Hi All,

I'm now back to work and life goes on as usual, but before it all
disappears into the grey matter here are my impressions of the show:

The highlight was and has always been getting to meet other 3Ders,
especially all those who I have conversed with over the years online.
This year not only brought around a few old friends I'd met before,
but put a few more faces on those who were only known by email
addresses and folio cards. It was a pleasure to chat with the likes of
David Kesner, Chuck Holzner, John Thurston, Werner Wieser, David Lee,
Oleg Vorobyoff, Dorothy Mladenka, Bob Aldridge, Bob Venezia, Glen
Johnson, John Hart, Bob Schlesinger, Brenda Nowlan, Dale Yingst, Tom
Dory, and many many other MF3Ders in person. That was the best part of
the whole trip.

The MF3D Exhibit display was a great success. It was always being
looked through, and the comments about both the images and display
itself were all nothing but positive. Thanks to Dave, Chuck, Boris,
Oleg, Hai, Don and Mike for contributing to this. My only regret was
only making it a 12 pair display when it could have been 18 pairs.
Maybe next year.

There were a lot of MF3D viewers in the lounging area, and it is no
surprise that this was the prime "sharing" format at the convention,
and attracted a lot of attention from passers by. The layout of the
convention area made it hard NOT to notice them, which was certainly
to our advantage.

As for the MF3D meeting, I have more mixed feelings about its success.
The main concern was that it had somehow got scheduled in the exact
time slot as the Digital Camera workshop which was across the hall.
This was not apparent when I reserved the time, and I did not see any
other conflicts this extreme. I really thought some digital people
would have benefitted from our meeting, and instead went to the other
event. I feel this was the reason for having less attendees for the
meeting then other years, and not because people were no longer
interested in MF3D. That said, the folios were received warmly and
with a lot of interest. Most of the discussions evolved around the
TL-120, and speculations as to what the future of the company may be.
Dalia brought the new jig to the meeting.

One unique surprise was meeting a person named Joachim Groeger, who
had personally worked with Franke and Heidecke as a designer. He had
brought a very unique MF3D camera he had modified himself using
Hasselblad and Voightlander parts. He'd also made a folding viewer and
special clips to keep cardboard mounts closed and for support. Werner
had also brought some special aluminum masks for MF3D. John Hart
brought some examples of transparencies that were generated from
digital images for only a few cents each. He also had a magnificent
sample of a digital-to-MF-film slide that he had done in Denver(?) I
believe. Bob Aldridge had some samples of a stereo panoramic
viewer/mount system that had interocular adjustment and was quite
reasonably priced.

At the tradeshow I saw little new. No TL-120s were for sale, just a
few cardboard mounts and the Chinese handheld viewer. There was one
Asian gentleman who had a home rig MF3D viewer, but in the hustle of
the show I did not get any details of this.

I'm sure I've missed lots, so other participants please pass your
comments onto the list for others to see.

Thanks,

Sam

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, "Sam Smith" wrote:

>
> The MF3D Exhibit display was a great success. It was always being
> looked through, and the comments about both the images and display
> itself were all nothing but positive.

I agree, and thanks to all involved for their time in preparing and
setting it up. I'm glad an image from Don Lopp was included. I did
think (being the noxious critic) that the plexiglass sheet in front of
the transparencies took its toll, but probably nobody else noticed
this. The Stereo Art Gallery was a great success, I think, for its
eclectic presentation of some really good 3D stuff.

For me, the main fault with the convention was that I couldn't find
more time to look at MF's. As it happened, I was hopelessly
overcommited. But a half day of "do-nothing", where you could sit with
folks and see some folios, etc., sure would have helped lower my stress
level!!

John

John Hart wrote:

>>I agree, and thanks to all involved for their time in preparing and

setting it up. The Stereo Art Gallery was a great success, I think, for
its

>
> eclectic presentation of some really good 3D stuff.
>

I think it was great from John's large format stereo print viewers to
large scale Phantograms both printed and projected, various lenticulars,
anaglyphs of all types, large stereo paintings/prints, and multi viewer
sculptures. It was a gallery worth returning to several times and a
highlight of the convention. I have to hand it to the MF guys, there
was always someone in the lobby outside the stereo theater with viewers
and slides in a nice chair/coffee table setting. Usually there were
also people standing and waiting their turn to look at slides. I felt
sorry for them sometimes as someone usually stayed in the lobby even
during the stereo shows. I can guarantee more people were exposed to MF
during this convention than at any of the previous ones that I
attended. Hopefully the same can be done next year, at which time I
hope to have something to contribute.

> >>But a half day of "do-nothing", where you could sit with
> folks and see some folios, etc., sure would have helped lower my stress
> level!!
>

What stress level? You had fantastic, meticulously crafted shows, a
great presentation with your viewers, and your projectors, they were
smokin....literally!

Dale Yingst