Here is the response from 3D World regarding the quality control problems
and the eyepiece design:

----

Many thanks for your photos and good explanations!
Yes, I guess they made the viewers in a hurry so there are some problems.
Regarding the dust on the diffuser, they were surely cleaned before
delivery. However, the viewer is not completely sealed and material of the
illumination part itself is easy to attract dust so it will probably get
dust on again during the shipment.

Regarding the illumination panel, we'll send you some with your next order
and thank you for fixing those are not good!

Regarding the eyepiece, yes they were changed and it can't be remove as
easy as before. But please understand that normally the factory don't like
their products being disassembled. I'm afraid we don't have the old
eyepiece left now.

The rest problems can be fixed. And I have written every detail and asked
them to pay attention to those problems you mentioned especially.

Again, thanks for your time and efforts!

>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
>On 10/8/2008 at 12:14 PM DrT \(George Themelis\) wrote:
>Here is the response from 3D World regarding the quality control problems
>and the eyepiece design:
>
>
>Regarding the eyepiece, yes they were changed and it can't be remove as
>easy as before. But please understand that normally the factory don't like
>their products being disassembled. I'm afraid we don't have the old
>eyepiece left now.
>

What a huge disappointment.
I don't think 3D World will ever understand its market. Of course we will disassmble their products.
They had a winner with the removeable lens. They sure put a stop to that in a hurry.
And the really stupid thing is, we are even more likely now to completely disassemble it when it needs to be cleaned !

-Bob

This reaction is unfair IMO....

First, "we" are not their main market. 3D World got into the Medium
Format market by selling their coin-operated sequential viewers... These
viewers are sold all over the world (except for the USA where they never
really caught up) to people who put them in public places and collect
money. It is possible that these same people, who install coin-operated
viewers, will try to sell hand-held viewers and slide sets.

Second, I do not know of a single (vintage) stereo slide viewer where the
lenses can be easily removed from the front, without taking the viewer
apart. And why would you need to clean the lenses from the back?
Normally, it is only the front that needs to be cleaned.

Third, "we" asked them to change the focusing to accommodate our older
persbyopic flock :) and now that they did this, we are going to complain?
They did the job. We should be happy, IMO.

That said, I am asking them if they are willing to make a special small
run with the original design just for me, and my myopic customers, or
those who would like to install shorter FL lenses. I'll let you know what
they say.

George

> What a huge disappointment.
> I don't think 3D World will ever understand its market. Of course we
> will disassmble their products.
> They had a winner with the removeable lens. They sure put a stop to
> that in a hurry.
> And the really stupid thing is, we are even more likely now to
> completely disassemble it when it needs to be cleaned !
>
> -Bob

OK, let me put this a different way:

If we had only seen the 2nd version of this viewer, we would all have been
very happy. But because we saw the 1st version with the easily removable
lenses, and because we are bunch of hackers here, now we are
"disappointed". We are a small minority. Those who will never see what
they missed, will not be disappointed :)

George

This reaction is unfair IMO....

First, "we" are not their main market. 3D World got into the Medium
Format market by selling their coin-operated sequential viewers... These
viewers are sold all over the world (except for the USA where they never
really caught up) to people who put them in public places and collect
money. It is possible that these same people, who install coin-operated
viewers, will try to sell hand-held viewers and slide sets.

Second, I do not know of a single (vintage) stereo slide viewer where the
lenses can be easily removed from the front, without taking the viewer
apart. And why would you need to clean the lenses from the back?
Normally, it is only the front that needs to be cleaned.

Third, "we" asked them to change the focusing to accommodate our older
persbyopic flock :) and now that they did this, we are going to complain?
They did the job. We should be happy, IMO.

That said, I am asking them if they are willing to make a special small
run with the original design just for me, and my myopic customers, or
those who would like to install shorter FL lenses. I'll let you know what
they say.

George

> What a huge disappointment.
> I don't think 3D World will ever understand its market. Of course we
> will disassmble their products.
> They had a winner with the removeable lens. They sure put a stop to
> that in a hurry.
> And the really stupid thing is, we are even more likely now to
> completely disassemble it when it needs to be cleaned !
>
> -Bob

Bob Schlesinger wrote (in part):

> However, to take something that is a feature and remove
> it because they don't like the idea of someone taking a
> viewer apart is misguided.

Careful, Bob. We don't know why they changed the design of
the lens cones. I don't think its fair to ascribe the change
to devious intention. I haven't yet seen the newly designed
cones but I can think of several reasons why they might have
changed the design:
Reduce cost
Reduce complexity
Reduce part-count
Increase reliability
--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

Bob Schlesinger wrote (in part):
> However, to take something that is a feature and remove
> it because they don't like the idea of someone taking a
> viewer apart is misguided.

Careful, Bob. We don't know why they changed the design of
the lens cones. I don't think its fair to ascribe the change
to devious intention. I haven't yet seen the newly designed
cones but I can think of several reasons why they might have
changed the design:
Reduce cost
Reduce complexity
Reduce part-count
Increase reliability
--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo. thurstons. us

"DrT (George Themelis)" wrote:

>
> First, "we" are not their main market.

It is nice to know that we are but a small part of 3DWORLD's
market. In looking at only the number of people in this
group, the market looks quite small and not one that anyone
wanting to build a business would consider. We should be
flattered to be used as their "Beta testers".

I feel lucky that my 3DWORLD adjustable viewer works well
out of the box. The slot works with an empty 3DWORLD mount
in a sleeve and I would not want it larger. The IO range
includes my favorite setting of 65mm and I am tempted to
glue it at that setting. The focus range works for me
adjusted all the way out. I am tempted to take the lens
holder out and see if I can grind some high spots off to see
if I can make it adjust farther out just so I can be sure I
have it adjusted optimum for my eyes. I took the screws out
of the focus handles but neither handle wanted to come off.
I don't want to force anything and break it so I have not
gotten the lens holders out to see what limits the movement
away from the film. There seems to be no objectionable
reflections in the viewer. The lenses are about as sharp as
the 78mm lenses in my Saturn Slide viewer, with less
pincushion distortion but with a somewhat smaller "sweet
spot". Good performance for a much cheaper lens.

On the other hand, I want a good way to view my 80X130
slides in it, as I don't want to remount them all in 80X140
mounts. I know that an adaptor has been made that works in
their non-adjustable viewer. Has anyone tried it in this
new viewer? I find that inserting a cardboard mount
(without an adaptor) results in the bottom of the mount
being not confined and can end up at a random distance from
the lenses. I am tempted to extend the slots on the sides to
keep the narrower mounts from roaming too much. That would
fix that problem but still leave the problem of the mount
setting too low. If I block it up higher to center the RMM
mounts it would be too high for the 3DWORLD mounts. A
moveable block to adjust for height would be a bit more work
than I want to do, if a removable adaptor can be made to
work..

I bought this new viewer mostly to be able to view the
80X140 mounted slides in a folio I am in without removing
the lens holder from my Saturn and hovering with it over my
light table. I don't really have to make it work with the
132mm wide mounts as I am not selling my Saturn Slide viewer
but it would be nice if it did..

Chuck Holzner

> I assumed it from the statement that George forwarded earlier:
> "please understand that normally the factory don't like
> their products being disassembled"

Well, you assumed, but this is not what they are saying. As John said,
there might be several reasons why they changed the design and this
"normally" is a way of saying that the final design is considered a
standard as far as products go, but they do not say that this is the
reason they made the change.

George