2x compact camera 3d rig suggestions.

I ve been looking to either buy a Fuji W3 real 3d or make a 3d rig with two compact cameras.
It will have to be relatively small rig so it can be used for trips. I dont like carrying two DSLRs.

My first thought for the best image quality/size would be two Sony RX100's.
I already have one so I would just have to buy a second hand one.
If you mount them next to each other with one of them upside down you get a stereo base of 8cm. A bit more than 6.5 cm that is the average interpupilary distance. Would that be a big problem at close shots? Fuji w3 has a 7.5cm stereo base.

But the big problem would be how to synchronize the two so that they could fire at the same time. Is there a way by usb or by remote control somehow?

My second option would be using two android phones with a good camera.
Ιt would be fairly easy to use two Samsung Galaxy s3's (8MP, wide 27mm lens). You could get a stereo base as low as ~3cm or a normal 6,5 cm.
You can sync the two by bluetooth to fire together using a free app like
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.stereoscopie.Hyper3DPhone&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiZnIuc3RlcmVvc2NvcGllLkh5cGVyM0RQaG9uZSJd

However the lowlight quality wont be that great (close to the Fuji quality I believe) and the two phones linked together (at 6.5 cm) would be about 28mm wide (but stll quite thin).
Of course everytime that you need to use the two you would have to unlock each phone, activate the bluetooth and open the app.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Should I give it up and buy the W3?

Thanks for the answer. So I guess you re happy with the fuji?
I find the 35mm lens a bit restricting for landscapes. Too bad fuji has not updated it cause its been 4 years since w3 was released.
Still I might try a used one.

Nice to be in the club. Thanks for the ideas.
Gonna try the twin cameraphone method first. Its the cheapest solution.

Barretlight wrote:

Thanks for the answer. So I guess you re happy with the fuji?
I find the 35mm lens a bit restricting for landscapes. Too bad fuji has not updated it cause its been 4 years since w3 was released.
Still I might try a used one.

By it's very nature, 3D cameras should be as wide angle as possible, say 18mm.

Not only will that be good for landscape shots, but also other nearer scenes too, eg buildings.

As it is, many W1/W3 owners will go and buy a wide angle attachment.

Nobody mentioned Stereodata Maker which couples many Canon P&S cameras?? This is the easiest, one of the cheapest and certainly the most reliable way of synching two smaller cameras:

http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/sdm/index.htm

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/StereoDataMaker/conversations/messages

Synch for pictures is extraordinary (in the range of 0.1ms.) and synch for movies can be achieved with the latest firmware without the need for extra hardware, besides USB controller (ordinary switch with small battery, in fact). Synch is achieved by feeding both cameras with voltage signal from ordinary switch via USB connectors. Such controllers can be bought extremely cheap and they work perfectly, but you can easily make one by yourself if you wish so.

The list of cameras on the first link above is not up-to-date. For example, S100 and S110 are also supported.

If you have any question, you can ask on the forum (the second link).

Damir

hdr wrote:

By it's very nature, 3D cameras should be as wide angle as possible, say 18mm.

Not only will that be good for landscape shots, but also other nearer scenes too, eg buildings.

Wide angle is quite useful, but we should be cautious when using it in 3D. If the final 3D pictures are to be projected on a screen or viewed on some larger TVs, the objects might show exaggerated depth. For example, pictures I made many years ago with 24mm lenses exhibited pronounced depth. Legs of my daughter looked much longer than in reality (when she was sitting). Many objects had slightly unnatural depth. However, I would like to repeat, everything depends on the viewing device and partially on stereo base. For smaller screens, use of wide-angle lenses might be even advantageous, since it adds some depth to the pictures without exaggerating stereo parallax.

Damir

crunchy_3d wrote:

hdr wrote:

By it's very nature, 3D cameras should be as wide angle as possible, say 18mm.

Not only will that be good for landscape shots, but also other nearer scenes too, eg buildings.

Wide angle is quite useful, but we should be cautious when using it in 3D. If the final 3D pictures are to be projected on a screen or viewed on some larger TVs, the objects might show exaggerated depth. For example, pictures I made many years ago with 24mm lenses exhibited pronounced depth. Legs of my daughter looked much longer than in reality (when she was sitting). Many objects had slightly unnatural depth. However, I would like to repeat, everything depends on the viewing device and partially on stereo base. For smaller screens, use of wide-angle lenses might be even advantageous, since it adds some depth to the pictures without exaggerating stereo parallax.

Damir

Damir thanks for the suggestions.

