my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Good 3D Book From SMPTE

Author Topic: Good 3D Book From SMPTE Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 04-10-2013 10:11 AM                     I recently bought a book from SMPTE titled: 3D CINEMA & TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY, THE FIRST 100 YEARS To put it bluntly, this book has "everythiing you ever wanted to know about 3D, and more" It's mostly a re-printing of almost every SME & SMPTE technical paper on 3D going back to the early 1900's. It's also got a smattering of patent drawings and 3D related press releases & articles from trade publications such as VARIETY and BOX OFFICE. List price is $89 (or the cost of a decent lunch here in San Francisco) but I've seen used copies occasionally show up on AMAZON for around $75. It's a BIG book- well over 500pgs, and it's HEAVY, so shipping will set you back aboout another $15 or so here in the U.S. But if you're interested in the topic and/or enjoy reading technical tomes, I can highly recommend it, despite the price which may seem high to some. More Info Here Actual Pictures (WoW!) It's a BIG book: 8 1/2 x 11" - 550 pgs - 7lbs! Interesting 3D camera set-up using a pair of B&H 2709's (one mounted upside-down) AND color wheels to produce 3D and RGB sequential color separation frames on B&W film. The "Polaroid Process" The ultimate 3D rig ~ A pair of synchronized Technicolor 3-Strip cameras! (This thing must have weighed a ton & used up a sh_tload of film!_ So, if you've got an extra 100bux or so laying around, I highly recommend this book. (Or, you could just send the extra $100 to me!)  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 04-10-2013 02:08 PM                     Two of the camera rigs shown in those photographs were ones which were used to shoot the Festival of Britain 3-D films. The one on the cover with a pair of Newman & Sinclair cameras was used for several of the black and white films, while the twin Technicolor rig was used on 'Royal River', and I think one other film. I don't think any feature films were shot with either of these rigs. The festival films were mainly demonstrations of the process. I don't know what the strange rig with the magazine underneath is. The six-strip Technicolor rig could not be used for close-ups because its inter-occular distance was too great; a significant problem for a 3-D camera. The original 1951 prints of most of these films still exist in the BFI's vaults, and used to be show at the National Film Theatre from time to time, but I haven't heard of any screenings for a few years now. Unfortunately, the stereo magnetic tracks are 'lost', and the films have to be shown with the mono optical track on one of the prints.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 04-10-2013 07:35 PM                     Yes, Stephen- You're absoloutely correct. There's a couple of lengthy papers in the book covering 3D at the Festival of Britain, and I beleive that's where I grabbed those images from. Also, a bit off tobic but somewhat related- - about a month ago I got to watch a beautiful 16mm print of "The Magic Box" held by a private collector. For a long time, you couldn't get that movie here in the US. I'm still not sure if it's available. The only copy I had was a meidocre quality DVD I'd made from an old PAL format VHS tape release of it a long time ago.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.