TDC Stereo Colorist

TDC Stereo Colorist

TDC Stereo Colorist by Marty4650 (Image rights) Date of Production: 1954 Film type: 35mm Lens: 2 x Rodenstock Trinar 35mm f/3.5 Shutter: Velio Shutter speed range: B, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 Viewfinder: approx. 0.4x Flash: hot shoe Exposure Metering: manual Focusing: I scale, II rangefinder Film advance: knob wind Frame size: 5p (22.4mm L x 24mm H) Battery: none Weight: 717 grams Dimensions: 180 x 80 x 60 mm (W x H x D)

The TDC Stereo Colorist was introduced in 1954 as a competitor in the stereo market to the popular Stereo Realist.

Both the Stereo Colorist and the Stereo Colorist II were made in the 1950s in Germany by Bodensee Kamerawerke for Three Dimension Company, a subsidiary of Bell & Howell.

They are designed to use 35mm color reversal (slide) film. The format of the picture is 23x24 mm, the '5p' (i.e. five perforations of 35mm film) that was used in the Stereo Realist.

Both models have three-element Rodenstock 35mm f/3.5 Trinar lenses. While the Stereo Colorist is scale focusing, the Stereo Colorist II has a coupled rangefinder, combined with the4 viewfinder in the same eyepiece. Otherwise the two cameras are similar.

TDC Stereo Colorist II image by chris00nj (Image rights)

Links

• Stereo Colorist and Stereo Colorist II at Welt der Stereoskopie (text in German).
• TDC Stereo Colorist at stereoscopy.com
• Die Stereo-Colorist und ihre Geschichte (The Stereo Colorist and its history); notes (in German) on the camera, Bodenseewerk and its relationship with TDC and B&H, at Martin Kohler's 3d-historich.de.
• TDC Stereo Colorist II review at Through the Lens (a UK blog).