Photos taken with the Mercury Stereo 12 can be viewed as digital files via screens/monitors with a simple screen viewer, “free-viewed” without a viewer if you can train yourself to do so, printed as stereo cards and viewed in a stereograph viewer (either vintage or current), viewed digitally via VR headsets, or viewed as medium format slides in a slide viewer.

Photograph taken with Mercury Stereo 12

While a range of viewers are currently available for all of these options, we felt that the quality this camera was capable of demanded an equally sophisticated viewer. Accordingly, for those of you who demand the same quality in viewing as in acquisition, we designed a line of stereoscopic viewers that use high-end lenses to create the possible presentation of your work ever available. There are several models/versions we're making available. Note that due to a complex supply chain of third-party parts, there's no guarantee that these will be available in the future (though we will try).

Here are the options:

Mercury Immersive Parlorscope

This is our standard viewer, which uses high-quality glass optics and a dual-format system that accepts both medium format slides (the most spectacular way to view 3D photographs) and Sony 4k screens (in the form of Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperial XZ Premium, or Xperia 1 series phones, not included) for digital viewing. It incorporates a high-CRI (color rendering index, a measurement of color accuracy) backlight for your stereo slides, and a specially programmed two-key keyboard to control digital slideshows. Lenses are focus and IPD adjustable and a comfortable VR headset front-end is incorporated for comfort and aesthetics. The viewer is mountable on a tripod. Its slide backlight requires a USB power connection (adapter, computer, power bank, etc.). Slide trays are available for standard cardboard slides (default), 3D World plastic slides, and other formats on request. In order to display digital images in 4K resolution, you will need an Xperia Z5 Premium or Xperia 1 series phone. These can be purchased used for a very reasonable price. The Immersive 3D Viewer comes with the Z5 Premium tray by default; let us know if you want the 1-series tray instead. This viewer is formulated to make you feel as if you're “inside” the photograph and is especially dramatic for analog slides. The extreme corners of some images may not be visible.

Our slides-only version of this viewer (no phone support) has cleaner lines (no side opening for phone tray) and a technically optimized slide tray path.

Mercury Deluxe Parlorscope

This viewer utilizes 75mm lenses instead of the Immersive Parlorscope's 60mm lenses. As a result, your view will be slightly more removed, like vintage slide viewers. Some users prefer this more clinical experience, which better matches the focal length of the human eye and thus gives you the most “natural” view. Both viewer models use high-end glass optics, but the Deluxe Parlorscope additionally makes use of oversized (2” diameter) lenses. This accommodates a wider range of inter-pupillary distances, so if your eyes are unique, this viewer is recommended. It is compatible with all of the same slide formats (and in fact uses the same trays) as the Immersive viewer. When it comes to digital screens, however, it is compatible only with the more advanced Xperia 1-series phones, not the older Xperia Z5 Premium and XZ Premium.

The higher cost of these very large lenses, combined with a more difficult production process, make this more expensive than the Immersive Parlorscope, but we are confident that this is the best medium format stereo viewer that has ever been manufactured. (We have side-by-side tested this against the Heydascope, a long-discontinued viewer that was considered to be the top of the line) and found that our optics produce even less chromatic aberration and linear distortion. The color fidelity of our backlight panel and exceptional ergonomics and adjustability make this best viewer available today or in the past.

Our slides-only version of this viewer (no phone support) has cleaner lines (no side opening for phone tray) and a technically optimized slide tray path.

Mercury Comfort Viewer

The Comfort Viewer is an inexpensive, lightweight, available light viewer that dramatically lowers the cost of slide and digital viewing, while significantly improving the quality of "steal the light" viewers previously available. It utilizes high quality professional glass lenses (achromats) and features individual eye focusing and adjustable interpupillary distance. It comes in two versions: a slides-only version (streamlined for very smooth slide carrier insertion and removal) and a slides+digital version that can accept several Xperia 4k resolution Sony phones.

Unlike our Parlorscopes, this viewer utilizes a diffuser panel and makes use of external light sources to backlight your slides: lamps, overhead lights, or sunlight all work well. As a result, this viewer is significantly lighter and more compact. Optically, this viewer presents a narrower field of view than our Parlorscopes, which leads to some corner vignetting for larger slides. This leads to an immersive perspective enjoyed by many.

The slides option can take slides up to medium format size. This viewer is compatible with our full range of slide carriers, including standard cardboard MF3D slides, plastic 3D World slides, vintage glass formats, 35mm formats, etc.

With individual eye focus adjustment and IPD adjustment built in, along with high quality acromat lenses, a high quality MF3D slide viewer is now available even if you can't afford our Deluxe Parlorscope, or just want a very lightweight, portable viewer to carry with you to wow folks with your medium format slides!

Purchase

Our full line of viewers and accessories for them are available here.

Instructions

Instructions for all of our viewers can be found in Part IV and Part V of the Mercury Stereo User Guide.

Menonites in the totality of the 2024 eclipse, taken with Mercury Stereo 12