Peace on Earth & Beyond in 3-D

Apollo XI image courtesy of NASA, 3D holiday image by Josiah Bahl, John Sfakis, Jim Ulrich, and Earlin Ward 

First Appearance of 3-D Technology

3D images are as old as photography itself, introduced in 1839.  Early technology used a stereoscope to view double images mounted side by side on a card known as a “stereo pair”. More than 10,000 different stereo pairs, many from the Civil War era, were issued by E. H. Anthony & Company, the largest American photographic house in the 19th century and forerunner of Ansco-GAF, who put down their corporate roots in Binghamton in 1906.

The View-Master format uses pairs of transparent film images arrayed around the rim of a circular reel for 3D viewing. First brought to market in 1939 by Sawyers, Portland, OR, View-Masters and reels were produced in Binghamton by General Analine & Film (GAF) from the 1960s to the 1980s. Audio tracks were added to GAF-Talking View-Masters in the 1970s.  In 1997, the product line merged with Mattel where it continues today, in partnership with Google and others for state-of-the-art immersive imaging experiences.