Alternatives to Hassleblad Xpan

<p>Really love the following pictures:<br>

http://www.christianbaron.com/<br>

I know that they are taken with a hassleblad xpan, however thats a bit out of my price range. So I am looking for an alternative camera that shoots the same dimensions. It does have to shoot normal 35mm, it can be a dedicated panoramic camera, even a compact with auto load. I know it’s unlikely to be of the same quality as the XPAN, after all you get what you pay for. I just what something in 35mm that shoots the same dimensions, as long as its not a lomography camera. </p>

 

<p>Some medium format cameras can take film backs designed for 35mm. e.g. the Bronica ETRS has two 35mm backs. One in normal format and one panoramic. Also the Mamiya 7 has a 35mm adaptor.<br />The Mamiya is probably in the same price bracket as an X-Pan but an ETRS is a lot cheaper. The panoramic 35mm backs don't appear for sale too often though.</p>

<p>Of course you could just crop to the dimensions you desire.</p>

<p>there's a cheap escape into panoramic via FSU camera Horizont<br>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_(camera)<br>

(beware of flare and check the light seals)</p>

<p>I have the 35W back for the Bronica ETR series cameras. It gives you a 24 X 54mm image. If you use a panoramic head on your tripod and do some overlapping you can then scan the negatives and stitch them together at the correct intervals. I would like to try my 35W back with a 40. So far I have used it mostly with a 50. </p>

<p>I take it that the 35mm cheap compacts Ive seen on ebay only shoot on one frame, where as the horizon and XPAN shoot across two frames.</p>

<p>Steve, keep in mind that you'd have to deal with that non-standard frame<br>

so you are in with a medium-format enlarger too<br>

or scanning non-stardard - cheap flatbeds with low quality or special frame for dedicated scanner</p>

<p>I think Ian has hit on the downside of this format. The difficulty in scanning and printing such long negatives. Otherwise, just buy a 2x3 Crown Graphic, or just an old 120 folder, and mask off the back to get pan shots. It should deliver higher quality due to the bigger neg.</p>

<p>Your assessment of the other 35mm point and shoots is correct: they all shoot a cropped normal 35mm frame.<br>

So you will have some quality issues with the grain of the film being more apparent than what you would get from an X-Pan.<br>

Also, the lenses are just not up to snuff. <br>

I have looked into this quite a bit. And there is a huge gap between "point and shoot panorama" and good quality panorama results. <br>

For the best price/performance, a SLR with a 28mm lens is pretty hard to beat. If you can find a good price on a 17mm or 20mm lens, that will give you close to the same angle of view as the Xpan.<br>

The next step up would be a swing-lens panoramic camera from horizon/horizont. I've never used one of these but they will yeild the full panorama negative.</p>

 

<p>With cheap autofocus cameras, you would think it would be easy to make a compact panorama camera using the full 24mm of the film. But alas it never happened.</p>