The Talking Viewmaster: Now With Sound!

[@budgiefriend]

Grossly underrated content.

[@jujenho]

I bought my View Master (model G) in Brazil in 1970. And within a few years collected about 30 envelopes, mostly touristic subjects. It gave me a huge satisfaction because I seemed to be in those places. Within a few years later they went out of fashion here and could not be found anywhere. I had no idea that there was a system of gadgets associated with the product. Your chanel is FANTASTIC, Gilles, I enjoy it very much. Keep up with new devices.

[@stevebailey325]

12:50 maybe to check the circuit on the flash? I have old flash units that have a test button on the flash itself but maybe they did it with that light attachment? But then again it seems like a long way to go to just test the battery and flash circuit. Great channel!

[@CanadianMacGyver]

That would be logical, but unfortunately I haven't yet found any company catalogues or other literature to confirm it.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

FWIW: My maternal grandmother had a reproduction handheld 3D viewer with stereo optic image cards. {I still have the viewer and image cards around my house somewhere.} Along with all the image cards it also came with an advertisement for ordering a small 3D camera using 110 film, that would allow you to make your own stereooptic images. This was all long before digital photography became available. I was thinking of ordering one of those cameras, but never got around to it...🙄

[@RambozoClown]

I suspect the lamp adapter was to act as a modeling light. A feature found in studio strobes that gives the photographer an idea of how the strobe will light the subject.

[@Great-Documentaries]

I had one of the original Talking Viewmasters in the early Super70s. I didn't mind the sound at all, because of course I had no other toy like it. There was also both a Talking Viewmaster Projector (not stereo) and a Viewmaster Stereo 3D Projector that required a special silver screen to work. Also, the Model D had real glass lenses that focused, which is the real reason why they were the best GAF/Sawyers Viewmasters (there was a third-party viewer made in Europe at the end of the 20th Century that had a higher magnification, but it is rare and expensive and unofficial. It's a shame whomever owns the rights to Viewmaster doesn't make a modern one with large digital screens and thousands of old images from the old scenic reels.

[@tomslastname5560]

We already have "modern viewmasters". They're called smartphones. This is probably why many people today probably wouldn't buy another handheld device that displays photos when their phone already does that plus a bunch more. It would sort of be like trying to sell a standalone portable MP3 player today, when a smartphone already does that.

[@randycampbell4196]

Might the flash bulb be a test lamp to check if your flash is working?

[@CanadianMacGyver]

That's what I'm thinking, but I haven't been able to find any catalogues or other literature to confirm it.

[@Echin0idea]

Do you know that it's an included, first party accessory? A flash unit test lamp seems like just the sort of thing that would be a no-name inexpensive gadget you could pick up at the camera store and that the original owner might have kept in the box with the camera. Could explain why there's no available documentation on it.

[@linomlugoc8632]

Hi The (Blue color plastic) Talking View Master with volume control identical to this one in beige color plastic you are showing us, has what you are looking for ... More Electronic Components in it ! 👍👍👍 I love them all ! Great toy ofthe 70s !

[@NOWThatsRichy]

I still have an old model G viewmaste,r but I never knew they did so many different accessories over the years!

[@mattwilliams3456]

You’ve found your calling and elevated it to an art form. Are there any items on your wishlist you’d like viewers to keep an eye out for?

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Thank you so much! And yes, there are a few items I've had difficulty getting my hands on: -Curta mechanical calculator (they go for $2,000+ on ebay; way outside my budget) -Wheatstone needle telegraph -Polaroid "Rainbow Ring" reflex gunsight -Vibroplex semi-automatic telegraph key -Telephone exchange stepping switch (to demonstrate how a rotary phone works) -Brachytherapy equipment (and turn-of-the-century Radium products) I'll let you know if I think of anything else!

