3D rig from film factory...

[Joey R.]

There is a little bit of misinformation concerning the cost of ET mirrors and how much mirrors should cost in order to be considered "good".

Our "General Purpose" beamsplitter, for the Quasar alone, is $540 out the door. The reason is simple, our purchase numbers are now into the thousands. IF we were to buy a few at a time, our cost alone starts at around $3k. So even at a markup everyone would feel good because they were paying thousands of dollars for a high-end beamsplitter double coated substrate. Now, with volume its not necessary to pay those prices so its important for people to realize cost does not necessarily equal quality.

Now our premium Schott water white 3mm precision ground and polished beamsplitter with our very own secret sauce coatings we sell for $5000. This mirror is a touch under $20k for one piece of coated substrate. But luckily for us we purchase a hundred or so and the price goes dramatically down. If those of you feel better by spending in the $20k range, we can facilitate

For those who want more information about the mirrors we supply, you can go to our site. We are more than happy to make it all public info:
http://www.technica3d.com/support/

Joey

[Jason Goodman]

Keith,

While I agree with your statement I would add that cost alone is not an accurate measure. A mirror that yields poor quality for stereoscopic cinematography could still be very expensive. Custom coatings are costly particularly when done in small runs. Likewise, a mirror with very good s3D characteristics might be comparatively inexpensive if it were manufactured in a large run. Cost is a pretty good guideline, but it does not tell you everything you need to know. Get a spectral analysis if you can.

[Pedro Guimaraes]

I echo Jason's comments, since I have recently shot on some expensive "high end" mirrors that I thought performed poorly. Price is not always the way to tell...

As with everything in 3D.....test.....test..test....

What is true is that optics in our business as everyone knows is everything. We reagularly shoot on 20k+ lenses. Wouldn't make much sense to use low quality optics in front of all that money....

in the end, it's all about what you save in post. Since most of the issues can be fixed with most high end stereo tools quite easily......still that equals time and money.

easier to get it right at the moment of capture.

[Sven Seynaeve]

Some good explanation over there Joey... thanks