Fuji Real 3D W3

[belgiumreporter]

At the 2008 photokina i was allowed to test the fuji digital 3D prototype camera of what was later to become the finepix real3D.
the camera looked like a cheap boxy point and shoot with two lenses, fuji people apologised themselves for the styling and said it was just a prototype to test if there was a market for such a camera.
In the questionair i had to fill in afterwards they( amongst other things) asked what styling you would prefer also in wich price range you would place such a camera. No matter how it looked in front i was amased of the back of the camera where there was a real 3D display wich could be viewed without glasses or other aid. The 3D effect was caused by a lenticular LCD screen that gives the effect of a 3D postcard. They also had larger monitor screens available for glassless 3D experience but it was said they were going to be rather expensive. These weren't strictly neccesairy as the files could be used for viewing on 3D tv screens ( with the use of shutter glasses).
As i've allways loved 3D gadgets( i think it must have poored in to me as a kid with the viewmaster series) i did like the camera a lot still i had to wait untill 2010 when fuji released the model for the public. No matter how much i liked it 700 Euros was a lot of money for such a gimmick and i never came to buying it. Last year at our local camera store the remaining stock of the fuji 3D's were sold out at 170 Euro's but i was to late to get one. ever since then i was on the look out for one but when they popped up the asking price ( for second hand) was allways a lot more than the new ones at the sale, so i couldn't bring myselve to buying one.
Meanwhile prices only got higher and higher as they seem to have reached some kind of a cult status and the last ones i've seen where in japan with a price tag of 750 and 980$. This kinda made me give up hope of ever owning one, untill last week i came across a camera store that went out of buisness and was selling out the remaining stock of cameras and lenses, among these a brand new finepix 3D all sealed up in its original packing. I placed a bid and to my surprice it was accepted wich made me the new proud owner of the finepix real 3D.
Now i've only used it briefly and the first thing  i've noticed is while the lenticular 3D screen on the camera gives perfrct 3D images, the same files converted to anaglyphs aren't that convincing because of severe parralax. I'm gonna see if things are better when viewed on a 3D tv with the aid of shutterglasses but i'll have to get to my brother to try that out.



The Fuji FinePix Real 3D W3 Camera



A quick testt shot converted for anaglyph viewing



Another "small" thing that i've tried on the 2008 show and of wich i hope it'll come my way some day...

[Stephen]

Nice buy, it has amused me for years the flirtations that the camera and film industry have had with 3d, none of which have really worked as well as promised. I was too young for the Early 1950's Hollywood binge of 3d movies, but love the twin viewer types from the Victorians, which still work as a system, and in full colour.
I did however have a period in the 1970's when working as a projectionist, showing the older 3d films and some more modern Polarvision films. A big struggle all round to get the best images.
Still prints are always going to be difficult, on a screen they work to an extent, but only lenticular types show any promise.
The real con are the "converted" flat 2D films from Hollywood digitalised into a curious fake 3D, based on two or three planes of focus.
The Fuji has now gone the way of the Nimslo, but 3D will rise again!!

Stephen.

[kodaker]

I have both the Fujifilm W1 and the later model W3 3D cameras and love them. I use them regularly. I also have 3 other cheaper 3D digital cameras that I tried once and sat on the shelf. I display the 3D pictures on my 3D desktop computer monitor or my 3D laptop and also on my 3D LG TV. I think they look great there. If I print any, it's for use in a Victorian type viewer. In case you are interested in 3D, check out the Yahoo 3D forum at groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/photo-3d/info

[camfiend]

as I kid I remember my viewmaster 3d viewer and it worked great.. very realistic pictures with your eyes focusing on two slightly different images but have always considered those multi coloured pics as just an out of focus joke.. havent seen the latest attempts and maybe was just my eyes anyhow but those twin coloured glasses did little for me Im afraid

Bob

[Stephen]

If small tablet computers get any cheaper, maybe two of then would make a nice 3D viewer, with suitable lenses, glass wedges, or mirrors to get exact overlap of view. You could even arrange the pair in landscape view above one another and use the old projection method used in the 1950's of reversing and righting the images.

It was an amazing arrangement of a cine frame containing two images, with them printed sideways and the wrong way round, and when projected the jumble was sorted out by mirrors, that reversed the images, and turned them at 90 degrees to each other, resulting in the overlapped Polavision 3D image on the screen.

Fearfully complex to set up right, and if not done right resulted in headaches for the audiences. It was problems with Projectionists that killed of 3D after 1956.

Projectionists hated 3D in the 1950's, hours of conversion of the projectors, setting up the lenses and mirrors, and having to have an intermission to change reels, as both projectors were in use. And keeping two projectors in perfect sync was a nightmare.

Modern digital projection of the current cinema 3D is so much easier, barely more than ordinary digital. But the 3D effects are not so good as a well set up 1950's rig.

I had the luxury of showing the old Polarvision 3D films in the 1970's in special presentations, which gave time to do the set up correctly.....House of Wax was stunning in 3D....as was Kiss me Kate.

Stephen

[dee]

i still love the magic of the Viewmaster and would love to try out that camera !
dee

[Stephen]

I had a Viewmaster as a child, but the slide disks were a little expensive for the pocket money. My parents did buy Educational ones, I remember a tour of the Niagara Falls, and Animals of Africa in 3D.

I also had a cheap copy made for Woolworths, which was not 3D, but had two eyepieces looking at a single frame, making it look like the Stereo Viewmaster. It only cost a few shillings, maybe 2/6d, I can't be sure.

It came with six frame film strips in a pack, which turned out to be cut from Cinema prints in 35mm of Hollywood films.

The film was ex-projection, used copies, it still had the magnetic sound strip, and the Cinemascope Squash for wide screen projection. One pack was from the "The Robe", and the strips were genuine Technicolor projection copies.

Another pack was marked "Circus Scenes", and again was cut up strips of old cinema film, from the Cecil B Demille film, "The Greatest Show on Earth".

The viewer was made by a subsidiary of Rank Photographic, who must have supplied old worn out technicolor reels of the cinema films to the factory to cut up to make the strips.

Stephen.