A Superb Book on Panoramic Cameras by Brian Polden

During a recent conversation with Garry Alexander about the Electropan Panoramic camera, he recommended an extraordinary book on panoramic cameras. Intrigued, I immediately ordered it from a UK-based vendor. I’m delighted to report that it’s a truly remarkable resource—easily the best, most comprehensive book on this subject that I’ve encountered so far.

At around 550 pages, this hefty volume delves deep into the history and technology of panoramic cameras, from photography’s earliest days to the present. It’s packed with photographs, cutaway diagrams, and an impressive wealth of well-researched details on countless panoramic camera models. For anyone who’s serious about panoramic photography, this book by Brian Polden is absolutely essential. We owe him our thanks for creating such a valuable contribution to the community.

Because the book is quite extensive, I anticipate needing at least a month to go through it thoroughly. Once I’ve done so, I’ll be writing a comprehensive review on it.


Meanwhile, I want to acknowledge Garry Alexander for alerting me to this gem. Garry maintains an excellent website dedicated to panoramic cameras (among other interesting cameras), and he’s also deeply involved in mechanical automata, another topic that fascinates me. If you share a love for mechanical marvels like I do, I highly recommend visiting Cabaret Mechanical Theatre to explore more of Garry’s interests.


The book was published in 2019 and there are only a few resources discussing it. You can have look at the table of contents from the Publisher's site. 

A glimpse on Seitz's Roundshot series of pano cameras as mentioned in this book can be found from Seitz's web page


I purchased my copy from PostScript in the UK, and their service was commendably quick, delivering the book across the Atlantic. I’m very pleased with their professionalism and would highly recommend them.

A rare Find: The Electropan Panoramic camera

My first encounter with this intriguing camera was in Joseph Meehan's authoritative book on panoramic photography, where it was briefly mentioned under the category of swing-lens panoramic cameras. At that time, my curiosity was piqued, but my initial internet searches yielded no results.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. While revisiting Meehan's book, I was reminded of this elusive camera. A quick online search this time bore fruit—finally, a clue! It turned out the camera was sold on eBay back in March 2024. From what I’ve gathered, it’s a motor-driven swing-lens panoramic camera, reminiscent of the iconic Noblex models.

Details about this camera remain scarce, If you, dear readers, have any information, photographs, or insights about this camera, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

You can find a picture and a few more details about this camera on this linked page.

As I was writing this blog post, a little bit more delving into the matter revealed more information on this camera. It appears that Electropan was built by Kornelius Scorle, some old pics of him and his cameras appeared in the August issue of IAPP magazine which can be found here.

Looks like Mr. Schorle is still very much into panoramic photography as this link points to his recent works.

P.S: During the holiday season I'll be posting on some more panoramic cameras , equipments etc. 

DIY camera articles by Mike Rignall

If you've  browsed the website http://www.glascope.com/ , which  I mentioned in my previous post, then you might have found these DIY  articles  already.

To keep the matter short,  the website,  http://www.glascope.com/ which is a great source of information on stereo and panoramic photography, has a collection of several articles on DIY cameras. Most of these are authored by Mike Rignall which appeared in the British magazine "Amateur Photographer".

Follow the link to get the  full collection of these articles.

I've covered some of Mike Rignall's cameras in my blog earlier. Search for "Wideboy panoramic camera" in google and hopefully you'll come up with many instances of Mike's handmade cameras. Check some of Steve Cox's albums in Flickr too.

I thank Mr. Peter of  http://www.glascope.com/ for kindly allowing me to use these pictures. He can also be found at the following ebay store.

The Japanese Handmade Camera Club : The league of extraordinary ladies and gentlemen

 I first heard about the Japanese Handmade Camera Club from a newsletter of Photographic History Society of Canada (PHSC).

This club is based at Tokyo and the members are accomplished camera makers who have fabricated extremely unusual and  novel cameras. In one of my earlier posts I've mentioned cameras made by Kensuke Hijikata of "Kentax" fame. Mr. Kensuke is one notable members of this club.

Mr. Sam Isamu Mabuchi of Japan Handmade Camera Club  compiled data on 53 cameras which were part of the exhibit at Tokyo and made it available as a slide show at   PHSC's website. There  were  so many handmade  panoramics, large formats, 6x9s and other novel cameras. I strongly recommend that you have a look at them. 

