wide angle/panoramic camera

I've been interested in ultra wide angle photography for a while.

Reading a post today on a Hassy 903SWC made me think.

 

What other models are out there beside this Hassy that offer

fair image quality.(quite pricey for me right now)

 

Would you reccomend a panoramic camera over this 6x6 format? (I'm not

more interested in either format...I'm looking for shortcomings and

pitfalls faced with either)

 

I also have a Rolleiflex...any reviews out there on it's 30mm lens?

Should I invest my money into this lens, rather than look for another

body and lens?

 

Thanks. Any reviews or insight would be much appreciated.

The 30mm Zeiss Distagon for the Hasselblad or rollei is a full

frame fisheye -- lots of barral distortion by design in order to give

you 180 from corner to opposite corner.<P>

You might want to consider one of the medium format Noblex

cameras. There is also the Fuji G617 camera.

The 30mm Zeiss Distagon for the Hasselblad or Rollei is a full

frame fisheye -- lots of barrell distortion by design in order to give

you 180 from corner to opposite corner. as irecall the side to

side coverage is about 117 degrees.<P>

You might want to consider one of the medium format Noblex

cameras. There is also the Fuji G617 camera.

A true panoramic camera will cover more horizontally than any 6x6, even if a 30mm lens is used on the 6x6. Actually, some panoramic cameras, like the Roundshot (not cheap), can cover a whole 360 degree circle. Think a bit about how much angular coverage you want, and your budget, and post again. The Noblex mentioned above, I think covers about 140 or 146 degrees, if I remember right. There's also the Widelux, although I think Noblex is the Nobler of the two.

Each type of camera has its advantages and limitations. One of

the nice things about the Hassy is that it's reasonably compact,

handy and quick handling for doing more than just panoramic

type ultrawide work. Some people prefer a standard Hasselblad

SLR with one of the wide-angle lenses, for the precise focusing

possible, but I like the more compact SuperWide form factor and

find it easy to scale focus accurately. Lacking a reflex mirror, it's

also easier to hold it steady on slow shutter speeds.

 

Considering formats other than 6x6 ... well, that depends

basically on what kind of photography you want to do. I happen to

like working in the square format, but I also find it convenient to

frame for both horizontal and vertical with it, minimal juggling

around with the camera. More oblong formats and large

cameras get unwieldy or are only really useful for horizontal

orientation.

 

That said, there are some super cameras out there, so the best

thing to do is to poke around a lot and think about what will

motivate YOUR photography best. I have four rolls of film

hanging in the drying cabinet right now ... one Minox, two 6x6 and

one half-frame 35 ... Good photography transcends format.

There is a ton of info on these cameras in the archives. I looked into getting a panoramic camera like the Noblex or Widelux, but decided to pass after reading many of the comments in the archives about mechanical problems, servicing woes, and the overall limitations involved with dedicated panorama cameras. They sure are capable of striking images though, in the hands of the right person in the right location at the right time.

Have a look at the site of www.bigcamera.com There a number of wide-angle cameras are mentioned. Want a very cheap solution? Try a Mamiya Press with the suberb 50mm lens. Let's you take pictures from 6x6 upto 6x9.

 

Good luck, Frank

Matt,

 

I you are interested in *real* panoramic formats, have a look at http://www.roundshot.ch

 

Great stuff!

Have you considered utilising a 5x4 camera with a roll film back?

A great combination would be the Ebony RSW45, a Horseman

6x12cms roll film back and either a 58/55 or 65mm lens. You

would also benefit from (albeit restricted) movements found on

this camera.

I looked around on www.roundshot.com could someone please tell me the princeple of these cameras?? Is any stitching involved in post? or does a 360 degree image appear on one frame. I'm a little confused here as to how they work.

 

thanks.

Hassy X-Pan by Fujinon is a nice hybrid, but there is the old 6x6 method of using a panorama mount on a tripod, making a few exposures and knitting them together - now using Photoshop of course. It works, but takes a little practice.

If you can find one, a great panoramic camera is the Brooks Veriwide 100 w/47mm f5.6 [not the older f/8] lens. Built primarily of Graflex parts, with Schneider lens and focusing ring, and a Mamiya-made back, it provides a solid 100 degree performance. I've loved mine for over 35 years. BTW, with an XL Polaroid back, the view is even wider, given the larger negative/print. I like being able to print the 6x9 negatives w/o having to upgrade to a larger enlarger, or weird negative size holder.

