Any advice and help rigging twin cameras for 3d stereo?

Hi,

I have been doing digital 3d for many years and before that, spent years shooting film 3d. So, the best rig I have for stills is a Stereo Data Maker rig. That is basically software you can download that lets you replace the cameras internal firmware to do 3d. Its not a permanent change, it forces the camera to boot off the SD card with different software. The camera basically gets an added set of commands that allow you to get sync between two cameras. Its perfect really.

This works with canon cameras, and there are many that it is compatible with. It takes a little fiddling, but you basically get your hands on 2 compatible canon cameras, download the stereo data maker software, it was free last time I checked, get a usb trigger, then you can shoot perfectly synced 3d stills. You cant easily do synced 3d video, that is much more fiddley to get sorted out.

For the SDM rig I have, the canon s95 works really well. The cameras as pretty small, good quality, and work very well in 3d. The link below is for that software. Not sure if its going commercial or what.

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

I have the gopro 3d "Dual Hero" rig too. The factory gopro 3d thing, I am not thrilled about only due to the lack of space between the lenses. Here is a link to my gopro 3d rig below. Its the best thing going for 3d video right now as far as easy, fairly cheap, and good quality. I have many 3d videos shot with it on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Qj3Gafo2A

You can also do 3d stills with the gopro rig.  My rig is spaced wider, so I am able to do pretty much anything and get really good results and its pretty easy to use.  If I had 1 3d rig, that is the one.  You need to build it though and the factory spacing isn't enough to get a good 3d effect unless you are shooting objects around 3 feet.  The quality blows everything away in 3d.  The best 3d video camera in the consumer end is the Sony Dev-30.  The gopro rig I have blows it away completely.  The sony is easy, and has a stabilizer, allow zoom, and I do use it often.

I have heard some people have made little sync devices for the Panasonic GH cameras. I have seen some excellent video using that rig. That would get you into the bigger type cameras.

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2821/gh12-3d-sync-controller/p1

I own the Fuji W3 and also had the Panasonic 3d1. The Fuji is the easiest 3d still camera overall. It has massive contrast issues. You need to fix every single image in post in a big way to make it look normal, but it is a good camera. If Fuji updated that camera, it would be great, but I guess the 3d wave sort of died down. Nobody makes 3d any more. I guess nobody buys it. I hope the oculus rift changes that, but its focus is more on gaming, so it may have no affect at all.

Lots of options. I can attest that they all work very well. You just need to put a little effort into it since there aren't really any good consumer grade options other than the Fuji w3.

Steve

steve ohlhaber wrote:

Hi,

I have been doing digital 3d for many years and before that, spent years shooting film 3d. So, the best rig I have for stills is a Stereo Data Maker rig. That is basically software you can download that lets you replace the cameras internal firmware to do 3d. Its not a permanent change, it forces the camera to boot off the SD card with different software. The camera basically gets an added set of commands that allow you to get sync between two cameras. Its perfect really.

This works with canon cameras, and there are many that it is compatible with. It takes a little fiddling, but you basically get your hands on 2 compatible canon cameras, download the stereo data maker software, it was free last time I checked, get a usb trigger, then you can shoot perfectly synced 3d stills. You cant easily do synced 3d video, that is much more fiddley to get sorted out.

For the SDM rig I have, the canon s95 works really well. The cameras as pretty small, good quality, and work very well in 3d. The link below is for that software. Not sure if its going commercial or what.

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

Hi Steve,

Yes, this is the route I would like to go.  I found that the Canon s95 is not manufactured anymore, but some turn up on Amazon and probably Ebay or other internet sources.  Would you be interested in rigging the cameras for me for compensation?

Thanks,

Sherri

Hi Steve,

Yes, this is the route I would like to go. I found that the Canon s95 is not manufactured anymore, but some turn up on Amazon and probably Ebay or other internet sources. Would you be interested in rigging the cameras for me for compensation?

Thanks,

Sherri

Hi Sherri,

Its something you should do yourself since you need to know how it all works. There is no hardware fiddling at all, its all about getting the software installed on the sd cards. Its pretty easy.

So from scratch, all you need to do is:

1. Buy two s95 cameras

2. Get two SD cards.

3. Download this program called assist, and it will put the right version of SDM on the sd card.

4. Get a 3d bar. I am not a fan of zbars at all. Plenty of cameras shoot 3d with the lenses too close together. If you need a zbar, then you need one, which you can find at digi-dat.de  I just use a standard side by side bar from Berezin:

http://www.berezin.com/3d/twinbar.htm

You can get pretty cheap bars on ebay, like $10. Look for camera dual mount or something.

5. Order a USB remote as the trigger. This you can get from this place:

http://www.digi-dat.de/produkte/index_eng.html#SDM

You need this item: mini SDM remote with integrated battery holder for 2*CR2016 (batteries included) with right angeled mini USB plugs

That costs 35 euros. Its where I got mine.

That's all for the hardware stuff you need.

After running the Assist program on each of the SD cards, connect your usb trigger to both cameras, and you can shoot in 3d. The usb trigger is just the "fire" button to shoot the pic. The cameras still work in the same way as they normally do and you have to set them both to the same settings, like P mode or whatever. Even when they are both hooked to the USB trigger, they still can both work as normal and take pics. All the new software is doing is detecting that usb signal to fire the picture.

I would say, buy all the hardware and give it a shot.  If you have to mail it off to someone else, you will already have everything you need.