[@CanadianMacGyver]

I actually just found a Curta for an amazing price! You can be sure I will be featuring it in an upcoming video :)

[@mattwilliams3456]

@@CanadianMacGyver awesome! I’m a gunsmith and dealer so I’ve had my historical associates on the lookout for the gunsight. Almost got lucky with a neighbor who restored a Cobra and in the process of getting parts and gear he’d gotten ahold of an XM58 gunners sight that was used on the first guided missile armament package on Hueys. The Army apparently raided the Navy’s supply closet because the right half of the sight is the right half of a pair of navy binoculars and the left half was a PORS. Unfortunately he’d traded it to another guy, who sold it to someone else. Might get lucky with someone at the Big Sandy machine gun shoot in October, so I’ll let you know.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

​​​@@CanadianMacGyver>>> Is the _"Vibroplex"_ a kind of telegraph lever switch that you move left or right, one direction for dots and the other direction for dashes? If so, sorry to say I DO NOT have one. However, a guy at a school I was attending in the early 80s had some older-ish radio gear, with a telegraph key like the one I described in the paragraph above. I did not know that much about amateur radio at the time, but I had never seen a telegraph key like that before.

[@MakeOrBreakSociety]

Really enjoying your videos! I love finding creators like you with large backlogs! It's nice to see that your channel has grown alot in the under a week that I've been subscribed!! Keep up the good work

[@notquitedone51]

It did sound like an old gramophone. It fit great with my Dracula discs.

[@MufasaTomato]

ViewMasters and Etch-a-sketches where the shiznit when I was a kid. Thanks for the reminder 👍🏽

[@philipvecchio3292]

The only thing I could think about the Flash Bulb replacement is if you're using Studio Lights and didn't want the flash to wash out the picture.

[@RegebroRepairs]

Damn a view master camera, I'd love that when I was a kid.

[@MichaelMares-zn8qk]

I think the mystery bulb allowed you to use the flash as an auxiliary slide viewer. Lay the slide on the glass, or is that plastic screen and hit the button.

[@fedepetit]

I used to have one as a kid !

[@petercarlisle2927]

I had no idea, how cool

[@olafzijnbuis]

At 12:37 Maybe it is intended as a quick and dirty battery check. If the light works the battery is still capable of igniting a flash bulb.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

I'm sure that's what it is, but as I have no hard sources I can only speculate.

[@DokterFil]

I wonder if the mystery light was used to attract the attention of babies or young children? The photographer would ask the subject to look for the light maybe?

[@tomslastname5560]

children's photographers usually use a squeaky toy or stuffed animal for that

[@kaitlyn__L]

Ah, that good old purely acoustic reproduction sound. My older sister had a doll with a pull-cord, and she sounded the same as that. Well, when I was very little she was a bit more intelligible. By the time I was 10 years old she sounded exactly like your demo. By the time I was 16 she just made low grumbles. I'm not sure if the stylus or the disc inside her wore out, or both.

[@inspiredfigmentsarchives]

Most likely the “O-Ring” or rubber drive belt that in essence drives the phonograph, counterweight drive to keep proper speed, and the wind up spring altogether. If that belt goes out or gets warped, it stops playing properly.

[@DavidSusiloUnscripted]

I had viewmaster with sound, it didn’t sound anywhere like those.

[@louiskrupp9906]

The mystery light bulb might have been a modelling lamp intended to give the photographer an idea of what the photo would look like. I don't know how well it would have worked; I would have expected a bulb bright enough to do the job to be too big and expensive to be practical.

[@razorcrest7679]

awesome

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

Is this what "leave you to your own device(s)" mean?!

[@ibrahimkocaalioglu]

light may trigger external flash.

[@olafzijnbuis]

At 11:49 you say between 30 and 50 FEET away. That must be 25 to 59 INCHES as seen on the attachment. But great video!

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Whoops! Thanks for the heads up; I'll add the correction to the description.

[@kaitlyn__L]

It's kind of ironic that you typo'd 59 instead of 50! :)

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

I think that's similar to my talking G.I.Joes.

[@jamesowens7148]

Why don't you buy a macro camera to show us the images in these devices?

[@2707gerald]

Great documentary, would you be interested in making one on the full manufacturing plan of the F105 Arrow, I am the custodian of those document up to Mark 5, some were use in the film The Arrow from Dan Aykroyd. I have is permission to use is Avro Arrow Logo. This is real, I have produce the plan for the government on the parliament hill a few years ago. Thanks

[@tomslastname5560]

maybe contact him directly, he might not go back to read comments under videos that were uploaded weeks before