Matt,

 

The Roundshots rotate around their own axis during exposure, transporting film simultaneously, producing a panoramic picture on one single frame. With correct perspective, i.e. without the thing you get in the corners of images made using ultra wide angle lenses.

No stitching needed.

 

If you would like, you can let them go round as often as you think fit and capture multiple 360 degree images in one single frame. Until you run out of film of course. But that will not happen when you're using their digital version.

A relatively inexpensive, high quality, and versatile solution is a large format camera with a wide lens and a half-frame darkslide, giving you two 2x5" frames on a 4x5" sheet, and the same can be done on 5x7" or 8x10", depending on how much camera you want. Of course you could also shoot full frame and crop to the panoramic dimensions of your choice.

You really need to try both sorts of camera as they are very different in the result they will give you. A panoramic camera is very often only "wide" in the horizontal plane (yes I know you can turn them on their side..). I have been trying an Art Panorama 617

and find that the format really suits me. But it is a lot different from using a extreme wide angle on a 6 by 6 or even 6 by 9.

I also have a Mamayia Universal with a 50mm which gives me almost the same horizontal angle of view as the 90mm on the 617 but they are completely different to use. I find the perspective of the panorama camera to be more natural, more like what we see with both our eyes, but the Universal with the 50 gives a greater wide angle "effect".

Depends what you want to achive. If at all possible , rent and try both to find your favoutite.

Have posted some panoramic shots to www.wombat.to if you want to have a look.

There are lots of alternatives, both indicating the attraction of the topic and the shortcomings of all current designs. The Horseman 612Pro and the regular 612, the Linhof 6x12 and 617, and with less coverage the Alpa and the Fuji SWC690. The shorter ones such as the Fuji 690 or the Alpa are more suitable for reportage style photography, the big Linhofs and Fujis allow for the big 6x17 spread. The Horseman 612Pro and the Alpa have considerable shift capability, while there is some shift built into the 6x12 Linhof. The Hasselblad SWC and the Mamiya 7II 43mm lens are Biogon type "true" wideangle designs that do not require a center filter. Neither does the the Fuji 690. Nor do the classic 6x6 40mm retrofocus designs. Many of the other extreme wide angle cameras require center filters, which automatically knock 2 f-stops of your lens speed and another 2 or 3 for suitable working aperture. The Biogon designs and the retrofocus SLR type wideangles don't need one but usually don't allow any kind of shift at all. Which limits handholdability to a certain degree. None of them probably ideal, all of them capable of producing remarkable images and most likely worth while your money - if you can afford them. Apart from the Fuji SWC, you can easily spend 4-8K on any of them. And then, of course, there are the Seitz roundshots, the Plaubels, and the Brooks, and others mentioned above.

It was the 903 that gave me wide-angle fever. Given its ludicrously high price, I looked around for a while and ended up with a Brooks Veriwide, which I love to death. Usually available, including right now, from the auction-site-that-may-not-be-named, in the $800-1200 range. To my eye the quality is comparable to the 903, plus you get a 6x10 neg instead of 6x6. It's kind of silly to go wide angle and then be restricted to a square image, no?

 

For super-ultra-megawide, go with a pinhole. It's the only way to get an effective focal length of 25mm on 4x5, and with zero linear distortion. Plus of course the infinite depth of field, from one inch to one mile. Are the images always fuzzy? You decide:

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/721544

 

 

CXC

"I also have a Rolleiflex...any reviews out there on it's 30mm

lens? Should I invest my money into this lens, rather than look

for another body and lens? "

 

There pros and cons to both dedicated panorama camera and

to using regular cameras and sticthing multiple shots. FWIW, i

have shot tests of a 360-degree pano using the 30mm fisheye

on a 6008i, and stitching it using Helmut Dersch's PanoTools

software. If you have a lot of time to tackle the steep learning

curve, the result is panos with no fisheye distortion -- the

software proceedure removes it. Of course, you get the normal

distortion inherent in panos. But with the 30mm, what you get is

a very wide _vertical_ angle of view. More than a camera like the

Noblex. That means you can get closer to your subject and

include more of the foreground. Gives the pano a greater feeling

of depth and immersion. This would not be relevant to smeone

who primarily wants to shoot normal distance scenes..

 

The lens itself is very sharp and tremendously corrected for flare.

You can have the sun in the frame with acceptable flare.

 

Of course, stitching multiple 6x6 shots is a more complicated

approach to pano photography. You gotta like putzing on

computers.