Hindsvik: Vintage View-masters

Contributor post by Daniel and Valeria of Hindsvik

A few weeks ago we did a post on our blog of vintage view-masters and reel scans and wanted to share some more scans and some history with you! Using a slide scanner, we captured some of these images and although the whole 3-D effect is lost, they are still some captivating stills!

Alice in Wonderland, 1952

View-masters have been around since 1939, and although is now considered a children's toy, it was originally marketed as a way for viewers to enjoy stereograms of colorful and picturesque tourist attractions.

The view-master has stemmed from two photographers who had invented devices for viewing stereo images. Together they had the idea of updating the old-fashioned stereoscope by using new Kodachrome 16-mm color film which had recently been available.

Smokey the Bear, 1969

While a view-master disk holds 14 film slides, there are really only 7 pairs as two film slides are being viewed simultaneously. One for each eye, thus simulating binocular depth perception.

Bambi

In the 1940's, the US military recognized the potential for using View-Master products for personnel training and purchased 100,000 viewers and nearly 6 million disks from 1942-1945.

Prehistoric Animals

View-master also eventually signed with Disney, and began it's Personal Line, which included a 35-mm camera for it's users to make their own View-Master disks. Although at first they were successful, the line would be discontinued within 10 years.

View-master had merged and signed with many companies and now belongs to Fisher-Price. Despite it's long history and many changes in model and material, the same basic design of the disks and internal mechanism has persisted throughout ensuring that every desk ever made will work in every model
produced!

- Daniel and Valeria