Older Horizont or Newer Horizon 202?

[todd_k.]

Here is the deal. I am going on a nice long cross-country summer

trip and I would really like to take a real panoramic camera with

me. Currently I have two camera systems Minolta X series, and a

couple of Mamiya TLRs. My current systems are great for the type of

work that I do but I prefer the long look of the panoramic format for

scenic photography. A newish Horizon 202 is the most that I could

afford. There is a considerable amount of info regarding the use and

the performance of the Horizon 202, but very few Horizont (the old

model that was released in the mid 60s) users have taken the time to

comment on the durability and image quality of the camera especially

when compared to the 202. Does any one have experience with the

Horizent, or the Horizon? Oh yeah, I know about the general quality

control problems the plague Russian cameras, so we can skip the "save

up for an X-Pan" or "use what you have" comments from those of you

who have no experience with these cameras (Of course if you have had

one of these and it was a pile of crap, go ahead and share). Thanks,

Todd K.

[james_wheeler1]

Todd,

 

My wife and I have several Horizonts and one Horizon 202. Image quality has always been good with both models. We have had one Horizont since the late 1970s and still use it. Maybe we have been lucky in the lottery, but quality has not been an issue.

 

The only problem has been with a Horizont we bought used from China and repair can be a problem. However, we live in the west desert of Utah and a panoramic camera is the only film camera that can capture some of the beauty we see every day. Thus, the arsenal of Horizonts and the Horizon.

 

Good luck in your quest.

 

Jim in Skull Valley

[jorn ake]

I have shot plenty with the old Horizont - the chrome and black version with the left-side viewfinder that falls out if you aren't careful. It worked fine and took lovely photographs. Once a roll I would get some banding, but that was usually when I wasn't paying attention to where the sun was in relation to the rotation of the lens. I don't know whether there is truly a quality difference between the Horizont and the Horizon, but I trusted the metal camera more just because it was metal. It seemed very durable and solid. And the viewfinder is metal and glass - very clear. I probably had a good one, but I know other people who had a good one too, so perhaps that is not such a rare occurance. I guess when they are bad, they are so bad, people swear never again and tell others. With any of this type of panoramic camera - Wideluxes & Noblexes incl'd. - there are a lot of gears, etc. to go bad, so you need to buy it someplace you can return it if it craps out on you. Or buy one cheaply enough that if it self-destructs, you won't feel so badly. I bought mine for $40 in Prague and sold it for the same price. No complaints.

[jorn ake]

The other thing that occurs to me on these cameras, is that the ones you see for sale by individuals may be more likely to be the ones that people have given up on due to problems than merely for sale due to lack of use or other reasons. Not sure how you solve that, except by buying from a place that gives you 10 or so days to shoot the heck out of it and see what happens.

[michael_przewrocki1]

both camera are metal. do you think the russians make plastic cameras?

only the cover of 202 and newer horizons are plastic.

go to my forum for more details about horizons. here you get all informations endless amounts. so take your time and check.

i started the forum because i had endless amount of problems with horizont(light-leak, banding, film-transport) and horizon 202 and even s3-pro. new cameras out- newest s3-pro has better lens-position(to get better depth-of field). since almost everything is told in the forum i cannot restart discussion.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/pancams/start