Nimslo
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The Nimslo is a lenticular stereo camera with a viewfinder. It uses common 35 mm film in 135 film format cartridges. It was produced in the 1980s by Nimstec Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
It has fixed focus and automatic exposure. The four lenses take four pictures simultaneously. Lenticular prints would be ordered from special print shops using dedicated printers.
The camera used a LED to put a green dot on the film. This was how the printer knew where a group of four negatives started.
The camera was originally built in a Timex factory in Dundee, Scotland. Later cameras were built by Sunpak in Japan.
Nimslo and its lenticular printer was invented by Jerry Curtis Nims and Allen Kwok Wah Lo, both from Georgia, USA.[1]
The Nimslo was the first consumer based three dimensional lenticular shooting device of its kind. Prior to the Nimslo, no stereo camera had been mass marketed in over 30 years.
The pictures produced by the Nimslo camera create a three dimensional image that can be seen with the naked eye. This 3D image is made possible by the lenticular printing process that was also created by the Nimslo inventors.
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[edit] US patents
The technology was protected by 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
[edit] Nimstec, Timex and Fred Olsen
The shares of the Nimstec were bought by Eagleville Company in October 1980, again controlled by the Ptarmigan Trust that at the same time gained control over Timex Corporation. The whole operation was controlled by billionaire Fredrik Olsen "Fred Olsen", in charge of the Fred. Olsen & Co. shipping company. Fred Olsen is a technological and industrial visionary and believed strongly in the Nimslo product. He wanted the Timex factory in Dundee in Scotland to produce the cameras, as they had already produced cameras for Polaroid. He established a guarantee of 25 million USD for the acquisition of the Nimslo shares.[2]
According to Michael Starks, Nimslo went bankrupt and was partly sold in the mid 1990s to a Nevada company called Nishika which later introduced a three lens stereo camera.[1] This is disputed, though both Nimslo and Nimstec have ceased trading as digital cameras have made the product obsolete.
[edit] Mark 1S and Mark 1A Printers
The original Nimslo photographic printer (the Mark 1S) was controlled by a KIM-1 processor. The operator had to view the actual images to align the images. The time to create a picture was measured in minutes. The second photographic printer was the Mark 1A. This printer was controlled by a Data General MicroNova processor, using the MP/OS operating system. This machine used a video system and was able to create a picture in about 15 seconds.
Nimslo prints are created by enlarging the four negatives with a photofinishing machine. The next step involves laminating the prints on a screen full of tiny cylindrical lenses and combining that with another similar screen. This mixture is then processed with a multi-lens printer, where the three dimensional print is created and processed like an average color print. After the print is dried, it delivers a three dimensional image that can be clearly seen without any viewing aids.
[edit] Modern Applications
Despite the fact that Nimstec has ceased to exist and can no longer produce Nimslo cameras, one can still get a hold of a Nimslo through various internet auctioning sites. Original Nimstec cameras cost around $200 dollars at their first release, but can now be found for less than $50. The Nimslo has managed to fall out of popular fashion, but still maintains a small but loyal following among photography buffs.
There are still a small number of companies that can process Nimslo pictures. These companies specialize in three dimensional lenticular printing and allow Nimslo users to receive prints similar to the original Nimstec creations.
[edit] References
- ^ a b True Horror Stories From the 3D Industry PART 2, Michael Starks [1]
- ^ Norwegian High Court in case HR-2001-00662, Oslo, Norway, 2002-06-10
- "Nimslo system adds a new dimension to 3-D photography" by Jerry Nims and Allen Lo, pp. 20-23, Aug. 1980, Industrial Photography, vol. 29, No. 8.
