Nimslo

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Nimslo camera

The Nimslo camera is a four- lens viewfinder camera for creating stereoscopic lenticular images . Standard 35mm film cartridges with color negative film are used for recording . The camera was manufactured in the 1980s by the Nimstec company in Atlanta , USA .

The camera has an automatic exposure control and four fixed focus lenses arranged horizontally at a distance of 18 mm each , which simultaneously take four pictures on the surface of two adjacent small picture recordings. After recording, the films are sent to special development laboratories that use special printers to produce stereoscopic lens raster images from the four slightly shifted recordings.

The camera uses a red LED above the first of the four images to create a circular green mark on the color negative film. The special printer uses this mark to recognize the beginning of the related group of images.

The camera was originally produced by Timex in Dundee , Scotland . Production was later outsourced to Sunpak in Japan .

The inventors of the camera and special lenticular printer were Jerry Curtis Nims and Allen Kwok Wah Lo from Georgia , USA.

The Nimslo camera was the first 3D recording device of its kind for the amateur market. Previously, only conventional stereo cameras had been manufactured for this market. The last such camera was launched in 1971, almost ten years before the Nimslo was introduced.

The printouts of the Nimslo recordings generate a 3D image that can be viewed with the naked eye without tools. The individual production of these lenticular image printouts has only become possible through the process of the Nimslo inventors. Before that there were already lenticular stereo recordings, e.g. B. Postcards. However, these came from commercial printers and were produced in large numbers.

Nimstec, Timex and Fred Olsen

The billionaire and shipowner Fred Olson had the shares of the newly founded company Nimstec acquired in October 1980 by the investor Ptarmigan Trust, which he controls, through the Eagleville Company . This investor also took the lead at Timex. As a technological visionary, Olson was convinced of the Nimslo camera and ordered that production should take place at Timex in Dundee. He vouched for the purchase with $ 25 million.

In analyzing Nimstec's Nimslo business model, Michael Starks reports that Nimstec went bankrupt in mid-1990 and was partially sold to Nishika in Nevada . However, this claim is controversial. Nishika produced several three- and four-lens successors to the Nimslo before this company also stopped producing the cameras.

Mark 1S and Mark 1A lenticular printers

The first lenticular printer from Nimslo (Mark 1S) uses a KIM-1 processor. The alignment of the four images is done by hand and takes several minutes. The second type of Nimslo printer (Mark 1A) uses a MicroNova processor from Data General under MP / OS. Electronic image processing reduces the processing time per image to 15 seconds.

The photographic material is exposed through the lens grid onto the light-sensitive layer on the back of the lenses. The four images are exposed from four different directions. The development takes place with standard developer chemistry. The back of the photographic material is permeable to the developer chemistry.

Current usage

Although the Nimstec company no longer exists and Nimslo cameras are no longer produced, used cameras are available through internet auctions. Typical prices are below 50 USD (as of 2007). The factory price in the 1980s was around $ 200. The camera is no longer very common, but is still used by a small group of enthusiasts.

There are still a few lenticular specialist companies that develop Nimslo lenticular recordings. These are very similar to the original Nimslo products.

Ultimately, the Nimslo camera can also be used for a normal stereo camera by equipping it with color slide film. This makes it possible to determine the two most suitable fields - with regard to the lens spacing - after the recording and to mount them in stereo frames for the Nimslo / Nishika format 21 × 16 mm.

US patents

  • 3,960,563 - Methods and apparatus for taking and composing stereoscopic pictures
  • 4,037,950 - Camera for taking stereoscopic pictures
  • 4,063,265 - Apparatus for Taking Stereoscopic Pictures

literature

  • Jerry Nims, Allen Lo: Nimslo system adds a new dimension to 3-D photography . In Industrial Photography , 29, 8, Aug. 1980, ISSN  0019-8595 , pp. 20-23

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b True Horror Stories From the 3D Industry PART 2 ( Memento from August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Michael Starks (pdf)
  2. Norwegian Supreme Court, file number HR-2001-00662, Oslo, June 10, 2002