The Gemini is a new 3D, large-format camera designed by Martin Mueller, a co-founder of MSM Design (Hayden Lake, ID), to be small, fast, and lightweight while retaining the image quality expected in giant screen films. It is a completely original camera designed from scratch as a 3D camera. The Gemini can be loaded with film, put in a medium-sized pelican case, taken anywhere, pulled out of its case for shooting quality 3D in seconds.
The Gemini photographs a 24mm x 36mm stereo pair onto two strips of 35mm film. Each ‘eye’ has eight perforations, double the size of a full-aperture, 35mm motion picture frame. To make up for the smaller than 15/65 image size, several steps were taken:
First, the film movements incorporated a vacuum back and an ultra steady design that allows the camera to outperform 65mm cameras over a given image size. Due to the large image area of 65mm film, even with a vacuum back it will shift slightly in the camera’s gate, reducing
the resolution of the image being exposed. 65mm cameras typically resolve 40, at best 50 lines per millimeter in the center of the image. Second, the optics used in 65mm cameras have not kept up with the improvements in lenses for 35mm formats, so that smaller formats now have sharper lenses. With these improvements, the Gemini is able to capture 80 lines per mm, which makes up for most of the smaller image size. There are also image improvements in post production, but even before those enhancements the Gemini has a resolution that is three times that of a full HD camera.
One essential feature was a 2.5- distance between the lens centers, as ninety percent of giant screen 3D photography needs to take place at that value. Mueller used wider inter-axials but usually on longer lenses with wildlife whose scale is more forgiving. Using wider inter-axials in tight shooting environments can be disastrous.
The first challenge in Meuller’s Gemini 3D camera was to see if he could get the film to run horizontally though two 8/35 movements at such close spacing. Film in a motion picture camera spends most of its time standing still, capturing each amazing image then waiting for the shutter to close completely. When it moves, it has to move fast. At the normal 24 frames per second, the loop of film through the movement sees peak accelerations of 110 g’s and speeds over 1,000 feet per minute.
The versatility and usability of a camera has a lot to do with its size and weight, where smaller equals lighter equals better. The next challenge was the camera’s magazine layout. Meuller knew that to keep the magazines small, he wanted to arrange the rolls vertically and on the same center (coaxially). This meant finding a simple way to get the film turned 90 degrees to go though the
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