My first screening of Avatar was in IMAX 3D, and it was great.  Yesterday, I caught Avatar in RealD 3D.

If you read my Avatar review, then you’ll see that I experienced some slight issues with out of focus objects in the foreground of a few scenes.  I wanted to compare this issue with 3D experience of RealD.

Most of the recent films that I’ve watched in 3D have been in RealD 3D, which have been very impressive for the most part.  I expected the RealD version of Avatar to outshine the IMAX 3D version; however, once I got settled in, I really couldn’t tell that much difference in the overall video and 3D quality.

I think that Avatar is slightly smoother in RealD, but not by much. In fact, I would recommend seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D as opposed to RealD.  The screen size makes a big difference in the viewing experience.  The top and bottom of the film screen were just too limiting after having seen it in IMAX 3D.

That’s not saying it was a bad experience in RealD 3D.  The 3D glasses were a world better in RealD 3D.  The special effects looked just as good in RealD, just not as big.  And that’s what makes IMAX 3D such an epic experience.

If you’re trying to decide which 3D version to see, my recommendation is the IMAX 3D version.