Stereo Images have been popular since 1851. The method of viewing – crossing your eyes – can take a bit of getting used to but once you get it, it can be quite fun. The depth or 3D is simply created by positioning the taking camera on a tripod and sliding the tripod over about an inch between shots.
My subject for this image is my Canon 7 a 35mm LTM Rangefinder. The Lens is the infamous 0.95 Dream Lens, fastest lens ever mass produced!
Although it has a reputation, especially within Leica circles, of working as well as shooting through the bottom of a Coke bottle, it really is a pretty good lens.
It is however a difficult lens to use.
Physically at 72mm it blocks part of the viewfinder and nearly half of the square that lets in light to illuminate the rangefinder patch! You could wait for brighter conditions but then isn’t dimly lit what 0.95 is really about? If you shoot in daylight 0.95 is nearly impossible even with 2000 shutterspeed, better get a 72mm ND filter.
With only inches of sharp DOF when used wide open at distances under 20ft some (or lots of) out of focus shots are par for the course. Imagine shooting candids of someone 10ft away at 0.95, if your subject or even you move just 2 inches the focus will be off!
So yeah it is a difficult lens to master and really requires a lot of vigilance to get consistently good results.
Tags: Available Light, Camera, Equipment