3d World Tl1201: International Camera Museum : Blue Moon Camera and Machine

Shop
Equipment
Film and Supplies
Sale Items
Typewriters
- Portable
- Desktop
- Other
Sundries
eBay
- eBay Outlet
Photo Lab
Culture
Sell Your Gear

- Log In / Sign Up

Shop

Back Shop Home

Equipment

Back 35mm Cameras Point & Shoot 35mm Cameras Medium Format Cameras Large Format Cameras Lenses Lens Filters Tripods Light Meters Bags & Cases Darkroom Enlargers All Darkroom Equipment

Film & Supplies

Back Film Paper Chemistry Batteries Storage & Archiving Cleaning Accessories

Typewriters

Back Portable Desktop Other

Sundries

Back Apparel & Swag Books & Magazines Gift Certificates

Sale Items eBay Store

Photo Lab

Back Send Us Your Film Photo Lab Services Pricing Services FAQ Mailing Your Film FAQ Printable Order Form Printable Services Pricelist Digital Printing Image Analyzer

Sell Your Gear

Back Sell Your Gear Consignments: How it Works Consignment FAQ

Culture

Back Museum Codex Meet the Staff Customer Shows Social Landing Page Press Links Manifesto E-Mail Newsletter Signup

Support

Back Consignment FAQ Shipping FAQ Privacy Policy Return Policy

Account

Back Log In/Register

Get Social

Back Instagram Facebook X / Twitter Discord

Return to Museum Home

3D World TL120-1

The TL120-1 is one strange, little stereo camera. It was produced by the company 3D World in Hangzhou, China beginning in about 2006. It was only in production for a few years, later models having a variety of only minor improvements. At its core, the TL120-1 is a 'tri-lens" camera which is, more or less, exactly what it sounds like - the camera has three lenses. The top lens is the viewing lens; meanwhile, the lower pair of lenses are the taking lenses, responsible for producing the stereo pair of exposures. These lenses are the standard 80mm focal length, they have a standard focusing range of .8m to infinity, and have a distance of 63.5mm between them for stereo separation.

The TL120-1 is a fairly large camera but also pretty lightweight. It requires a red window for advancing frames and produces six pairs of stereo images per roll. The shutter is mechanical and the camera does have a battery powered light meter.

When it comes to medium format stereo photography, there are not many options out there. We wish you luck in your search to track one of these cameras down. The work would certainly be worth it, the TL120-1 is a very respectable stereo setup.

za/sd

Mark Hadley with his 3D World TL120-1

Mark Hadley, one of our favorite former employees, doesn't do photography because it is a serious pursuit. He does it because it is fun. He loves freezing action; from friends flying over campfires at the beach, to people rocketing skyward off diving boards. He loves underwater photography - he owns at least three Nikonos cameras. Most of all, he loves stereo photography. Several years ago, he heard about this mythical tri-lens medium format stereo camera and, while he loved his Holga 120-3D, he had to find this beast and own one himself. He got in contact with 3D World, a company in China that made this camera and, after navigating the language barrier, discovered they no longer made it. From them, he was given the names of four distributors that may still have had them. He called, e-mailed, and struck out on each of the four but continued his search! Finally, a camera store in Madrid produced a hit - they had two left. He bought this camera for about $1,300.

The camera works sort of like a twin lens reflex: you focus and compose through the top lens and the pair of stereo images are made through the twin bottom lenses. Setting exposure is all manual, the camera has a full range of shutter speeds, up to 1/500. Film advance is also manual, using the age-old technique of numbers in a red window. The camera itself is pretty darn cool, in both aesthetic and function. We do all of Mark's scanning and printing, pairing up the stereo images on one canvas and making prints of the pairs. He generally leaves a pair of glasses with us, so we can sit around the computer screen, flipping through his photos, marveling at the appearance of depth in what is usually a two dimensional medium.