Tag Archives: 3D

Loreo MK II 3D Stereo Camera

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What a funky looking camera! I bought this with my winnings from the 2019 Grand National. I had a couple of quid on Tiger Roll at 14/1 before it finally settled at 4/1, lucky me. As it was free money, I decided to get myself something superfluous. Free money refers to money you didn’t expect to have and so have not budgeted for anywhere. The Grand National is a somewhat controversial topic, but I have not been in the UK to see it for 20 years so I was quite excited on the day. But at the very first fence a couple of horses fell, one obviously heavily and that made me feel very emotional with mixed feelings about the whole thing. Even so, free money!!

Recently I have been watching a TV show about World War 1. It features stereo photos that have been digitally enhanced. They are freakily effective.

Also Brian May has been on TV promoting his book about Queen which contains the same style of photos. He is a complete nerd when it comes to stereoscopic photos 🙂

That was it, I wanted a stereo camera!!! Oh crap, they are expensive 😦 Hmm, what to do??

Solution, buy an untested one with a broken flash and hope for the best. When it arrived it seemed in pretty good condition, but looking closer the mirrors do seem to have a slight layer of haze. I wondered whether I should try taking it apart and cleaning them before using it. In the end I decided against it as it might not even work. So here is the Loreo Stereo camera from 1999, but it is still available.. It has twin 28mm lenses, a single shutter speed of 1/60th and an aperture of f18 or f11 if you have one with a working flash.

You may have noticed I am a little impatient at times (all my family will laugh at that statement). Having a love of film photography has had no effect on that trait. If I am excited about a camera I tend to use it straight away, even when the weather might mean waiting would be a better choice. This camera was a prime example. I needed a clear, bright day with good film. I chose a humid, cloudy day with old film 🙂

The inside of the camera suggests 200asa film. I had some expired 400asa film. Seeing as I didn’t know if the camera would work, I didn’t see the point in using fresh film. I decided to take the camera to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park as they had a few new pieces on display by Damien Hirst. Perfect for a stereo camera.

The way the camera works means you can take it to a regular shop for developing and scanning. Here are the results I got from that test.

Of course you can’t see the 3d effect but they came out….not in great condition, but they are there. There seems to be a light leak or a reflection of some sort. But, how to effectively view them. I tried the free viewing method and it made me a bit dizzy. I used to be able to see magic photos, but I think the fact I now wear glasses might have affected my ability. So I ordered a Google Cardboard device which has yet to arrive. In the meantime I decided to learn how to make wigglegrams using the free program Gimp.

This is a video heavy post, but what can you do if you decide to ‘wiggle’. Anyway, it didn’t take long to learn, but did take a long time to convert them all. It also made me a tiny bit queazy. So be warned, below are some of the wigglegrams I created. If they make you feel a bit weird, then don’t scroll down. I found the best ones have the subject closer to the camera. This style of photography is not mean for far off landscapes.

As for the camera, I did take it apart and cleaned the mirrors, it did make a difference. I also used some black tape on the film door which reduced the light leak. There also seems to be a reflection from somewhere, a ghost image on the negative. For the second test I used some street candy film. Here are some of the results after the cleaning.

And the second test.

Lubitel 166B with 35mm film

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I have previously written about this camera here.

As I now have a few medium format cameras that I prefer, I have decided to sell this one. Before doing so I thought I would try using it with 35mm film…just because I can. I was spending the morning in Tokyo while waiting for a friend so it was also the perfect time.

I had read about it on a few blogs, including this great one. I had bought some 3D printed adapters ages ago, but this would be my first time using them.

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When I first loaded it into the camera I decided not to close it straight away so I could figure out how much to turn the film advance winder. That meant sacrificing the first bit of the film, but as this was a fun project I didn’t mind. I put a black mark on the winder and then watched the film move as I turned it. I thought it would be about 2 full turns.

Then I had to close the back. The Lubitel back is not the sturdiest and I had to really force it to get it fully closed. Then for good measure, I wrapped sellotape around the top to keep it down. Then there is the red film number window, which I covered with black tape.

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I didn’t think to document the process so this is from my Instagram feed. And then I was off on the train.

Firstly with this camera, I had to guess the distances as the focusing screen doesn’t seem to change much. For this test, I mainly kept it on infinity. The other issue I had was that I completely forgot that the film would not fill the whole of the screen area, just the middle strip. I did eventually remember and it was a bit of a slap on the head moment. DURHH.

There is no rewind of course and the film is not covered with paper like regular 120mm film. That meant I had to place the whole camera in a light-tight bag and rewind it manually ready for processing. Developing the film the next day, I found that I had over-estimated how much to advance the film. But, better to be too much than too little in this case.

And here are the scanned images.

I really like the sprockets on the negatives. I used the 120mm film mask to scan them to make sure they were included. I think I will try this again with a Mamiya, it was fun for me.