Two years ago, a friend and club member, Richard Fier, showed me this slide bar that he bought at a local camera store and he thought it would be nice for stereo photography. At this time I owned a couple of slide bars and had taken plenty of stereo pictures (tabletops) with slide bars. But when I saw the Bogen slide bar, I immediately fell in love with it!!! It was much more compact, easier and faster to use and less expensive than anything else I had tried before!!!

Realizing that this is a great tool for stereo photography, I got one for myself and it became a standard stereo accessory like a flash or a light meter. I also got a small stock to resell for a very modest profit. I took about half a dozen of these slide bars in each of the last two NSA conventions. They disappeared right away! People who saw my demonstration bought it. They wanted to grab mine too, but I wouldn’t let it go.

Bottom line: If you want to compact slide bar that can fit in your pocket, try the Bogen slide bar. I don’t care if you get it from me or from elsewhere. But you owe yourself to get one! I will try to explain why...

The Bogen advantage

From the two slide bars above, which one would you pick?

The one on the right is a typical rack & pinion slide bar. The one on the left is the Amazing Bogen slide bar (actually, made by Manfrotto in Italy and distributed to the USA by Bogen.)

Tough choice, huh? Let me help you:

Regarding the difference in dimensions: You can put the Bogen bar in the pocket of your pants. You cannot do that with the other bar (without breaking the seams :-))

I am not kidding!

But, look at the sliding time! I can slide the Bogen bar in one second. Do you realize what this means for stereo photography? In one second you can stereo photograph subjects that you would not even think of with other slide bars.

How about portraits? Normally, you would need twin SLRs bottom-to-bottom or an SLR RBT camera for a portrait with a longer focal length lens. But with a cooperative subject, you can do the same thing "low budget" with the Bogen bar. With good available light (I am afraid you do need available light... not many subjects can stay still after being flashed) I can take a portrait of my cat (awake, that is). Or my children (trust me, it is tough!!!)

How about other features? The sliding range of 80mm is perfect for normal to hypo (macro) stereos. You can take ordinary scenes, close-ups, the works!

How does the bar work for stereo pairs? Simple! It has two parts. One attaches to your camera. The other attaches to the tripod. Release the lock. Take one picture. Slide the camera for a given amount (less or equal to the maximum shift of 80mm). Take the second picture. Done!

To take a stereo pair, slide camera in one side and take the first picture. Then slide to the other side and take the second picture. Done! (BTW, these two pictures form a stereo pair of the camera!)

If you want to take the camera off the tripod in a hurry (for example, to take a quick hand-held hyperstereo), simply press the button in the front and pull the camera out. The camera support part remains on the camera and provides a wide & smooth support so you can slide the camera on any smooth base.

Taking the camera off the bar is very simple and quick. The part that stays in the camera widens the base and provides a good surface for additional sliding opportunities.

Is the tripod necessary? In most cases, yes. But only to support the slide bar. How about a graduated scale? No scale, no problem! (Actually, neither the rack & pinion bar shown above has a graduated scale). I have marked my bar with one line (scribed on the tripod part) and several marks (with a marker on the camera part). I can always wipe out the markings and put new ones. A friend in our camera club, Jules Rhine, has attached a graduated scale (see picture below). These scales might help with macro stereos if you want to aim for a specifying shift.

No scale, no problem! Here are two ideas.

Have you ever thought of putting a stereo camera on a slide bar? Sounds silly, does’t it? After all, you have the stereo camera so you don’t have to use a slide bar every time. But, consider this: Take a Realist-format stereo camera (70mm lens separation) and slide it 50mm to record two stereo pairs. You get to select from any of the following combinations:

• 20mm hypostereo by selecting the two inner chips
• 50mm mild hypostereo by selecting the left of the first and right of the second
• 70mm normal by selection either of the two pairs
• 120mm mild hyperstereo by selecting the two outer chips

Clever, isn't it!

OK. If at this point I have not sold you on the concept of the slide bar, nothing else will!!!

George Themelis

Information updated: 02/00 - mailto:DrT-3d@att.net