Stereo Realist
Stereo Realist
History
Slide mounted by the Realist mounting service.
Slide mounted in glass and sealed with tape.
Seton Rochwite was a camera hobbyist who began designing and building his own stereo cameras in 1929. In 1938, he began work on one that would be suitable for commercial manufacture; he built the first prototype in 1940. He brought it to the David White Company of Milwaukee who, interested in the design, hired him in 1943. The company began advertising the “Stereo Realist” in photography magazines in 1945, although it would not end up being produced until late 1947.
The David White Company had great success marketing the Stereo Realist system to the public. In addition to the stereo cameras there were special viewers, projectors, film cutters, slide mounting aids, cases, and other accessories available. They also offered a stereo slide mounting service. Several camera models were offered over the years, some with premium lenses and features. The basic camera architecture was shared among all the variants.
The Stereo Realist system proved so popular that several companies, such as Revere, Bell and Howell, Three Dimension Company (TDC) and Kodak came out with their own cameras using the same format. Some of the competitors offerings had features that the Realist lacked and/or were easier to use, and most were less expensive but none were as popular. The Kodak stereo camera in particular, which was both less expensive and easier to use, might have outsold the Realist, had it been released prior to the end of 1954.
By the mid-1950s the public’s fascination with stereo imaging faded, and by 1960 the Stereo Realist was the only stereo camera of the 50s era that was still manufactured. Realist production limped on at much reduced numbers throughout the 1960s and finally ceased in 1971.The David White Company, which in the 50s changed its name to “Realist inc.”, changed it back in 1990.
Design and engineering
Realist red button viewer, often considered the finest
The Realist uses standard 135 film. The unusual proportions of the slides (the image was 5 sprockets wide) became the standard for 3-D slides, and is known as “5P” or “Realist Format”. It marked a significant milestone in stereoscopy. The arrangement of images on the film (1L-blank-2L-1R-3L-2R-4L…) seemed arbitrary but allowed for a simple film advance mechanism with little film wastage. A special accessory was available that used the otherwise blank frame near the start of the roll to identify the roll, though the procedure for using it was rather elaborate.
Image strip from a Realist 45 camera. Note the notch above image “5″, which is the left eye image of a pair with image 7 being the right eye image of the same pair.
Because of the reversal that takes place due to the optics of the camera, the right eye image is on the left and the left eye image is on the right. Note that in the Realist 45 the film cartridge loads on the right side of the camera, causing the images to be upside down relative to the numbers. The standard Realist and Kodak stereo camera have the cartridge on the left side, so the images have the same orientation as the numbers.
The routine for taking a photograph with a Stereo Realist is elaborate, compared to a modern camera. One must lift the lens cover, focus, cock the shutter, and manually set the aperture and shutter speed. The wind release button must be depressed briefly while beginning to wind the film to the next frame. The film winding is then completed so that the camera is ready to shoot another pair of images.
Later-model cameras featured a double exposure button which could be pulled out to make a double exposure but could otherwise be left alone as well as a depth of field scale on the focusing knob. Many also had red marks on f6.3, 1/50 and on 20 feet. This was called the “The Three R’s in Outdoor Stereo Photography” and is based on the then standard ASA 10 color slide film. Earlier cameras lacked these features but they could be added.
Accessories and mounting services
Back (label) side of a Permamount
Front (viewing) side of Realist permamount.
Realist aluminum mask and box
Because the Realist effectively created a new format of slide, its users needed a new line of accessories and services. The David White company obliged by producing a whole system which included everything needed to take, mount, view, and store stereo slides.
Among the mounting accessories were a complete mounting kit which included sorting tray, film cutter, and tweezers, three different types of aluminum masks, cardboard folders, a mounting jig, and mounting glass. Mounting glass could be secured with mounting tape or with plastic permamounts.
