My Affinity For Panorama

Recently I got hooked on panoramic photography again. I was searching my stuff on a bookshelf and found a photography book on panorama, and it just struck me that I once did a roll of panorama photos back in 2006. Back then, I got the chance to borrow a classic HORIZONT panoramic camera from a friend of mine. It was certainly fun taking photos with it but one main problem with this old Russian-made camera is light leakage, otherwise mechanically it functions well.

So here's one best shot and my favorite shot, out of that roll of FujiFilm Superia 200 I took. I had posted the color version before.

Old and New Laughing Buddha

I recalled I bought a 35mm point-n-shoot panoramic film camera, Vivitar PN2011, shown below.

Well, in fact, it's not really a 100% panoramic camera. It's made of plastic and serves more like a toy camera for a child. Basically, it has this quick switch that enables the camera user to switch from panoramic to normal standard picture-taking mode. Easy to operate and focus-free, with a fixated mechanical shutter speed of 1/125 second and a 28mm wide lens.

As you switch to panoramic mode, there's this curtain inside the camera that covers the top and bottom portions of the film, creating this so-called wide-screen format, as that of the movie film ratio aspect 16:9 format. As the shutter releases, the film is exposed just 13 x 36 mm on the center portion. Here are a few photos I took with this toy camera.

Racial Harmony

On A Road Trip

On Vesak Day

I want to get my hands on a swing lens panoramic camera again. I'm planning on getting a brand new Horizon Perfekt, which is the ideal panoramic camera for me. As a new and improved model to its predecessor, it has a wide range of shutter speed between 1/500 second to 1/2 second and aperture range of f/2.8 to f/16, enables the camera to be used in a variety of lighting conditions, even at night.

The camera's rotating lens achieves effective field angles of 120° horizontally and 45° vertically, which is the same as our human eyes view angle. With its lens focus length at 28 mm wide and its lens rotation, the images created are bound to be distorted, which personally I think, adds up to the creative process.

OK time to do some online shopping. Happy weekend!