Help identifying the usefulness of these

[Frank Raia]

Has anyone seen or used either of these? I can't find anything on the web about the 3D lens attachment.
I found the patent on the film cleaner but that's it IMG_20250723_182037.jpg IMG_20250723_182028.jpg IMG_20250723_182016.jpg IMG_20250723_182052.jpg

[Mike Blakesley]

That film cleaner is the sticky-wheel type which is OK for brand-new prints (it gets the random dust specks off) but not good for old or dirty prints, because the rollers get covered with crap and it winds up not picking up any NEW crap as a result. This type of cleaner is only effective if you clean the rollers after each and every showing. Also, those rollers might not be soft/sticky enough to still be effective, given the ravages of time. If they aren't soft and slightly sticky to the touch, they are garbage.

I've never seen the 3-D Video adaptors but I would be highly suspect of anything cinema related which has the word "video" on it.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Has anyone seen or used either of these? I can't find anything on the web about the 3D lens attachment.
I found the patent on the film cleaner but that's it.

I've seen that 3D lens contraption, but only on ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/135429876058

Were you by chance the buyer? Noticed it just sold, lol. The price was right for a 3D conversation piece. I'm sure someone here knows it's origins. If I had to guess it is a 35mm 3D lens for the split frame style single projector method. I would expect that adapter can be used to converge the two images coming from a single film strip?... though I would expect it also performs a 2X de-squeeze somehow?

The film cleaner looks like it may have been a module off of a stand-alone film cleaning machine, the plate doesn't seem very conducive to projector mounting, although perhaps from a platter or bench system?

Here is one example with similar sticky rollers as one stage, but obviously not from this model.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/256503506832

[Brad Miller]

The PTRs on that SPECO film "cleaner" are rotted and will damage film if you run it on those. Also PTRs are a complete joke for anything except lab work dealing with negatives. Just throw it away. You're drinking the Kool-Aid if you actually think the PTR is does any good at all.

The last ebay link above in Ryan's post is hilarious. It's just a dubber that no longer reads mag tracks with a Kelmar film cleaner mounted on it.

[Phillip Grace]

The 3-D adaptor is used for the 35mm single strip under/over system. It attaches to the conventional projector lens, which looks to be included in your device.The left-eye and right-eye images are printed one above the other on the film. They are usually 1.85:1 (flat) and fit into an area much the same size as a cinemascope frame. The box acts as a kind of beam splitter and uses a pair of mirrors on each half to collect and redirect the two images to the screen. These two images are superimposed, but offset slightly to one another on the screen. On the front of the mirror box are two linear polarizing filters set at 90 degress to each other, one for the left eye image and the other for the right eye image. In order to see the 3-D image the viewer wears a pair of spectacles which hold another set of linear polarizing filters, set up at 90 degrees to each other such that each eye can only see the appropriate image. The use of polaroid filters enables a full-colour image to be presented. The 3-D frames are slightly smaller than normal 1.85, so there is likely to be a focal length converter attached to the barrel of the adaptor, to enlarge the image to fit the existing flat screen masking. This device is a fairly generic type. Similar units are Marks Polarator, Paramount 3-D, and Stereoflex. The Polaroid 3-D system requires the use of a non-depolarizing (silver) screen.

[Frank Raia]

Ryan, Yes I was the buyer! LOL i wanted the prime lens and it was at a good price and thought... looks cool!

Brad, I figured as much about the cleaner, It came in a lot of other stuff and is headed now for the trash.

[Gordon McLeod]

That was a 3D adapter made by Trimensional Technology. It was a very good one

[Ryan Gallagher]

Very cool 3D history ya’ll. Thanks. I was expecting it to be from the red/blue era. Not so. I was only barely aware of the single strip method, cool to know it was over under. I think the phots of the device 90deg from
how it would go into a projector was causing me to assume some kind of scoped side by side film strip.

No longer practical unless you have a silvers screen I guess. Probably much easier for a home setup to put up a temporary scrap of silvered screen than it is for most operating venues.

[Frank Raia]

anyone know what 3D movies used this?

[Randy Stankey]

Also PTRs are a complete joke for anything except lab work dealing with negatives.

Lab work, negatives, whatever... PTRs are for keeping CLEAN film clean. They don't do crap for crappy film and can even make film even crappier if you don't change out those rollers every time you use them.

I like PTRs for their intended use but I've never worked in an environment where they would do any good. If you work in a lab, an editing room or a high-end screening room...maybe, if your film is already clean. If you work in a grindhouse projection room, they aren't even spit in the ocean.

[Gordon McLeod]

anyone know what 3D movies used this?

Almost all the ones in the rebirth like Jaws3 treasure of the four crowns Starchaser Halloween etc. They even would work on the technicolour 3d. Remeber these use linear polarizers and will not work with the real d style of glasses

[Jim Cassedy]

I've seen one of those in an old booth or two. About a decade ago, I picked up one
of the Paramount Pictures 3D & over/under adapter kits. I think they were made by
Stereovision. The one I got must have been in storage and never used. It came in
a really nice shipping case, complete with the "Paramount Pictures" logo engraved
on it, and it had all the parts, polarizing filters and even a roll of the alignment film.
I've never personally used it, but I've loaned it out to a couple of theaters when
they wanted to screen some over/under 3D titles.

[Frank Raia]

Jim, I probably will never use this one but it looks cool!

[Stefan Scholz]

Old fashioned over/ under 3D attachment from some decades ago. The useful ones to screen 3D prints these days were made around 2010 by Schneider, called Technicolor 3D at the time. They could be used with polarizing filters on metallized screens, with Panavision comb filters (best option), or with little off color points Infitec Dolby 3D, both on standard matt white screens.
This one is solely a collector's item for the history of movie presentations.

The PTR rollers were some kind of film cleaner, mainly intended for laboratory use, to collect the few dust particles on the negative film.
In theatrical they made sense as particle transfer rollers, collecting the dirt from the beginning of the reel, until saturated, then disposing it to other parts. There were way better methods around.
Collectible item, not more.