United States Patent Number: 4,436,369
Inventor: Bukowski; William A. (New York, NY)
Assignee: Optimax III, Inc. (New York, NY)
Application Number: 06/300,255
Application Filed: September 8, 1981
Patent Issued: March 13, 1984
Invention: Stereoscopic lens system
ABSTRACT
A stereoscopic lens system for simultaneously recording left and right images on longitudinally displaced half-frames of a motion picture film. Left and right images are formed by a pair of adjustable receiving lenses horizontally spaced by the average human interocular distance and vertically spaced by an amount corresponding to the half-frame displacement. Images formed by the receiving lenses are focused onto respective field lenses. These images are in turn directed by front-silvered flat mirrors to the optical elements of a relay lens mounted to the optics body containing the above-described elements. Provision is made for the mounting of accessory receiving lenses and convergence altering optical elements located in front of the receiving lenses.
CLAIMS
What is claimed is:
1. A stereoscopic lens system for attachment and use with a motion picture camera device for simultaneously forming left and right images of a viewed scene on an optical plane for recording pairs of such left and right images in successive frame areas of a motion picture record medium carried by the camera device, comprising:
an optics body;
a pair of focusable optical image receiving lens elements carried by said body and being laterally spaced apart by an interocular distance and vertically displaced by an amount corresponding to the pitch between adjacent longitudinally displaced halves of the frame areas on the record medium to be recorded;
a relay lens mounted to said optics body and adapted for removable mounting to the motion picture camera device;
field lens means at the interior of said body and optically spaced from the receiving elements near the image plane thereof so as to form respective left and right focused images;
masking means in the respective optical paths for said right and left images for establishing a division line between said images along adjacent lateral edges thereof within the frame area;
reflecting element means at the interior of said body and located intermediate said field lens means and said optical plane for directing said left and right images from said field lens means simultaneously to said relay lens such that said simultaneous images, as presented to said relay lens for transmission to the plane of the record medium, are generally in lateral registration and longitudinally superposed in an area corresponding to a single frame of the record medium to be recorded.
2. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 1, further comprising:
focus means for synchronously altering the optical distance between each of said receiving elements and said field lens means, to enable the in-focus image plane of the viewed scene to be maintained substantially at the plane of said field lens means.
3. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 1, further comprising:
adjustable mounting means associated with at least one of said receiving elements for selectably changing said interocular distance substantially independently of said vertical displacement.
4. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 1, wherein:
said reflecting element means comprise for at least one of said images a pair of front-coated reflective optical flats angled to direct said image to said relay lens in substantial lateral registration with the other of said images.
5. The steroscopic lens system of claim 4, wherein said reflecting element means comprises:
a mirror mount secured to said optics body for supporting each coated optical flat so as to be substantially free from vibratory movement.
6. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 5, wherein:
each pair of mirror mounts supportively extends from opposed surfaces of said body.
7. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 2, wherein said field lens means comprises:
a pair of field lenses vertically displaced from each other so that each is nominally aligned on optical centers with a respective receiving element,
each field lens comprising a pair of spaced plano-convex lenses; and
field lens mounting means for fixedly locating said field lenses at the body interior intermediate the receiving elements and the mirror means.
8. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 1, wherein:
said masking means associated with said right and left images are located in the respective image planes for said focused images.
9. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 1, wherein:
said relay lens means is adapted for mounting to a motion picture camera to record said pairs of superposed images in single frames of a photographic film.
10. The steroscopic lens system of claim 1, further comprising:
image convergence means adapted for support by said optics body to alter the apparent angular position of images of the viewed scene presented to said receiving elements.
11. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 10, wherein:
said image convergence means comprises at least one optical wedge and means for fixedly supporting said wedge fowardly of a receiving element.
12. A stereoscopic lens system, for attachment to a motion picture camera device, for simultaneously forming superposed, laterally aligned images for recording in successive frames of a motion picture record medium; comprising:
an optics body;
left and right receiving lenses mounted to said optics body;
said left and right receiving lenses being laterally spaced by an interocular distance corresponding to the nominal human eye interocular distance, and being longitudinally displaced by a distance corresponding to the approximate pitch of such superposed images;
optical image-directing means at the interior of the optics body for laterally redirecting focusable left and right images presented by said receiving lenses to an optical plane in lateral registration and in superposed, non overlapping relation within an area corresponding to a single picture frame of the record medium to be recorded,
said optical image-directing means being operative so as to avoid any substantial longitudinal redirection of the respective left and right images;
relay lens means associated with said optics body for transmitting said superposed laterally registered images to a frame area of an image plane on the record medium; and
means for removably attaching said associated relay lens means and optics body to the motion picture camera device.
13. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 12, wherein said optical image-directing means includes:
means for forming a focused image at the interior of the optics body for transmission by said relay lens to said image plane at the record medium.
14. The stereoscopic lens systems of claim 13, wherein:
said reflecting means for each image comprises at least one optical flat having a silvered coating on the front surface thereof.
15. The stereoscopic lens system of claim 12, further comprising:
masking means in the respective optical paths for said images for masking said focused images presented to the relay lens such that a non-overlapping line of division is established between said superposed images in said single frame area.
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