You can access the slide show  of these 53 cameras HERE. 

Later on, I found a video of the same camera club where members displaying and discussing their cameras. Note the panoramics specially. 

For the camera at 2:04 in the video, that tall, white, lighthouse shaped camera is a rotational panoramic made from a Pentax Auto 110  by Hijikata Kensuke. A report on that camera was published in Popular Photography many years ago. I wish to write about it and some other Japanese handmade cameras once I'm through with the copyrights.

The Wideboy Panoramic Camera-II

 Many years ago I wrote about the Wideboy Panoramic camera in my blog. Wideboy and other panoramic cameras were made by Horsley Cameras of UK. My old blog post can be found here.  Many of the links in that old post went defunct over the years however certain information can still be retrieved from the archived websites. I've made an earlier post on how to fetch archived data from dead websites.

A couple of weeks ago I found an Wideboy Mark III being sold on Ebay, which rekindled my interest in that camera.

Wideboy is a swing lens medium format panoramic camera. A simple gadget  that has to be hand cranked to take the picture. Being a simple design it would very easy for the initiated to study the general principles of rotational panoramic cameras and improve it if necessary.

I'm not sure what kind of lens this particular version used. One of the models used an enlarger lens

I thank  a lot the Ebay seller "Green Mountain Camera" who sold this particular item and allowed me to use these pictures. The weblink to this Ebay seller is  http://www.ebay.com/usr/gmcamera

Check my old post on Wideboy/Horsley Cameras for some more information particularly on Mike Rignall who designed these cameras. Some extra information can still be found  from
http://mrmikerignall.wixsite.com/diy-cameras


You can learn more on the construction details of Wideboy from this article which got published in the November issue of Amataeur Photography magazine in 2014


An operating manual for the Wideboy Camera( and other Horsley/Mike Rignall made cameras ) can be downladed from here.

The Scovill Panoramic Camera

During a  recent visit to PHSNE Photographica show I picked up a  few old issues of "The Photographist" magazine. This was the journal of the western phototographic collectors association and each issue is a gold mine of information on camera and accessories of the yesteryear.

 One of the magazines which I picked up had a very detailed account on the Scovill Panoramic Camera written by Mike Kessler.

The Scovill pano camera was made in USA by the Scovill and Adams Co. in New York. The patent for the camera was granted to Mr. Mathias Flammang, an employee at Scovill.

I hope you'll enjoy reading about this camera and please provide me information if any  you seem relevant to this or other related  cameras.  

Handmade cameras by Kensuke Hijikata

Somedays ago while hunting for handmade panoramic cameras in the internet I came across this interesting post in photo.net . The post mentions a Japanese photographer and cameramaker who built a 24x72 panoramic camera made out of two fused bodies of  Konica 35 rangefinder, and which was featured in the March 1998 issue of Popular Photography magazine.

The post didn't mention about the cameramaker but I was able to get the copy of the magazine from my local library and found the cameramaker to be Kensuke Hijikata.

Kensuke Hijikata is a Tokyo based professional photographer/cameramaker who have fabricated more than 100 cameras, including a 4x5 TLR. He also established a handmare camera club which has grown up to 60 members. At the time of reporting he was making 4-5 cameras per year.

Pictures of four of his handmade cameras (along with pictures taken by them) were presented  in the Pop Photo article, including the 24x72 Konica based panoramic. The other cameras were a 6x7 with 80mm Schneider Xenar with a movable groundglass finder,an interchangable lens double railed 6x9 and another interchangable lens close focusing 6x9 technical camera. He named his brand of cameras as 'Kentax'.

The panoramic camera Kentax 2472 was equiped with a helicoid mounted 47mm Super Angulon. He also made his own viewfinder.

I was not able to find much information about Kensuke Hijikata over the internet, except for this site which is in Korean and mentions some of the cameras made by the Handmade Camera Club members. Use a suitable google translator to decipher it if necessary. It mentions about a very uncommon 110 film based panoramic camera( the only other subminiature format panoramic camera I know is the Viscawide)

I found another link that tells about  two mirror based pano cameras he designed which can use 4x5 or medium format film. Thanks to the original poster in the Yahoo Cameramakers Group.

