Stereoscopic shoot with EX1 and EX3 blog.

[Alister Chapman]

I have a major Stereoscopic shoot this week for a commercial client. I will be using an EX3 and an EX1 on a custom built over/under beam splitter mirror rig. I've done stereoscopic shoots before with pairs of Z1's and an HC1 with a beam splitter rig, but this is the biggest project I have attempted. We will also be using some stereoscopic 3D animations and lots of floating text.

I was going to use a pair of EX3's but I couldn't get the lens spacing down less than 100mm without using a massive mirror. The large EX3 viewfinders were getting in the way and they cannot easily be removed. The big mirror was introducing an unacceptable amount of distortion, so I replaced one of the EX3's with an EX1. I am now using a small beam splitter mirror (190x300mm) yet can still use the lenses fully wide. I won't have timecode sync, but at least the cameras will be genlocked. The interoccular spacing is 75mm which is OK, would have liked a little less as we are doing a lot of close up shots. Guess we'll have to work with slightly longer focal lengths to avoid eye strain that can be a problem with close ups and wide lenses.

The rig is in bits at the moment as I'm waiting for a replacement mirror that has better quality titanium coatings than my current mirror. When it's all back together I'll post some pictures. The shoot is on Thursday and Friday, then we go straight to post production. I'll post more as we progress through the project.

[Chris Hurd]

Looking forward to your report, Alister, many thanks for sharing this with us. If you have the time, could you or an assistant snap some photos of the setup?

[Alister Chapman]

l will get loads of photo's but the subject matter of the shoot is subject to an embargo. The finished video will be projected by a pair of Sony SXRD 4K projectors using polarised lenses/glasses at a major European exhibition later in the year. I'll let everyone know when and where as soon as I am able to. Once the exhibition starts I should be able to put the finished video on-line as an HD anaglyph movie. So nows the time to start digging out those Red/Green glasses!

By the way, the beam splitter mirror rig only cost $300 including the new bespoke titanium coated mirror. I'll give more details in due course.

[Pip Brown]

Thanks for sharing your project with us,
I am planning a 3D feature shoot using 2 EX3 cameras so I am very interested to know how you get on with your shoot, I would also like to know more about the rig you are using as we also have a spare EX1, I look forward to more reports about your shoot, I am interested to here about this Beam Splitter for $300. can it be true ?

[Alister Chapman]

Well things didn't go to plan at all today.

Originally this project was supposed to have been a live action shoot showing the clients products being used in real life situations. However a change of mind by the client now means it is going to be a series of close ups of the products, shot against a black background with text and graphics illustrating key features. Lots of close up work!

I spent an hour setting up the cameras getting everything lined up. Then the products arrived. A nice black camera! Shooting black on black is always challenging especially when your using turn tables etc. Anyway this is where we hit a brick wall. I had planned to use my over/under beam splitter rig, but we were seeing some nasty double reflections in the mirror, one from the front coated face and another very faint reflection but distracting reflection from the back of the glass mirror. Normally you would not see these but with so much black the white logo's and text was fairly obvious and didn't look nice.

So strip down the mirror rig and transfer the cameras to the side by side rig. This meant removing the hand grip and a few other bits from the EX3 to get the smallest possible camera separation. It's still a bit wide, but it's going to have to do. I'll use longer focal lengths to compensate to some degree, but given the nature of the video a bit of hyper stereo won't hurt too much.

Anyway finally got some shots in the can by the end of the day. have to say I am pleased with the results so far. Did take some still pictures and will get some images up at the weekend.

I'm using an EX1 and EX3 because the viewfinder on the EX3 makes it very difficult to get two side by side without dismantling large parts of the camera. Having 1 EX3 allows me to use genlock to keep things in sync. With the mirror rig it's less of an issue.

[Alister Chapman]

Day 2, a much better day with no major technical hitches. More product shots, more black devices to be shot on a black background. We ditched the turntable and started using a telescope mount (Acuter teletrack) this allowed slower moves and also gave use the ability to tilt the object as it rotated giving a really nice dynamic look. We used black rods to support the products with lots of flags used to cut stray light from the supports so we won't have to do too much painting out in post. Shot about 3 hours per camera today. Really pleased with the results. The edit starts on Monday.

[Alister Chapman]

Pulled off a frame grab from the shoot as an Anaglyph. We are going for the gimmicky "WOW" effect with this shoot, that's what the client wants. Nothing Subtle on this job!

[Christopher Witz]

ok..... I think that image is freaky!

can't you guys get a pamala anderson-esq model on the set?

[Riku Naskali]

Hey,

Can you post some pictures of your mirror rig? I'm in the process of building one myself right now... I have my beamsplitter at hand, just need to mount it + make to adjusting camera stages...

[Ken Plotin]

Alister,
Nice placement of the subject right at the window, letting the arms punch through. Looks real good in anaglyph and should look even better with polarized viewing. Please do post a link to the completed project.
Ken

[Alister Chapman]

Well it's 4am here in the UK and we are trying to get the final renders done so we can take the sequences to the projection specialists tomorrow. The final videos (English and German) will be shown a Photokina on the Sony stand. I can't post links to the finished videos until after the event. The projection will be on a 30ft screen and I have been really pleased with the previews we have done. The Video is just under 7 minutes long. The FCP project has 20 video tracks and includes some CGI X-Ray images of one of the products. Previewing Anaglyphs is a pain, but it works and lets me see the 3D space quite well. Originally the shoot was going to be a live action shoot, but it ended up being a lot of product shots. This was challenging, shooting small products in 3D.

[Alister Chapman]

Well the video went live today at Photokina. If anyone is going you can see it on the Sony stand. It showcases the new Sony Alpha a900 camera, TG3 and cybershot cameras. It has been well received and is being shown every 15 mins or so. I'll post some video extracts by the weekend.

[Alister Chapman]

You can watch an extract from the video here:

http://www.xdcam-user.com/clips/Photokinasmall.mov

It's an anaglyph.

[Marco Neiva]

hello Alister Chapman,

thanks for sharing your work,

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

You can watch an extract from the video here:

http://www.xdcam-user.com/clips/Photokinasmall.mov

It's an anaglyph.

can you share a version side-by-syde or two streams of video?

i like your work, but anaglyph version limited my opinion about the final 3D effect.
the ideal would be seen in Sony stand, in any way I can see in my home 3D projection system.

thanks, Marco Neiva.