Panoramic Cameras

Are you considering a wide view for the Fall?

Panoramic camera advice: "A true panoramic camera records an image over more than one film frame, giving an image with elongated proportions. There are many specialist cameras to choose from with this unusual, but very useful, format and below are ones you can consider."

Here is an interesting report on an inexpensive model.

The Russian Horizon 202 is a fully mechanical 35 mm camera with a 28 mm (f2.8-f16) swing lens design covering 120° horizontally and 45° vertically.

It is manufactured by KMZ – Krasnogorsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant) – in Krasnogorsk. KMZ is also known for the Zenit and Zorki cameras and is the largest producer of photographic equipment in Russia and the former Soviet countries.

And for you DIY'ers out there...

Some years back, we published an article showing some panoramic pictures taken with a handmade panoramic camera. We also said that in time we would publish an article on the construction of this camera, but we were putting it off for several reasons, the main one being that building this camera is a demanding task and we wanted to publish some simpler articles first. Nevertheless, many readers continued to write to us asking when this article would be published, pressing us for its publication, reproaching us, even if amiably, because we hadn't done it yet. Well we could delay no longer so here it is. If the fabrication of this camera is too demanding, please forgive us and make note that we have also supplied some simpler methods for making panoramic pictures.

And one more... A decent roundup of articles.

Digital images can be readily stitched to make panoramas. Probably the best software available for this is the free Panorama Tools, and there are several Windows and Mac front ends to make this more user-friendly, including the free Hugin project.