This afternoon I went to see my first 3D movie. I realise, of course, that I am way behind the rest of the world in this, but it just never really grabbed me before. I wasn't much interested.

To be honest, I'm still not that interested but I really wanted to see Prometheus this afternoon (review later) and the only showing I could make was a 3D showing.

I guess I was partly put off by the experience of 3D stuff from when I was a kid. Those terrible cardboard glasses with one red lens and one green lens were just a bit naff. It seems though, that 3D has moved on since the 1990s, unsurprisingly, and I have to say that I was really impressed today. I mean, it didn't completely revolutionise my cinema experience but it was pretty cool.

The whole 3D thing works by basically projecting two images taken of the same thing at the same time, but from very, very slightly different angles. As different as, say, looking at something with two eyes. It's the fact that we have two eyes which gives us depth perception and the real sensation that one thing is further away than another. If you close one eye, you can still see everything, and you know on a logical level that some things are further away, but without the ability to compare the two slightly different perspectives you can't really see it. So, 3D movies project two images and then uses the polarised glasses (with each lens tuned to convert each of the two projected streams into something our brains can digest) to make us think we're looking at something in real life rather than on a flat screen.

And, it works. The thing I found the most unusual - and cool - at first was the ability you have to focus your eyes on something in the foreground or something in the background. The thing you're not focused on takes on that split, translucent quality we all know so well from real life. Know what I mean? That thing where if you don't focus on something, it splits in to two images which you can sort of see through.

The slight problem is that sometimes you try to focus your eyes (and therefore align the images) on something that the camera doesn't actually have in focus. As a photographer I suspect that this is due to the fact that the lighting on set probably isn't good enough to have a high enough aperture setting to get everything in focus. But that's probably getting a bit technical. The point is that it's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Very good, in fact. 

3D makes you feel you are more a part of the action. It draws you in more and more, and that can only ever be a good thing. I could definitely live without 3D, but it's pretty cool!

The cinema I go to (Cineworld in Crawley) actually has an IMAX. I'd love to try that next.

Anyway, use the combox below and let us know your thoughts on 3D...