Permamounts were considered premium mounts with a label on one side and a neat viewing window on the other. They were considered suitable for projection because the rigid plastic construction was stiff enough for automatic magazines but no plastic covered the image area so there was no interference with polarization. The operator of the projector did need to be careful not to leave the same slide in the projector for too long though, because the heat would eventually start to warp the mount.
Viewing accessories included several types of viewers, the Realist stereo projector, and polarized glasses.
There were also various types of slide storage cases available, some of which could also accommodate the viewer as well.
Most of these accessories were also made by other companies, some of which were more versatile than the Realist offerings. The Stereo projectors made by TDC (Three Dimension Company), for example, were far more popular than the Realist stereo projector. Some users preferred cardboard slip in mounts made by 3rd parties because of their ease of use even though they were generally considered to be of lower quality and were not suitable for projection. The Brumberger binder frames and mounting glass were very peopular among users of Stereo projectors.
All of these can be found on eBay in used or occasionally NOS condition and some of them (or their modern equivalents) are still manufactured.
The Realist stereo mounting service used several different types of mounts during its run. The earliest mounts used a type of aluminized cardboard mask inside a cardboard foldover. This tended to warp with exposure to humidity thus changing the alignment of the film chips. In older slide collections, the film chips may have slipped to the point that the slide is unviewable without readjustment and one film chip may have even fallen out!
Later slides from this service were usually in “precision mounts” which contained an aluminum mask inside the same style of cardboard foldover. The precision mounts may or may not have the words “precision mount” printed on the outside.
Kodak also had a stereo slide mounting service. Whereas the mounts used in the Realist service appear to have been designed for hand mounting, the Kodak mounts look like they were made exclusively for high volume machine mounting. The Kodak mounts are all cardboard and have the appearance of being a single piece of cardboard. Purists didn’t recommend them for projection because the stereo window wasn’t very precise and the mount wasn’t stiff enough for the automatic feeding mechanism of some deluxe stereo projectors.
Other models
Realist 2.8
This model featured 4 element f 2.8 lenses rather than the 3 element f3.5 lenses used by the standard Realist. Most users under normal use will not notice the difference, though the 3.5 lenses have slightly better contrast. The 3.5 lenses all show vignetting at smaller apertures whereas the 2.8 lenses don’t. The 2.8 lenses also work better with supplementary lenses.
In more recent times, the 2.8 Realists have been favored for 7P widening, because their lenses adequately cover the wider frame whereas the 3.5 lenses cannot.
Realist Custom
The Realist custom features higher quality f 2.8 “rare earth” lenses. It also has a higher quality finish, a larger rewind knob and a few other refinements.
Realist 45
Realist 45 with back removed, showing film chamber.
Realist 45 camera
Realist 45 from the top, note top mounted focus control.
Realist 45 from the bottom
The Realist 45 is a rebranded version of the German made Iloca Stereo Rapid sans rangefinder. It was marketed by Realist incorporated in the U.S., apparently as an economical, easy to use camera to compete with the Kodak Stereo Camera.
Though the design is clearly different, the Realist 45 has several features in common with the Kodak Stereo camera. It features an automatically cocked shutter. There is built in double exposure prevention with manual override.. There is also a film type indicator on top.
The Realist 45 also differs from the Kodak stereo camera in several ways, the Realist 45 film transport features a swing out lever that allows rapid winding, a handy feature for those wishing to take a lot of shots quickly. Unlike the Kodak, the Realist 45 has a top mounted focusing knob that moves the film plane in a fashion similar to the standard Realist. There is a depth of field scale built into the knob which goes up to f16. The top mounted exposure counter counts up rather than down like the Kodak counter.
Aperture settings are on a ring mounted on the left lens, apertures go from f3.5 to f16 with all whole f stops marked. The shutter speed is is set by a ring mounted on the right lens and includes b, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200.
The bottom of the camera contains the rewind knob release lever, the rewind release button and the rewind knob which is also used to open the back. Printing on the bottom includes loading instructions, daylight exposure table, flash exposure table, (both based
