Experiences with Art Panorama 6x17?

While doing a little equipment daydreaming (and drooling), I was wondering if forum users have had any hands-on experience with the Art Panorama 617. I like the fact that you can use your existing LF lenses (within a certain range) and that the camera body is considerably cheaper than a Linhof or Fuji. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, I have used one.

I hired one for a job so I only had it for about 8 hours.

It probably came with about a 90mm lens.

I used it to shoot images for a billboard. The sceen was a roadside

controlled fire backburn for a fire safety campaign.

From memory I think I used Velvia.

Unfortunatly I did not have time to practice with it, so the focusing

was a bit hit and miss (I was not supplied with a loupe) and it was

my first time using such a camera. There are no lens/film plane

movements.

Its quite a bulky camera.

Having now had experiance with my own LF camera (a Tachihara) I would

go for something with tilts & swings.

 

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Regards,

Phil

The only downfall of this camera is that although you can use your

own lenses, you have to fit them in a custom board, I think made by

Art Pan. So you can not interchange them between your LF cameras

and the Pan camera unless you change the board each time. A great

Pan camera would be one that accepts standardized boards such as

Linhof or Toyo.... Then for LF shooters all that is required is the

camera body!

Art Panorama has a 6x17 cm film holder that fits on any universal or

4x5 graflock back. The holder comes with an own viewing device, both

very solid buildt, strong and simple. I use one with a Horseman

45VH and I like it. A drawback is that the holder is extended about

43 mm, which make it difficult to use with shorter lenses

Why not just take a 50mm wide strip out of the middle of a standard

5x4 sheet? A bit of masking tape top and bottom of the GG, et voila,

panoramic back. You can even use a 5x4 enlarger with this

solution.<br>PS. I stole this idea off every 'panoramic' compact

camera and 'wide screen' television ever sold.

I have had an Art Panorama 6x17 for some 14 years now an it is a fine

camera. It is fitted with a Rodenstock 90 mm and a center filter and

the pictures are of at least the same quality as those from a Linhof

or a Fuji. Focusing is done with a distance scale and since the lens

was fitted by a good craftsman this turning knob scale is quite

accurate. The film transport is rater slow: you use a hole covered

with red filter to move to farme No 3,6,9 & 12. But there is a

ground glass included to focus on close things and do exact framing

but you have to do this without a film in the ca

You might start looking for used V-Pans instead of the Art Pan.

You can use lenses mounted on Technika boards and

depending on how you find one configured you can use lenses

from 72mm to 300mm or out to the 1200mm T-Nikkor if it has

the extra long bellows and extension rails. You also have lateral

and vertical shifts, axis tilt, and swing on the front standard. You

focus via a groundglass that is integrated with a custom made

Beattie Brightscreen®. The V-Pan is definitely a tripod camera

unless you rig your own lens cone and focusing helical. It uses a

removable film magazine and only takes 120 film.

 

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The V-Pan was only in production for about five years and hasn't

been built for about two or more years. There were about

100-150 made.

 

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I had mine for sale last month but decided to keep it for awhile

longer.

I have the Art Pan with a nikor 90mm SW @4.5 and it has been a great image capturing machine. I backpack it into extremely remote /repelling/climbing etc/places.Art is easier to use in bad weather than my view cameras,rain,snow,20F and below weather and in places where there is danger or little time to set up. In high key lighting situations I find a center filter will save a lot of printing issues.A two stop N.D.soft grad filter helps a lot.Enlargements have been made up to 20x60 so far and have held great detail and are very sharp. Walt Byrnes