a pair of Krasnogorsk FT2 cameras joined together for a panoramic stereo shot
Toronto. … coming, the Russians are coming – as Canadian Producer/Director Norman Jewison titled his 1966 humorous movie.
A fitting title for this post about Stan White’s exploits to make panoramic 3D photos using a co-joined pair of Krasnogorsk FT2 cameras. Click on the camera icon to see a stereo example.
Stan begins his article as follows. “It was the need for a means of photographing street scenes in 3-D that was the motivation. If the objective is to include for posterity as much of the street and building as possible a conventional stereo camera is not the answer.
“Some years ago I purchased a Krasnogorsk FT2 panoramic camera circa 1950‘s and I was pleased with the results (see Photographic Canadiana vol. 19, no. 2).
“I had used this camera to make stereo pictures using a slide-bar. But the camera is far from quick to handle and by the time the shutter has been cocked and the film wound on (three revolutions on the winding knob) and the slide-bar moved to the new camera position, a delay of 8 seconds was minimal. In an angle of view close to 120 degrees it was impossible, even if there was no people or traffic, to make the left and right view without introducing anomalies between the images.
“Then, at the Society auction this year [1996], another FT2 camera became available. It did not sell and I was able to take the camera on approval to see if its imagery was a close enough match to the image produced by my own camera to make a compatible stereo pair.
“These cameras are built like trucks and it is possible with care to strip them down, lubricate, adjust and put them back together again in about half an hour and you don‘t need to be a camera repair man to do this. I soon had the second camera working fine and adjusted so that its shutter speeds matched my own camera. …”
Read the rest of Stan’s illustrated article on the issue 22-2 pdf file contained on the free members-only DVD. Join up and see all we offer! See above or at right. Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca. P.S. Help us – please indicate if this is a new or renew membership. Come out to our events as shown at the right under “PHSC EVENTS”. There is always something of interest!
