blake_andrews

Thanks for the helpful advice. I tried rewinding the crank 20 times and that seems to have

worked for now. When I get the right tools I will try pulling off the knob to tighten the

washers.

I'm having a problem with my M6 and am curious if anyone else has encountered something similar. I've

had the camera a while and shot hundreds of rolls with no problems. But last week the camera stopped

advancing midroll. The advance lever feels as if it is pulling against tension as if it's at the end of the roll,

but instead it's in the middle. I can rewind the film (with tension initially) and have wasted several rolls

experimenting with the advance and rewind, with similar results. The film always gets stuck mid-roll. I've

taken the baseplate off midroll and it seems to be loaded and spooling properly, and before this latest

problem I ran many rolls through the camera with no issue. Before I send it off for repair, does anyone

have any experience with this problem?

Maybe you've already bought the camera. In any case, my two cents:

Your question, and most of the responses to it, have lumped medium format, 35 mm, and swing lens together under one label: panoramic. In fact, there is really no comparison between any fixed lens camera and any swing lens camera. Yes, they each produce a negative with an aspect ratio greater than 1:2, but beyond that it�s comparing apples and oranges. Whereas a fixed lens panoramic allows an extension of the normal field of view, a swing lens allows a totally new view of the world.

The three swing lens cameras on the market --Horizon, Widelux, Noblex � produce a perspective of roughly 130 to 140 degrees. The widest perspective of any fixed lens panoramic is around 90 degrees. (Maybe the Xpan 30 mm is wider but it�s also $3000). More importantly, the nature of the swing lens process produces a totally unique �some might call it warped�perspective which is totally unlike anything a fixed lens can offer. Straight lines bend, especially toward the edges. Only the center horizon remains straight, and this only if the camera is level.

In my view, all of the other �panoramic� formats �The Xpan, the 617s and 69s, Linhoff, Artpanorama, the cropped Mamiya 7, even the panoramic masking on some cheap 35 mms., etc. give similar results. Some negatives are larger or smaller or have varying aspect ratios, with corresponding graininess or sharpness. To me, this is all secondary. The true power of a photograph depends on the vision of the photographer, and there is nothing like a swing lens to expand your vision.

As with any camera (or any tool in general), what you should buy depends on what exactly you will use it for. If you plan to make photographs of landscapes and other distant scenes with a horizon line, a swing lens will force you to put the horizon in the exact center of the photo. To me, this is a limitation. So if you want to make nice gentle compositions like Everton or Meehan, a fixed lens will give you more options. I think this is why most panoramics come with a built in level, to encourage boring photography. If instead you want to shake things up, grab a swing lens and ignore the level. Tilt it front, back, to the side, explore. Check out Chris Rauschenberg�s book Haunts to see what I�m talking about. In addition, swinglens 35s are lighter and smaller than any of the other panoramics (except the Xpan), and can be handheld down to 1/15. So if you want a travel camera or like to go without a tripod, a swinglens may be better.

I don�t mean to say a swinglens is a do-everything camera. Clearly it serves a unique role, and is probably only useful as a second camera. But in that role, it�s worth considering. My worldview has been greatly enhanced and expanded since I began using a Noblex, more so than for any other camera. My photographs have become much more complex, imperfect, surprising, and fantastic than anything I ever achieved with medium format or 35 mm.