Walkabout at NCCU with the Pentax Optio in 3D Mode

A couple things three dimensional . . .

In the Anaglyphs yahoogroups, a question was recently raised about using the Pentax Optio with 3D Mode as a viable digital stereo camera (digistereocam) and someone said he believed it is water resistent but wasn’t sure if it was a good choice at this time.

Not mine. Then again, I haven’t tested that theory. I guess if I get really frustrated with it – not a difficult thing to do with that camera – then I can always take a shower with it and see what sort of pictures it will take.

The 3D mode for the Pentax Optio is basically a cha cha system. You put the dial on 3D Mode and then you have a split screen on the LCD. Take the left image and then a preview of that image is on screen with grids on the screen so you can then align the different parts of the image in the right screen which is live so that they match and then take the right screen.

If you are doing handheld shots the grid helps but you won’t get exact alignment. Slidebar is better but then you don’t need a 3D mode as you can do slidebar shots.

I was excited when the Pentax Optio with 3D Mode first came out but after buying it and playing with it, I would strongly reccommend you go with any other digital camera that suits your needs as it is basically a cha-cha solution and you don’t get much extra accuracy with the grid to justify the failings of the camera which include shutter lag and it seems to take forever to save . . . then again, I am spoiled by my Digital Rebel now so pretty much all of the non- prosumer cameras are slow and klunky to me.

I was playing with the camera yesterday and as I’ve seen this comment today, I have uploaded some of my raw straight from the camera shots to my 3D galleries in the walkabout album so you can see what the picture quality is like. Now, do bear in mind that as a handheld chacha photographer, I suck, not just a little as I truly suck a lot to the point that I am indeed the King of Suck.

I ran these through Anabuilder’s batch processing mode and most of them came out looking horrible so might choose a few of them to do some manual processing with to see how they come out . . . the handheld selfportraits were a bit of a lark and actually came out much better than I had expected (I held the camera out and took one view then moved my hand and took the other so I expected them to be pure crap but did it anyway to see what I would get).

After the great disappointment with the Optio, I got a Digital Rebel with a Loreo 3D Lens in a Cap and it is a better option. However, I find my image quality to be very unreliable and inconsistent and focus and light and the telephoto effect of the lens makes it difficult to manage.

I will be switching to a LANC Shepherd Pro system soon but that has its own inherent problems and issues.

Personally, I just wish one of these big dog digital camera makers – especially one of the group in the 3D consortium for their other products – would get a clue and do up a digistereocamera and do it up right. I would love to have images straight from the camera and ready to print and view or see on the computer screen in a variety of viewing modes.

For now, chacha with my Digital Rebel works a lot better than the Optio (duh).

Another 3D phogography related question came on the 3D-StereoviewXchange yahoogroups (the one that I am owner and moderator of, so it’s a wonderful resource and everyone reading this should join and participate) in which the question was asked as to what are some freeware programs for stereophotography. My response . . .

Do you mean viewers or programs for manipulating and aligning stereophotos?

If the latter, most folks on this group are using one or both of a couple very powerful and very helpful freeware/shareware programs for 3D photographers.

I tend to use Anabuilder as the guys who built that program are on this list and very very responsive to requests for new features (for instance, they built in a Loreo batch process after noticing all of my images from that rig had certain issues and they put in a phantogram thingie after some discussion). Other folks use the Stereo Photo Maker program and find it to be very very powerful. I would suggest that you download both and play with them to see which works best for your needs and suit your setup.

All the best,
Brian

Note: The photo accompanying this post is a wobble autostereoscopic 3D image of my loving wife that I took with the Pentax Optio in 3D Mode last Friday, 9 Dec. 2006. She’s beautiful, my ability to hold a camera still for chacha shots is suckful . . . I told you, I am the King of Suck.

3D News
http://tinyurl.com/7m9zo

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.briandavidphillips.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3D-StereoviewXchange

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