Thursday, May 20, 2010

Handmade 24x72mm flatback panoramic camera



This is yet another fine example of craftsmanship by the same person from Japan who made the 24x108 panoramic and the 6x6 fisheye.

The camera is made of two fused bodies of the Konica C35 camera and the aspect ratio is 1:3 , thereby producing a 24x72 sized negative. The lens is a 47mm f/5.6 Schneider large format lens.

For more details of the camera visit http://xxhandmade.exblog.jp/3298472

Thanks to the camera maker for allowing me to use the pics.

A 6x6 handmade fisheye camera


Though the Goody3 is not a panoramic camera per se, nevertheless it has an ultrawide angular coverage. Handmade by the same person who also constructed the 24x108 and 24x72 panoramic camera,this fisheye camera takes 6x6 exposures on rollfilm.

The camera has a very elegant design and finish.

For more details of the camera visit http://xxhandmade.exblog.jp/3298472/

Thanks to the camera maker for allowing me to use the pics.

A 24x108 mm handmade panoramic camera


So far aspect ratio's are concerned 1:4 flatback panoramic cameras are quite rare. In fact I can't remember any such factory made camera that utilizes 35 mm film. For medium format however a couple of models like the Japanese Art Panorama and Chinese Fotoman 6x24 do exist.

I recently found out some great handmade panoramic and wide angle cameras hand fabricated by an able camera maker from Japan.

The S. Panaragon camera is made from three fused bodies of 35mm cameras. The lens is a large format 65mm f/5.6 which produces  24X108 sized negatives !!!


I thank the camera maker for allowing me to use the pics. 

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

History of the 'Enhancing' filter

I quite often use the 'redhancer' filter. In fact it is my second most used filter after the polarizer. I own a Cokin P sized one and another made by Marumi, Japan. I rediscovered this article written by the inventor of enhancing filter, Howard G Ross from Robert Monaghan's medium format site recently.

A very good page on filters exist in Bob's archived site. To visit that page click here.

It would be great if someone can provide me a picture of Ross' enhancing filter.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Koni Omega based panoramic camera by Peter Lanczak


A creative design by Peter Lanczak, well known for his Exakta and Koni camera web resources. This medium format flatback panoramic camera uses two fused backs to yield 5 pictures from a 120 roll. The individual frame size is 58x143mm. The lens is a large format 150 mm. The original viewfinder was modified appropriately to be used with this camera.

For more details on this interesting camera visit http://www.peterlanczak.de/koni_panorama.htm

Peter also maintains a huge information repository on other cameras as well. Do visit http://www.peterlanczak.de/index.htm to know more about it.

I thank Mr. Lanczak for allowing me to use the pictures of this panoramic camera.