Question 1

Hi Golan and Pablo, I'm in Australia.  When will international shipping be available. Naturally, I can't order until then, and you'll probs be out of

Accepted Answer

We have been extremely frustrated with Amazon's opaque rules about international shipping. We have been furiously working to find a stopgap. But in the short term, options are limited, like using a "forwarding service." Longer term (after the holidays), we will likely work on a totally revamped ordering system, possibly from our own site, which will truly be global. So please forgive the inconvenience; a little more patience and you can order one soon.

Question 2

Why does my image always appear upside down?

Accepted Answer

It sounds like you're misaligned. Don't look through the prism; instead, look down past the edge of the prism. You should be looking at your real hand, and a ghost image of your subject. The prism shield should be oriented at precisely 45º to the table; if it's even 10 degrees off, your subject will be upside-down or squashed. For best results, position your eye half an inch (1cm) away from the prism's edge.

Question 3

What is the optimum portrait size. Does the viewer  and prism need to be bigger to get something bigger than 9x12?

Accepted Answer

Authentic camera lucidas (like the NeoLucida) are known for producing fairly small portraits, such as would fit on the page of a sketchbook. That said, if you want to produce a larger image, then (1) move closer to your portrait subject, and (2) extend the eyepiece further away from your drawing surface. The distance between your eye and your pencil-point is the main limit on the size of your drawings. Interestingly, a larger prism wouldn't help -- it just increases the likelihood of errors in your drawing. In fact, the NeoLucida is truly ideal for producing miniatures. Great masters like Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres used this small size to great effect. In his book "Secret Knowledge", David Hockney expresses his astonishment at the unnaturally small size of Ingres' portraits, which seemed almost magical as a result -- as if they were drawn by elves.

Question 4

Is this a good buy

Accepted Answer

I bought two of them about a year ago and I still have one in the box. It works but isn't easy to use. We had half a dozen people try it out and no one had good results. The very best were just okay. Save your money or buy an antique camera lucida on eBay.

Package Dimensions L x W x H	28.9 x 16.9 x 3 centimetres
Package Weight	0.4 Kilograms
Product Dimensions L x W x H	29.8 x 17.1 x 2.5 centimetres
Item Weight	0.44 Pounds
Brand	NeoLucida
Colour	black
Part number	unknown
Water Resistance Level	Not Water Resistant
Guaranteed software updates until	unknown

NeoLucida: The 21st Century Camera Lucida

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