Figure 5. A drawing of
"large lens" camera method.
(Herbert Ives, 1930)
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The technique was greatly advanced by the son of Fredrick E. Ives, Herbert E. Ives (1882-1953). He was the first to create images using a large aperture camera lens (a lens with a diameter wider than the interocular distance). His first camera housed a 12" diameter- f2 lens (Figure 5). This permitted an "infinite" or continuous set of views, the resolution of which was defined by the width of the clear line relative to the opaque line in the barrier screen, to enter the camera in one exposure, allowing for human and other moving subjects to be photographed "instantly".
Since the parallax panoramagram records only horizontal parallax information, most of the light rays entering the camera through the large round lens were useless. Ives was aware of this and later replaced the large lens with a single small lens similar to an ordinary camera lens, which scanned from left to right in front of the barrier screen, a distance equal to or greater than what was the diameter of the large lens. 
Figure 6. Three views of a Parallax Panoramagram. (Herbert Ives, 1933)
Figure 7. A drawing of the two concave
mirror techniques. (Herbert Ives, 1930) |
This technique gave rise to a variety of "scanning" camera systems, which are still in use today. The major contributors to such systems included Douglas Winnek of the U.S. and Prof. Marrice Bonnet of France. These are generally known as scan cameras or Bonnet-style cameras. Ives also experimented with fixed and scanning concave mirrors (figure 7), multiple camera systems (up to fifty at a time), and autostereoscopic movies and other techniques into the early 1940's.
A well-respected physicist, Herbert Ives is perhaps best known as a pioneer of early television with his groundbreaking work at Bell Labs. By the time of his retirement in 1947, Ives had published more than 200 papers, and secured more than 100 patents.
Parallax barriers became a dramatic tool of advertisers in the 1990's, available through a variety of specialized companies. Stunning large format images developed by Grayson Marshall became well known at airports and New York bus shelters. Some remarkable computer generated barriers (called Pshcolograms TM ) were created by (Art) n laboratories in Chicago, which were displayed in science museums and art galleries throughout the world. However, with the advent of readily available lenticular display screens, the parallax barrier methods have all but disappeared, for now.
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