Ride Theory reviewed 3D Disneyland by David A. Bossert
Inept
1 star
I'd say this is not only my least favorite theme park book, but also my least favorite stereoscopic book.
The choice to publish color photos using red/blue anaglyph is always a poor one, as it changes the colors substantially. It makes it look like you're colorblind in different ways in each eye. Also, the book was printed with the saturation levels all wrong, so the majority of the images have elements that don't merge into 3D properly. The technical term for this effect is either "ghosting" or "crosstalk" depending on who you ask. I got a notion as I re-read the book this time to try doubling up on my 3D glasses, adding a second pair on top of the first, and while that helps correct for the iffy printing, it also makes all the images darker, and further distorts the colors. There are also two photos where the filters …
I'd say this is not only my least favorite theme park book, but also my least favorite stereoscopic book.
The choice to publish color photos using red/blue anaglyph is always a poor one, as it changes the colors substantially. It makes it look like you're colorblind in different ways in each eye. Also, the book was printed with the saturation levels all wrong, so the majority of the images have elements that don't merge into 3D properly. The technical term for this effect is either "ghosting" or "crosstalk" depending on who you ask. I got a notion as I re-read the book this time to try doubling up on my 3D glasses, adding a second pair on top of the first, and while that helps correct for the iffy printing, it also makes all the images darker, and further distorts the colors. There are also two photos where the filters for the right and left eye are inverted, creating what's called "psuedostereo." (To be entirely fair, the publisher caught this error and mentioned it on the included erratum sheet. Heaven help you if this fell out of your copy.) Yeesh. Just print the two images side-by-side and provide a proper viewer, like the London Stereoscopic Company does!
I read and looked at this last night under artificial light. This morning, I took it out into indirect daylight, and the colors and 3D effects were a little better. Still bad, but better.
A grammatical error of subject/verb consistency pops up three or four times in the captions. ("The sub ride vehicles /are/ now powered by electricity and /takes/ guests..." "The Conestoga Wagons /were/ part of the opening day at Disneyland in 1955 and /was/ a 'B' ticket ride...")
I thought about giving this book to a friend who's a nut for Disneyland, but he's got vision problems and is a writer, so he's likely to find it just as annoying as I do. I wish I had an enemy who loved Disneyland.