Then you need the free viewing software, like Stereo Photo Maker to pair the images up. Usually, you have a left and a right jpg that are stuck together. All these 3d tvs allow you to see 3d stills. You may need to change the extension of the LR file to JPS instead of JPG. Side by side format as jpg seems to be fine on my Samsung. JPS format is literally a jpg called jps to denote that its 2 images in the jpg. Its still just a jpg file.

steve ohlhaber wrote:

Hi Steve,

Yes, this is the route I would like to go. I found that the Canon s95 is not manufactured anymore, but some turn up on Amazon and probably Ebay or other internet sources. Would you be interested in rigging the cameras for me for compensation?

Thanks,

Sherri

Hi Sherri,

Its something you should do yourself since you need to know how it all works. There is no hardware fiddling at all, its all about getting the software installed on the sd cards. Its pretty easy.

So from scratch, all you need to do is:

1. Buy two s95 cameras

2. Get two SD cards.

3. Download this program called assist, and it will put the right version of SDM on the sd card.

4. Get a 3d bar. I am not a fan of zbars at all. Plenty of cameras shoot 3d with the lenses too close together. If you need a zbar, then you need one, which you can find at digi-dat.de I just use a standard side by side bar from Berezin:

http://www.berezin.com/3d/twinbar.htm

You can get pretty cheap bars on ebay, like $10. Look for camera dual mount or something.

5. Order a USB remote as the trigger. This you can get from this place:

http://www.digi-dat.de/produkte/index_eng.html#SDM

You need this item: mini SDM remote with integrated battery holder for 2*CR2016 (batteries included) with right angeled mini USB plugs

That costs 35 euros. Its where I got mine.

That's all for the hardware stuff you need.

After running the Assist program on each of the SD cards, connect your usb trigger to both cameras, and you can shoot in 3d. The usb trigger is just the "fire" button to shoot the pic. The cameras still work in the same way as they normally do and you have to set them both to the same settings, like P mode or whatever. Even when they are both hooked to the USB trigger, they still can both work as normal and take pics. All the new software is doing is detecting that usb signal to fire the picture.

I would say, buy all the hardware and give it a shot. If you have to mail it off to someone else, you will already have everything you need.

Then you need the free viewing software, like Stereo Photo Maker to pair the images up. Usually, you have a left and a right jpg that are stuck together. All these 3d tvs allow you to see 3d stills. You may need to change the extension of the LR file to JPS instead of JPG. Side by side format as jpg seems to be fine on my Samsung. JPS format is literally a jpg called jps to denote that its 2 images in the jpg. Its still just a jpg file.

Thanks Steve,

Two Canon S95 cameras ordered.  Z-bar and mini SDM mini remote ordered from digi-dat.de, hopefully with the right angled plugs.  Just need to get the SD cards and download the software.  I have used Stereo Photo Maker a bit.  I am very glad that the hardware parts are available commercially, because I dreaded having to try to rig something up.

Sherri

I don't understand the comment about not liking the W3 format. You can shoot 16:9, just choose that aspect ration in the menu--see page 64 of the manual. Then all your shots will be able to show on full HD TV. You just have to compose to that format--make sure everything fits in the frame that you want.

You might think you getting less resolution, but it will still be greater than 1920x1080--the format of your TV, so it will look good.

You are not going to get anything better by selecting two digital cameras set to 16:9 without a lot more frustration and work--trust me. Maybe the twin camera setup will be a hair sharper, but why lug two cameras around. Or maybe I don't understand your frustration.

I have taken most of my pictures using the Realist format film cameras and I haven't really liked what I have done so far with my Fujifilm W3.  The whole 16:9 is so wide.  Maybe I'll have the same problem with the twin S95 cameras.

Fuji W3 native is 4:3. So, if you switch it to 16:9, you are cropping the original image. For any still camera, shoot what is native to the camera and decide later what aspect you want.

Fuji W3 info:

Stills are natively 4:3 aspect

<4:3> 3,648 x 2,736 pixels

< 3:2> 3,648 x 2,432 pixels

< 16:9> 3,584 x 2,016 pixels

For video, 16x9 is the native aspect.

I know you can set those aspects independent of each other. I always shoot 4X3 stills and 16x9 video with that camera.

Also, the S95 is native for stills at 4:3 too.  So, you shouldn't be doing anything with 16:9 with either of these cameras.  3:2 is close to what 35mm is.

I think the realist type cameras shot a weird narrow aspect, which was very strange.  I have slides from that and I believe it was taller than it was wide.  If you liked that, You could have your s95 cameras shooting portrait 16:9 and that may get you closer to that.  But come on, that would just be weird.

bkconnect wrote:

I have taken most of my pictures using the Realist format film cameras and I haven't really liked what I have done so far with my Fujifilm W3. The whole 16:9 is so wide. Maybe I'll have the same problem with the twin S95 cameras.

bkconnect wrote:

I have taken most of my pictures using the Realist format film cameras and I haven't really liked what I have done so far with my Fujifilm W3. The whole 16:9 is so wide. Maybe I'll have the same problem with the twin S95 cameras.

I recently scanned about 1000 old realist slides into my computer and showed them to friends on my 16:9 3D projector. The slide images are square when you view them unmounted and become slightly taller than wide when mounted. I got a few oohs and ahhs, but then I showed them several of the same slides cropped to 16:9 to fill up the screen and got a wow, wow, wow.  I found the same result with 4:3 W3 pics. When cropped to 16:9, they seemed more pleasing and complete, plus pull you closer to the subjects of interest.  Objects beyond 25 feet are usually useless to capture anyway in a 3D shot.  I shoot at 16:9, though slightly less resolution, it forces me to compose the image so I don't cut off the bottom or top of objects as often happens when I crop 4:3 to 16:9.

One thing to consider about resolution is that you will probably only show your 3D images on a 3D computer monitor or 3D TV and even with 4k, the reduced resolution of a 16:9 is still within respectable limits of what a 3D monitor or TV can show.