Thursday, February 7, 2008

Tribute to the Horseman 3D Camera


The Horseman 3D camera has and is giving me amazing stereo images. And I am not the only one who thinks so… Every picture from this camera that I have entered in our club competitions has won an award. Honestly, I think this is the best stereo investment I have ever made (After the RBT S1 stereo camera of course :)).

Here is what I wrote in photo-3d in November 2006 when I got the camera, before I even mounted my first roll:

“The workmanship in this camera beats anything that RBT has ever produced, hands down. This is a REAL camera. It feels solid, sophisticated, attractive, yet easy to use. Such quality comes of course at (an astronomical) price, but we only live once. Knowing myself, my photography, and my preferences, I am sure I will love the results. I have always been attracted to the grand effect of hypostereos, and close ups. This is a specialty camera, but it is the kind of specialty that I enjoy. I think it will acquire a permanent location in my camera bag.”

I stand behind these comments 100% a year later. But I want to emphasize on thing: Because I love this camera, this does not mean that you will love it too. I have only used it at the nearest focusing point (0.7m without close ups lenses, I have also used +1 and +2 CU lenses, see another posting on using Close up lenses with this camera) This camera is for close ups mainly, not for general photography. If you like portraits and close ups of animals or similar subjects, this is a great camera.

Here is what I wrote in photo-3d last January:

“I just came back from our Stereo Club meeting. The competition topic was "Portraits". A portrait of our new kitty took first place with a perfect score 27 (3 x 9). A simple shot... snapshot with on-camera flash, but it really jumps out (my reaction when I first saw this picture in the viewer was "wow!") Plus, this slide won the "popular vote" (people's choice) [This slide eventually won the “Slide of the Year”]

Some links for further study:

Official Horseman 3D page from the manufacturer: http://www.horsemanusa.com/3D/index.html
Comprehensive review in Shutterbug: http://shutterbug.com/equipmentreviews/35mm_cameras/0507horseman/
Manual (in English, I edited it to keep English only) that I have placed in the internet: http://info3d.home.att.net/Horseman3D.pdf
If you are thinking of buying one, I recommend 3d Concepts (that where I got mine) for expert and knowledgeable service: http://www.stereoscopy.com/3d-concepts/index.html

Enjoy stereo!

1 comment:

Verbier & Zermatt said...

Hi
Quick question, How does one View 3D Photo's ? are there diferent types of Viewers or is there Justone one or the horseman? Also Do you put slides in to the viewer and have to do this to view each photo or can one scroll through the pictures like a slide projector. Julian