I went to my first NSA convention in 12 years. I wanted to see all the fuss about the digital media and viewing options firsthand. I looked over the newer options in the lounges and galleries. Then my eyes fell upon the lonely Stereo World self-lighting MF Viewer in the corner with Dave Lee's slides.

I've been considering getting one before, but still had some reservations about it. Well, as soon as I put it up to my eyes and pushed the button, all doubts vanished. The Chinese manufacturers, with plenty of help from our stateside experts, finally got something right.

This viewer, combined with Lee's incredible slides, was by far the best stereo viewing experience I had. His landscapes were awesome and inspiring. While I wasn't much of a monochrome slide fan before, I started to actually perceive some Ansel Adams type tonalities in some of them, which I never experienced before from viewing stereo slides. That itself is quite an accomplishment. His MF workshop was really informative too, but also reminded me how much effort he puts into his work. I really want to try MF hypers someday, but they'll seem just second-string images after seeing Dave's artistry.

I bought the viewer the next day from Dr. T. and later noticed another fellow carrying one along with his slide box, offering others a look at his work. The name tag revealed it was the eminent John Thurston, whose site I would always surf to see what's what in MF. So I asked to see his slides too! :-)Wow, stark, glacial majesty in personal IMAX; an impressive sense of scale; and some creative and effective cropping. His view underneath a curving, blue-lit, ice ceiling took my breath away. I felt like I was actually trapped in there! We discussed the difficulties of getting more people to experience this superior form of stereo viewing in such a large setting. A lot of people preoccupied with their digital whiz-bangs are really missing something special.

After the last stereo theater presentation, another gentleman was passing his slides and 3D World viewer about in front of me. Well, you know the drill by now - I asked to have a look. After I looked, I had to take a moment to find where the top of my head landed on the floor. While John and David's slides showcase the tonal nuances and subtle lighting of MF, Bob Venezia's exploited the other far end of Medium Format potential. His night amusement park slides showed the extreme contrast and brilliant, needle sharp linearity this format can produce. It was sheer abstract artistry, multi-layered in black space. His bubble blower portrait was very captivating too, and showed how well the TL120 can do portrait close-ups.

Well, I don't have any landscapes where I live that measure up to David and John's subjects. But I'm dragging my Spud and tripod to the Wildwood amusement piers whose bright, crowded attractions are like stereo heaven. They have fireworks every Friday night this summer too!

Thanks for all the inspiration, guys. Maybe I'll eventually produce enough quality and quantity of MF slides to earn a spot in one of the John's folios!