Nimslo
The Nimslo is a stereo camera with a brightfield viewfinder that produces 3D pictures that can be viewed without glasses.
A massive strike in Dundee, as the U.S. rollout was gaining strong momentum, caused Nimslo to miss the delivery dates on all cameras sold.
Nimslo and its lenticular printer were invented by Jerry Curtis Nims from Georgia, USA, and Allen Kwok Wah Lo.
The pictures produced by the Nimslo camera create a three-dimensional image that can be seen with the naked eye.
[5][6] Nimslo was taken publicly on the Unlisted Securities Market (USM) London by Baring Brothers and Carr, Sebag.
[7][8] Later, as an American depository receipt (ADR), Nimslo was the number one selling stock on the NASDAQ until the strike in Dundee stopped deliveries.
Later still, Nimslo was public on the Bermuda Exchange, including substantial oil interests which had been added by Fred Olsen.
During the height of its meteoric rise, Nimslo had sought to acquire Berkey Industries (NYSE-BKY), of which it had obtained sixteen percent.
[14] Nishika also offered a companion flash, similar to the Nimslo Optilite but much bulkier and with just one contact plus ground.
The flash contact sits atop a small platform which resembles the Pentaprism found on an SLR.
The camera is much larger than it needs to be, a lead weight was included to make it heavier, there is a plastic panel on top designed to look like an LCD readout and the two AA batteries serve no function except to power the "light meter" which merely indicates whether or not flash should be used.
[13] Also, the hot shoe has three contacts (in addition to ground), but two simply sit on top of the plastic with no internal connection.
[13] Nishika was the number one selling direct sales product until bad color emulsions from 3M caused the 3D snapshots to fade.
[15] Attempting to recover, Nishika used misleading[13] and even illegal tactics to market the camera, including an infamous fraudulent prize promotion scheme, which is usually blamed for the company's demise.
[13] The confusion on the part of Michael Starks may stem from the introduction about a year later of the 3 lens Trilogy, which sported a built in electronic flash and motorized film advance, and was originally marketed through a system very similar to the multilevel scheme used by Nishika.
The 3D trio featured 3 element coated glass lenses, built in flash, motorized film advance, automatic exposure control, compatibility with DX coded ASA 100, 200 and 400 film, and a built in protective lens cover, making it the closest three-lens equivalent to the Nimslo.
[6] In 2005 the Canadian firm Snap 3D began selling several two-lens and five-lens lenticular cameras made by US technology Ltd in Hong Kong.
[26] This includes a large number of GIF images created using the Nimslo camera, which have proliferated for viewing online.
The glass lenses and automatic exposure control of the Nimslo made it well suited for this purpose, unlike similar cameras such as the Nishika that typically sported plastic lenses and limited adjustability, relying on the latitude of the print film to give good results under varied lighting conditions.
Others used the Nimslo to produce half frame prints that could be used to make stereo cards which could be viewed in conventional stereoscopes.
One, the original Burdlo, featured a modified lens board with two lenses but essentially the same film advance to take full-frame stereo pictures.
None of these were as popular as the Teco-Nimslo but pictures of them are easy enough to find on the web[29] and have occasionally been the subject of blog entries.
