The panoramic stereo camera by Manfred Graumann

 Again a masterpiece by Manfred Graumann. I've written about many cameras built by Manfred Graumann in the past. Over the years, his website went defunct and the archived website missed many important information including information on this camera. I recently found this camera in one auction site and want to share with you. 

The camera was built over a Meopta copying apparatus , the same thing which "razzledog" used to build his pano cam.  

Panoramic art forms: Postage stamps

The smallest size by which  panoramic pictures can be represented for the unaided eyes, are possibly postage stamps. I came across these panoramic postage stamps   years ago but never managed to write about it. For me , those were great treat for the eyes and I believe that you too will much appreciate these little pieces of art. 

Have a visit to the site http://www.glascope.com/ for many interesting topics on stereo photography and panoramics as well. You can visit their  store  to see the items they stock.

The full gallery of panoramic postage stamps and postcards can be found here.

I thank Mr. Peter of  http://www.glascope.com/ for kindly allowing me to use these pictures. He can also be found at the following ebay store. 

The Japanese Handmade Camera Club : The league of extraordinary ladies and gentlemen

 I first heard about the Japanese Handmade Camera Club from a newsletter of Photographic History Society of Canada (PHSC).

This club is based at Tokyo and the members are accomplished camera makers who have fabricated extremely unusual and  novel cameras. In one of my earlier posts I've mentioned cameras made by Kensuke Hijikata of "Kentax" fame. Mr. Kensuke is one notable members of this club.

Mr. Sam Isamu Mabuchi of Japan Handmade Camera Club  compiled data on 53 cameras which were part of the exhibit at Tokyo and made it available as a slide show at   PHSC's website. There  were  so many handmade  panoramics, large formats, 6x9s and other novel cameras. I strongly recommend that you have a look at them. 

You can access the slide show  of these 53 cameras HERE. 

Later on, I found a video of the same camera club where members displaying and discussing their cameras. Note the panoramics specially. 

For the camera at 2:04 in the video, that tall, white, lighthouse shaped camera is a rotational panoramic made from a Pentax Auto 110  by Hijikata Kensuke. A report on that camera was published in Popular Photography many years ago. I wish to write about it and some other Japanese handmade cameras once I'm through with the copyrights.

Some more handmade panoramic cameras

Looks like this  website is related to Horsley Camera, UK well known for their Wideboy and other panoramic cmaeras. The website provides extra information on a shift pinhole and a stereo panoramic camera.

I also found a piece of instructional matter for how to make a DIY motorised 35mm rotational panoramic camera by Mike Rignall here

See my earlier post on Horsley cameras. 

I found a couple of example photos taken by Mike Rignall using his rotational camere in Photosig . 

Pana-Vista: Another 3D Panorama viewer

Pana-Vista is a 3D-panorama viewer made my Henry Chung . Apart from 25mm x 54mm slides this can be used to view "Realist Size" mounted" 3-D Slides. To have more information on this slide viewer and price/availability follow this link. I thank Mr. Henry Chung for kindly allowing me to use these pictures.

Stereo panorama viewers

A few manufacturer produced hand held stereo panorama viewers. Notably the Japanese Gakken and the Super-view from Hong Kong. Though these are no longer produced, one can possibly find them in used market or online auction houses.

Keith Clatworthy maintains an excellent site on stereography. Click on the links to get more info on the Gakken viewer and the Super-view. I thank him for allowing to use these pics.

Panoramic stereo camera

Though a pair of pano-cameras can be used to shoot 3D panoramics, a single camera setup is often more desirable considering the ease of handling. One of the noteworthy models is made by Manfred Graumann. The details of the camera can be found here .

This camera utilizes a Meopta body similar to that used by Razzledog. The lenses are a pair of Mamiya Sekor 4.5/55mm with shutter speed from 1-1/500 sec and B(ulb). The camera shoots a pair 24x56mm transparencies.

To know more about early models of stereo panorama cameras have a look at the book "Stereoscopic Photography" By Arthur W. Judge. A limited preview version of it is available here.

Stereo panoramas

The expansive view of a panoramic shot can be further enhanced with the addition of the sense of depth by 3D or stereo rendition. A pair of normal panoramic cameras can be used to take two stereo pictures of the same scene. These pictures when seen through a stereo viewer provide a richer view of the scene.

I found many beautiful stereo 3D shots in the website of Mr. Henry Chung, who is an acclaimed cinematographer and stereo panorama specialist. You can view many stereo panoramas in his 3D-Gallery. If you can cross your eyes these size optimized panoramas yield a very interesting 3D experience.

I thank Mr. Chung for allowing me to use the pictures. To know more about the 3D stereographic products he offers, visit his informative web site.