USING 7D and T2I together for 3D

Lucas 7D

Lucas 7D

Active member
Hi Guys

I own the 7D and would like to put together a 3D project. Can I buy a T2I and set both cameras next to each other on my slide to shoot 3D? i dont know if both cameras are the same height from base to lens and if the image will be the same if I shoot at exactly the same settings (Example ISO 100 on both + same lens on both)

Does anyone have any input on this?
I see that youtube now supports 3D viewing.

I was at the PGA (Producer's Guild of America) Conference at Fox Studios over the weekend and it seems 3D is turning into a big deal.
 
you'll have to find a way to level the cameras. The centers of the lenses will have to be on the same plane.
 
Anything can be done, with the right budget and enough time. If you are going to really go through the effort to get 3D that will be used for an actual project that people will actually see, then use the same model, firmware, lens, and settings.

I could make 3D with my HVX and my Cell Phone. The finished product will not look right but it will be 3D. What I am saying is it is possible, but so many factors along the way make it less and less viable for the all important suspension of disbelief.
 
Are you in Texas, even better Houston? If so, we should get together and do some tests. My film group and I are shooting one of our next projects in 3D with 2 7D's, one of which is mine. I've got the 50mm 1.4, the kit 28-135mm and the Tokina 11-16mm 2.8.

There are some excellent scripts for AE online at Vimeo, just google stereoscopic workflow. These scripts assist you if your interested in adding 3D elements. One even generates the right comp for you via a button. Nice stuff.

Andrew Kramer, of Videocopilot.net is getting into 3D. Keep an eye on his blog.

So, if you're in Houston or even Austin or San Antonio let me know if you'd like to save some money and collaborate. I'm trying to be the go-to guy for 3D here in Houston and could use the experience while I'm putting together this years reel.
 
Lucas7D, as much as I would like to report back 3D success with Canon DLSR cameras, it's just not in the cards for much useful motion photography.

I've been using 2 7D's on a tripod mounted rail for over 6 months shooting 3D footage tests. It's a lot of fun but there are some very serious drawbacks - deal killers really, to doing it with these types of cameras.

There are many reasons why it doesn't really work, including but not limited to the quite large inter-axial (distance between the lens centers) of this configuration - which in the case of 2 7D cameras is over 5 inches. The normal human inter-occular distance is about 2.5 inches, so with an inter-axial of over 2X that distance, you really can only accurately shoot objects which are no more than 30 -40 feet minimum distance to the lens. Anything closer than that cannot be easlily converged, so this limits 7D 3D to nature landscapes, etc. The main problem, however, is that it is impossible to lock both cameras together (genlock in video terms) to sustain a perfect frame-accurate synchronous data stream from both cameras. This is mandatory in order to eliminate several unacceptable effects of non-synchronous 3D data streams including an artifact called retinal rivalry. This takes place when the streams are even slightly (read 1 frame or more) non-synchronous. Imagine a shot of a wheel spoke spinning on the left eye camera and the same wheel spinning at almost but not exactly the same time on the right eye. You would get a visual offset which the brain, processing both images would be unable to resolve, resulting in this retinal rivalry and a mild to severe headache within moments. This disparity will also reveal in any sync sound recorded as a lip-sync non-sync issue.

So, motion 3D is not possible for any length of time beyond 30 seconds if that, but 3D stills are very possible and fun to do - and you only need one camera to do it.

I use the 7D's to shoot HDR (high dynamic range) still photos of landscapes and they look great when I process them for viewing on a computer screen or my 3D HDTV Samsung set. You only need one camera if you have a rail mount (available from Ebay for under $20) and you slide the camera from one end to the other at about 1" distance each time, eliminating the huge inter-axial problem that two cameras side-by-side creates.

For a really great and inexpensive book about 3D and how to make it I recommend Bernard Mendiburu's book "3D Filmmaking" available on Amazon.
 
Thanks guys.

Whitemonkey I live in LA. Zumadog that kinda sounds disappointing. I really wanted to shoot some 3D things for youtube.
 
Two t2is might work better. The smaller body would have less distance between lenses... not sure by how much.

Would the retinal rivalry artifact be reduced if you shot at 60fps?
 
Syncing is definitely going to be the biggest issue. Using a remote to electronicly simultaneously start the cameras could work. I've sen threads on using the Canon remotes to start the video.

You will need a beam splitter rig to shoot proper 3D if you can get the two cameras to run in sync. It's basically a box with two cameras 90 degrees to each other, either horizontally or vertically and a 50/50 mirror set 45 deg to the cameras. You'll lose some light with a setup like this, but it allows you to get your lenses closer than a side by side setup will allow.

3D Film Factory makes rigs like this:

http://www.3dfilmfactory.com/images/gallery 3d bs mini/pages/289.htm

http://www.3dfilmfactory.com/3d_camera_rigs.html

They may have a good solution for the shutter sync issue as well.

V
 
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