Though stereo still photography had been practiced since the era of the daguerreotype, and stereoscopic motion pictures successfully demonstrated in 1915, the 1947 introduction of the Stereo Realist 35mm stereo camera in the United States created an interest in 3-D still photography among amateurs. When loaded with Kodachrome, creating stereoscopic images in full color was easier than ever. Other camera manufacturers followed suit with their own versions in various still-camera film formats. Since 1938, Europe already had a similar camera in the Verascope f40 – produced by the French company Jules Richard. 

In late 1951, 3-D came to the 16mm home movie maker with the announcement of the Nord 3-D “converter”, which could be used with a wide variety of 16mm movie cameras. A few months later, in the spring of 1952, Kern-Paillard introduced its own “Bolex Stereo” attachment. As with the Nord unit, it was a single-strip stereoscopic system, recording both left and right stereo images within a single 16mm frame, but was designed specifically for the Bolex camera, allowing for a greater degree of precision. 

The initial system, intended for direct projection of the camera original on reversal film stock, included camera and projector lenses with the necessary adapters for mounting, and was priced at US$397.50. Polarized viewing goggles and aluminized projection screens were available for purchase separately. Later, Bolex introduced a close-up attachment featuring two sets of prisms in a circular housing, allowing them to be rotated into position in front of the stereo lens pair for two levels of closer convergence. The standard Bolex Stereo camera lens created a “stereo window” at 10 ft (3m) from the camera. Objects shot closer than this would appear in front of the screen and anything beyond that distance would appear behind the screen. When fitted with the close-up attachment, the standard setting was maintained by rotating the wheel inside the circular housing to expose two open apertures. Continued rotation of the wheel would place into position two sets of prisms which adjusted the convergence to effectively move the stereo window to two preset distances of 40 in and 24 in (0.25m & 0.61m) from the camera, allowing closer subjects to be framed properly while still appearing to float in front of the screen. With the open apertures and two sets of prisms, the close-up attachment provided only three distinct degrees of convergence, but in a far simpler accessory than one that would offer continuous adjustment.

In spite of the small format, the system was used in several professional capacities. In February 1953, a program entitled Triorama, comprising four short films photographed in Bolex Stereo, was presented publicly at the Rialto Theater in New York City. The great enlargement of the narrow projected image produced images which suffered by comparison to dual-strip 35mm 3-D and generated only a muted reaction. The system was used for various industrial and promotional films, however the primary use for the system was by advanced amateurs, with surviving examples relatively rare. The optics of the stereo attachment produced sharp images, and when filming was done with care to compose with depth in mind and within the parameters of the system, the 3-D was very effective.