You mentioned that rx100 is supported! I didnt know that.
What do you think should I try getting 2x S100s for a compact 3d rig instead of s95s?
(12MP vs 10MP, 24mm vs 28mm, 1080p vs 720p Video)
Is video synchronization on the S100 possible? Someone wrote that its difficult with CMOS sensors.
I dont take a lot of video but its useful sometimes.
Also about the interocular distance that you mentioned that its not a big problem. What lens (mm) and interocular distance would create a natural 3d effect?
I plan to get a 3dtv soon and possibly a VR headset when they are available. I guess the VR would create a giant screen so the 3d effect would also be amplified... so I dont want to shoot images that would seem too exagerated. The twin gopros would be amazing for an occulus rift-like headset but thats completely off my budget for the time beeing.

Barretlight wrote:

You mentioned that rx100 is supported! I didnt know that.

RX100? I was talking about S100 and S110.

What do you think should I try getting 2x S100s for a compact 3d rig instead of s95s?
(12MP vs 10MP, 24mm vs 28mm, 1080p vs 720p Video)
Is video synchronization on the S100 possible? Someone wrote that its difficult with CMOS sensors.

You are right. The problems with CMOS cameras is that you cannot reverse one of them upside-down or you'll get unsynchronous results in the bottom and top parts of the picture. Therefore you would have to live with larger stereo base, so the closest possible objects taken with the cameras should be further away (and will be slightly miniaturized). I was mentioning S100 and S110 only to say that the list of supported cameras is larger than shown on that page.

Also about the interocular distance that you mentioned that its not a big problem. What lens (mm) and interocular distance would create a natural 3d effect?

The most "natural" is if you have about 60-70mm stereo base. Of course, everything depends on the taken and viewed angle, stereo window position and the distance of the viewer from the projection screen (or TV).

I, personally, take larger stereo base each time when the closest objects are further away than let's say 3m (always choosing stereo base 1/30-1/40 of the mentioned distance at 35mm lens equivalent if there is a distant background present on the picture).

I plan to get a 3dtv soon and possibly a VR headset when they are available. I guess the VR would create a giant screen so the 3d effect would also be amplified... so I dont want to shoot images that would seem too exagerated. The twin gopros would be amazing for an occulus rift-like headset but thats completely off my budget for the time beeing.

I would rather use even smaller stereo bases, especially if planning to use VR headset, since it may extremely increase viewing angle. I suppose that, otherwise, sickness and eye fatigue might be inevitable.

Damir

crunchy_3d wrote:

Barretlight wrote:

You mentioned that rx100 is supported! I didnt know that.

RX100? I was talking about S100 and S110.

Hehe. No I also wanted to say s100. Rx100, LX100, s100 I dont think the names are just random... maybe companies are trying to say something

What do you think should I try getting 2x S100s for a compact 3d rig instead of s95s?
(12MP vs 10MP, 24mm vs 28mm, 1080p vs 720p Video)
Is video synchronization on the S100 possible? Someone wrote that its difficult with CMOS sensors.

You are right. The problems with CMOS cameras is that you cannot reverse one of them upside-down or you'll get unsynchronous results in the bottom and top parts of the picture. Therefore you would have to live with larger stereo base, so the closest possible objects taken with the cameras should be further away (and will be slightly miniaturized). I was mentioning S100 and S110 only to say that the list of supported cameras is larger than shown on that page.

So I am going the s95 way. Video could come in handy sometimes. Thanks a lot for the info!

Also about the interocular distance that you mentioned that its not a big problem. What lens (mm) and interocular distance would create a natural 3d effect?

The most "natural" is if you have about 60-70mm stereo base. Of course, everything depends on the taken and viewed angle, stereo window position and the distance of the viewer from the projection screen (or TV).

I, personally, take larger stereo base each time when the closest objects are further away than let's say 3m (always choosing stereo base 1/30-1/40 of the mentioned distance at 35mm lens equivalent if there is a distant background present on the picture).

I plan to get a 3dtv soon and possibly a VR headset when they are available. I guess the VR would create a giant screen so the 3d effect would also be amplified... so I dont want to shoot images that would seem too exagerated. The twin gopros would be amazing for an occulus rift-like headset but thats completely off my budget for the time beeing.

I would rather use even smaller stereo bases, especially if planning to use VR headset, since it may extremely increase viewing angle. I suppose that, otherwise, sickness and eye fatigue might be inevitable.

Damir

We ll see about the VR. Images would have to be very wide. So panoramas or gopros would be best!

Hi Simon,

Sorry if you have included this info elsewhere but I am entertaining the idea of hacking two Olympus remote shutter mechanisms to make my own sync rig.  Can you explain what you did and any gotchas you ran into making this work?

Was it as simple as stripping out the wires and merging them on the remote end of the two remotes?