Horizon 202

Hi,

I'm planning to buy a Horizon 202 and I want to know if any of you has already

tried it nor held it in your hands... Is it too much toy camera for the price or

does it really worth 250$... thanks

Marc-Andre Dumas

I had one about 12 years ago. It was well-built, but I found I did not use it enough to justify carrying it, and so sold it.

I've got a fairly new one purchased about two years ago. The shutter speed selection is

some what limited but usable and the lens is a little better than fair compared to the

Nikkor wide angles I use for 'normal' stuff. For $250 it's an interestingly useful toy.

I have one. It's a swing-lens panoramic. There are those who would disagree, but my particular example at least is well made, works well, and gives me very good pictures. I've had it for about 6 years now... haven't used it a lot, but it has been very reliable.

 

The quirk of a swing-lens panoramic is that it has to be level, or the horizon bends like a fisheye view.

 

I've had some trouble getting photo processors to properly print the image -it's much wider than the standard 35mm frame. Many shops will tell you that they can print panoramic... not realizing that you're talking about a *real* panoramic, not the gimmicky bogus crop-the-top-and-bottom "panoramic" image you get from pseudo panoramic cameras.

 

But if you scan your negatives, it becomes a non-issue.

"if you scan your negatives, it becomes a non-issue"

 

Except that you need a medium format scanner for convenience. Sure, it is possible to stitch together two halves scanned with small format scanner but this becomes tedious over time.

 

The Horizon is not a toy and well worth the money for occasional use when compared with Noblex, the only real alternative. Swing lens cameras have their quirks but they are the same for all, and the Horizon cannot be blamed for that (eg. limited shutter speed range, need to keep the camera level, difficult film loading, etc.). Lens quality for all swing lens cameras is generally very good because only the centre portion of the lens is used.

Let us not forget the Widepan pro 2 140. A really nice swing lens that gives 140 degrees picture. Look at www.widepan.com for details.

They also make a really nice looking flat field I thing its a 617 format.

I have certainly not forgotten the Widepan. But that is a medium format (or large format, depending on how you see it) camera and costs at least three times what the Horizon costs, even if you buy it directly from the factory in China, as I did.