At the beginning of the year, I posted a review of the Wray Stereo Graphic. I mentioned that I was really interested in the stereo format and that I had a few more cameras to write about. I have been actively using at least one of them, but life got away from me, and I haven’t been able to put a post together until now. So here is the David White Stereo Realist. I got it a few months later than the Wray.

I saw it on a table at a camera fair. A woman was selling her late father’s collection and was more interested in the cameras being used than the price she would receive. I paid her a fair price, but I still feel I got a bargain. At the end of the day, we were both happy, and that was the main thing.

According to the serial number, this example was produced in 1950-51. I found this unsecured website with a plethora of information about the camera; it’s an encyclopedia. This website also has lots of information. It seems that if you like this camera…you really like it.

This camera has a rangefinder, which I much prefer to the point-and-shoot style of the Wray. I found the Wray’s shots were sometimes a little blurry. I loaded this one immediately with a roll of Kodak Movie film I had had for a while and wandered around Wakefield. The top speed of the Realist is just 1/150th, so the 25asa of the film suited it perfectly.

You get two square images per shot. In post-production, I combined them side by side so I could print them for a viewer. These were taken at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

I finished the film at Thornes Park on my way home.

I used PhotoScape to combine them; it’s easy to use and free. Though the film was expired and not the best, all the shots came out and were sharp. I much prefer these results to those from the Wray, maybe the rangefinder effect.

They viewed great on a stereoscope, though I can relax my eyes by creating the ‘third’ middle image. I still love the stereo format, and in the Wray post I wondered about the Reto 3D I had. The app that was produced for the camera has stopped working to produce wigglegrams, but in that post I said if you skipped the middle image, it would produce regular stereo images. Here are some examples.

They are not as sharp as the Stereo Realist, but better than the Wray. It is another way to use the Reto 3D, considering the Wigglegram app has now failed. Of course, these are my examples and experiences; your camera examples might give different results.