Greetings,

I have obtained 6 new Medium format slide mounting jigs and they are
available for immediate sale. See:
http://home.att.net/~sales3d/NewMountingJig.htm

These are the jigs that have been supplied with the cameras for the past
couple of months. They have a number of new features compared to the older
jigs, like focusing, rotation of the body, runs on AC or batteries, etc.

Bonus: 10 blank mouns are included for free.

Price is $185, plus shipping (from $6 to $16 Priority Mail in the USA)

Note: I am not going to NSA this year so I cannot hand-deliver these to you
there. I have to mail them.

Thank you,

George Themelis

DrT (George Themelis) wrote:

> I have obtained 6 new Medium format slide mounting
> jigs and they are available for immediate sale.
> See: http://home.att.net/~sales3d/NewMountingJig.htm

George, these look cool. Two questions for you:

Can you speculate why the viewing lenses have been masked
down to square rather than being left open?

Does the unit use an LED or a florescent lamp?

--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

> Can you speculate why the viewing lenses have been masked
> down to square rather than being left open?

I don't know but maybe so they can frame one side and mask the other one
out? (without the masking maybe one eye can see part of the other image and
this might be confusing?)

> Does the unit use an LED or a florescent lamp?

Can I tell without taking the unit apart? The transformer output is rated
4.5V @ 1 amp. (The input is 100-240V so it can be used in the USA and
Europe, etc)

George

Hey John,

At 04:50 PM 7/2/2007, you wrote:

>Can you speculate why the viewing lenses have been masked
>down to square rather than being left open?

Whatever their reasons, it looks as if they may have reduced the
already limited range of IPD's supported by the narrow diameter
lenses further still. I don't understand what benefit could outweigh
the need to maximize the range of supported IPD's.

I have a friend whose 57mm IPD is just inside the lower limit of what
the unmasked, 3DWorld STL viewer lenses will support and another
friend who has a 55mm IPD. His eyes are too narrow set to see
through both lenses of the STL viewer simultaneously, but he has no
problem using the SaturnSlide equipped with 46mm diameter lenses. I
bet not even the friend with a 57mm IPD could use the masked lenses
of this jig unless 3DWorld has increased the lens separation on the
jig to something greater than 65mm (not likely).

My IPD is 70mm and I suspect it might be worthless for my use, as
well, thanks to the mask. It's possible that the masks are not
compromising the useful clear apertures of the lenses, but their
presence stops me cold from buying one without trying it first, or at
least getting some measurements.

George: Can you please measure the spread between first the inside
edges, and then the outside edges of the two masks (to determine the
range of IPD's supported - assuming it's all useful real
estate)? That might put my fears to rest. It looks like a nice
table top viewer, otherwise (in addition to being a mounting jig).

Thanks,

Mike Davis

Hi George,

At 12:32 AM 7/3/2007, I wrote:

>George: Can you please measure the spread between first the inside
>edges, and then the outside edges of the two masks (to determine the
>range of IPD's supported - assuming it's all useful real
>estate)? That might put my fears to rest. It looks like a nice
>table top viewer, otherwise (in addition to being a mounting jig).

I just took some careful measurements of one of the photos of the new
jig at the link you provided. On the assumption that the jig's lens
separation is 64.5mm, as it is with my 3DWorld STL viewer, here's
what I came up with:

Independent of limits imposed by the lenses themselves, the 3DWorld
jig's square masks will not inhibit IPD's fitting the range of 43mm
to 85.5mm. The unmasked 3DWorld STL viewer's lens mounts allow an
even greater range, at 34mm to 95mm, but I already know that my
friend with a 55mm IPD can't use both STL lenses simultaneously
because the useful clear apertures are considerably smaller than the
physical diameter of the lenses.

Conclusion: The clear apertures of the new jig's lenses are NOT
compromised by the square masks. The masks would have to be much
smaller to compromise the clear apertures.

I'd still appreciate your input.

Thanks!

Mike Davis

Boy, 3D World is some company. With probably small production numbers,
they make frequent and sometimes radical design changes. The mounter is
a case in point. As much improved as it appears, it still doesn't
address a couple of my needs. With these mounts, it seems like you need
to attach one chip down to the strips first, then mount the other chip
to it. So for me , the hold down clips are just in the way. And once
you have the chips set, how do you reveal the tape surface and attach
the chips without shifting them? The swinging lenses seem like a good
idea, but I always need to be looking through the lenses when adhering
the chips as they always seem to shift a little. I also like to use a
near/far gage as on the 35mm SAM mounter. That requires either a moving
3D mount over fixed lines or a sliding gage. I adapted one from a SAM.
All in all, the mounter looks very good, and a good viewer to boot.

Now with battery operated lighting and adjustable focusing finally
accomplished, is a similar hand held viewer far behind? Now that could
generate some good production numbers.


Dale Yingst

Dale,

At 10:44 AM 7/4/2007, you wrote:

>Now with battery operated lighting and adjustable focusing finally
>accomplished, is a similar hand held viewer far behind? Now that could
>generate some good production numbers.

I agree! It amazes me that 3DWorld hasn't done this already. It's
not as if there is no evidence of people trying to craft focusable,
illuminated, medium format, hand held, MF viewers.

Surely the ratio of mounting jig sales to sales of the viewer we're
all waiting for would exceed 100 to 1. How do we communicate this to
3DWorld? They're sitting on a gold mine and don't know it. OK,
maybe it's just a copper mine... but it's an untapped market that
they are very well suited to exploit.

If 3DWorld is listening, I'm shouting this: Your STL viewer is not
the last word in hand held viewers. There are a LOT of people out
here willing to pay $150.00 or more for a hand held viewer that is
focusable and self-illuminated. And please don't just throw
something together on your own know-how. Invite people to help you
with the design. We want you to be successful.

Mike Davis