INTERIM EVALUATION REPORT ON THE(Sanitized) STEREOVIEWER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B04770A002500040007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 12, 2005
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 3, 1966
• Content Type: MFR

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NPIC/P&DS/D/6- / 579f
3 May 1966
Declass Review by NGA.
Stereoviewer 25
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Interim Evaluation Report on the
After many delays en route the stereoviewer arrived in March of
1966 and was unpacked and assembled by the people in
shop. It was set up in Room 1S460 but nothing could be done with it
until a 220v. outlet was provided in the room. This was done about
a week later and the equipment was ready for evaluation. One very
obvious short-coming, for our purposes, was the lack of standard film
spool brackets. The device was delivered with 12"-wide film holders.
Very quickly it was decided that they should be replaced with standard
"T-channel" reel brackets so that standard spool
holders and cranks could be mounted. This work was done by
people a few days after the work was requested.
I then spent portions of several days getting familiar with the
viewer. The following are some hasty reactions to the device, but
they are not to be considered definitive until the viewer has been
evaluated thoroughly by P.I.'s from PAG and IAD.
Favorable Comments - My overall impression is very favorable.
The viewer is a cleanly designed, seemingly simply constructed
device which apparently was produced with due attention paid to
human engineering considerations. The controls are ingeniously
marked with symbols which clearly indicate what each control
does. After proper adjustment of the objective lens focus, the
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zoom optical train stays in focus. The individual eyepieces
each have dipter settings marked on their rims, this permits
each user to set his individual diopter focus adjustment. The
large amount of open work-space over the light table and under
the objective lenses would be very nice for some purposes and the
provision for viewing opaque stereo-prints is IniQe, although
probably of limited usefulness for NPIC operations.
Unfavorable Comments - The device was designed specifically for
viewing roll film stereoscopically and if the film to be viewed
is 9" x 9" or 4i" x 4i" format with 60% or 70% overlap then the
film can be used as is, but the minimum separation in the X
direction for the objectives is 3I" and many times adjoining
stereo-pairs on 41" x 41" format rolls cannot be viewed stereo-
scopically because the overlap is nsufficient. That is, common
images on adjoining exposures are less than 31 inches apart.
This is more often the case with 70mm format film. ?4N.rart3.--P.
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viefarfp.Eite?ett.w4.
Without a slack loop arrangement it is impossible to view long
format imagery (or imagery in which there are several feet of intervening
exposures between the halves of a stereo pair) stereoscopically so
long as it remains on the roll, uncut. If however, the film is cut
into "chips", even 9" x 9" chips, then the pairs can be viewed stereo-
scopi ally no matter what their original separation was on the uncut
tetu4,--!Ak")1
roll. eSince the maximum enlargement capability of this view r is 15 x
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it is very unlikely that this device will displace either the ,Zoo 70
type or the Twin Dynazoom - type niicrostereoscopes& The advertise
resolution capability of the viewer at three selected magnifications
is:
2x
Lx
13x
0
Recommendations - That the device be turned over without flai-ther
delay to PAG and IAD for a more exhaustive operational-type
evaluation. Because it seams to be designed for the type of
imagery they often work with, I think the Geographic Branch of
PAG is the best group to begin this evaluation.
If the operational units display a genuine interest in this
viewer, it is further recommended that modifications be made to
it by some local or-,ga,n=i-EFEttioll. Among the modifications contemplated
are: (1) the addition of a film loop capability between the
objectives (this implies the fabrication of a completely new light
table), (2) the extension of the Y travel capabilities of the
objectives, (3) a similar mechanical modification in the movement
of the objectives which would permit them to be moved closer
together, or (4) instead of modifications (2) and (3) perhaps
rhomboid arms could be attached to the objectives to achieve the
same effect. Any final decision on modifications must be deferred
until the existing equipment has been evaluated by the operational
interpreters.
Orig - Project File (998)43-5)
1 - DB chrono
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While it is possible to view the stereo portions of KH-4 fore and
aft passes using this viewer it cannot be done very easily and the
technique is not recommended. The two objectives must be separated
nearly to the maximum in the "Y" direction and the image in each eye-
piece must be rotated optically 900. Then, in order to view the stereo
area the interpreter must accustom himself to the trick of moving
the objectives in a direction 900 away from the apparent motion of
the scanned imagery as viewed through the eyepieces. The need to
correct for differences in scale between the two images out near
the ends of the long format photographs adds to the difficulty of
scanning the imagery and retaining a stereoscopic view. Last, but
u,stAjttivd-rcetk.f.vc,r,
not least, the interpreter studying KH-4 imagery GLIaa,..waaats.more
magnification than the maximum 15x capability of this viewer.
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