to you. I normally
don't) and compose, keeping in mind the differences in the four sides
of the composition.

Not completely sure what you're meaning by the front frame and the
little square on the rear panel...

--
-Timothy
http://frumiousbooj um.deviantart. com

Subject: Re: Framing your Shots (Sputnik Style)
Date: 2006-11-22 12:18:23
From: John Thurston
olegv@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> . . .The design of Chinese camera is especially
> unfortunate because its viewfinder is so high
> and, unlike Sputnik, it has no flat platform to
> support my six inch wide viewfinder.

But it does have a removable prism. I have
another Polaroid finder here from which I've
been planning on making a Lopp Finder for
the TL120. I figure I'll mount it on a square
plate of aluminum and slip it on top of the
camera in place of the prism. Of course,
with my list of projects, I may never actually
get that done.

You could quite easily do the same thing.
Mount your frame on a plate which would
let it be installed in place of the prism.
--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us