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Film and Video, News
Film and Video, News Free 3D Glasses Are Here, and actually quite good
Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 5:02PM 
Just a quick reminder to pick up your 3D "Grammy" glasses this week at Target.
The Michael Jackson-branded glasses come in sheets of four and can be found on a DVD end-cap near Electronics. Remember when folding: The red lens goes over the left eye!
So how do these cheap, paper freebies perform? In a word, outstanding!
I put them up against my usual Rainbow Symphony cardstock glasses (40 cent each, minimum order of 50), and all of the images I looked at had less ghosting (the red banding that appears on contrasty edges) AND deeper, richer black levels. I did not perceive any difference in brightness.
I knew they would be free, but I didn't know they would be this good.
Free 3D Glasses will be available at Target stores until Jan. 31, or while supplies last. The Grammy Awards air Jan. 31 on CBS at 8 p.m. EST.
Reader Comments (4)
Patrick, I love your new blog. Keep it up! I suspect these are from American Paper Optics. My experience is that they are far better quality than the ones from Rainbow Symphony. http://www.3dglassesonline.com/
Thanks very much! And you're right - the glasses have "Mfg. by American Paper Optics, LLC" printed on the side.
Looks like I know where my next batch of glasses is coming from!
When I picked up some of the free glasses, I was a little surprised when I noticed the Red and Cyan filters are reversed from what we consider normal. The Red filter was for the right eye instead of the left. I've seen this before however, when related to a promo of some kind.
To use the glasses for other than the Michael Jackson Grammy spotlight, simply bend them the opposite way, so that the text faces inward, and they can then be used for your normal Red/Cyan anaglyphs with the Red filter over the left eye. The paper construction works to our advantage in this case.
Good news relating to the comment above. The reversed lenses were not the norm. Apparently a few sheets were made with the lenses in the reverse order, but the other sheets I got were made correctly. Either way, it's good to know we can make them work.