Stereo Or 3d Cameras

3D Cameras

Most 3D pictures are not actually made with special cameras. Instead, nearly all of them are created by simply taking two simultaneous pictures from cameras located next to each other. The images are all but identical, but contain slight differences in perspective, duplicating the human binocular vision system. Displaying these images is a simple matter of optically combining the two. The simplest method of doing this is by presenting them side-by-side. When observed through the proper equipment, each eye sees only one of the two images, and the brain mentally overlaps them as if each eye was seeing something actually physically in front of it. This can be seen in toys such as the View-Master, a children’s stereograph toy originally invented for military training purposes. The other common method is by projecting the two images over each other on a screen and viewing them through special glasses, as in a 3-D movie. This is usually done either via specially polarized lenses or two-color (red/blue) anaglyphs. Both of these methods involve ensuring that each eye only sees one of the two images. Polarized lens-images project each image with a different polarizing filter, and each lens of the glasses is only tuned to one of those filters, so each eye sees only one picture. Two-color anaglyphs work the same way: each image is entirely in either red or blue. Red light can’t travel through a red filter and blue light can’t travel through a blue filter, so, again, each eye only sees one image. The brain then combines the images and creates the illusion of depth. None of these methods requires a specialized camera.

3D Digital Cameras

Recently, however, specialized two-lens digital cameras have been developed, as well as special stereoscopic attachments for existing cameras. These cameras and attachments allow a photographer to take a stereoscopic image in one shot, digitally combining the two pictures. This has the advantage of being able to take 3D pictures of moving subjects without additional cameras and drastically reduces the processing time.

3D Video Cameras

Most 3D film is taken by attaching two ordinary film cameras together and synchronizing them. 3D film is a very small niche, and so two-lens stereoscope cameras have yet to catch on, due to their rarity. CD video can also be created from existing video by digitally recreating the images from a slightly different angle. Most 3D films have been produced this way in recent years.