I'll try to post the pictures of the cameras mentioned once I'm through with the copyright issues.

The Lipari-Rama panoramic camera - II

Here go some more details of the Lipari-rama camera, particulary the parts involved in the rotaion. The previous  post detailing the camera body can be found here.

To see some fascinating panoramas taken by this camera visit Randy's Flickr page

I thank Randy for providing me the pictures along with their descriptions. Please note that the copyright for the pictures belong to him and you may not use them without his permission.

The Lipari-Rama panoramic camera - I

I first read about this camera in  Joseph Meehans book on panoramic photography. For long, I searched for this camera in the internet but never found any good closeup picture of the same.

Some time ago, I found quite a few pictures taken by this camera in Flickr. Upon request, the owner of this camera, Mr. Randy,  promptly sent me the pictures of this camera which he owns since 1991.

 

The Lipari-rama  was handmade by Jim Lipari of Omaha, NE. He was a renowned authority on Cirkut panoramic cameras. Google his name for more information.

This camera is a rotational panoramic camera, build on the body of a Nikon film SLR. Other camera brands too were used so far as I know. Like most other rotational cameras, a small battery operated motor rotates the camera as well as continuously draws the film. The exposure is made through a very narrow slit on the plane of the shutter curtain and with the mirror raised. The exposure is altered through controlling the rotation speed, which is in turn, a function of the applied voltage (see the pictures).

I just came across some more information on Jim Lipari along with a photograph of him with his Lipari-Rama camera ,in an old issue of the Panorama magazine. You can download the pdf from here (Page 3 top left). The camera was mentioned as 'Lipariwide'.

To see some fascinating panoramas taken by this camera visit Randy's Flickr page

I thank Randy for providing me the pictures along with their descriptions. Please note that the copyright for the pictures belong to him and you may not use them without his permission.

The Leme rotational panoramic camera

This is a rotational panoramic camera from Brazil, designed by Sebastião Carvalho Leme (1918-2007). The camera is able to take 360°panoramas.

For more details of the camera visit this wikipedia entry

The picture of the camera is under GFDL licensese, the details of the which is available here

Handmade rotational panoramic camera by Mats Wernersson

 

A very nice example of a rotational panoramic camera handmade by  Mats Wernersson. In these type of cameras, the body of the camera rotates while exposing a continuous strip of film through a small slit and capable of scanning a 360 degrees sector.

The Seitz Roundshot, Hulcherama and the recent Lomo Spinner 360 fall into this category of cameras. This particular camera is made of PVC plastic and utilizes medium format film. To know about more on rotational panoramic cameras covered in my blog, click here.

The details of the camera including construction snapshots are available here.

I thank Mats for allowing me to use this picture. Mats have a great website on his own handmade cameras that include many novel analog and digital systems. Visit his site at http://cameramaker.se

Exhibition of handmade cameras in Japan

I recently came across this pdf document  from "Photographic History society of Canada" about a handmade camera exhibition at Japan Camera Museum in Tokyo. It appears to me that  a number of handmade panoramic cameras were part of the exhibit.

It would be great if readers of this blog, particularly those from Japan provide some more information about the exhibits, particularly on the panoramic cameras.

Visit the website of Japan Camera Museum http://www.jcii-cameramuseum.jp/ (or a google translated version of it) for many interesting exhibits.

The website of Photographic History society of Canada is http://www.phsc.ca/

Some more handmade panoramic cameras

Looks like this  website is related to Horsley Camera, UK well known for their Wideboy and other panoramic cmaeras. The website provides extra information on a shift pinhole and a stereo panoramic camera.

I also found a piece of instructional matter for how to make a DIY motorised 35mm rotational panoramic camera by Mike Rignall here

See my earlier post on Horsley cameras. 

I found a couple of example photos taken by Mike Rignall using his rotational camere in Photosig . 

A beatutiful rotational panoramic camera by Jean Faoro

Some time ago I wrote about the Voyager panoramic camera handmade by  Gildas Le Lostec , who is a member of CAP360, an informal club for panoramic photography enthusiasts, including streak chronophotography using handmade cameras.

Mr. Gildas provided me the details of two very beautiful panoramic cameras handmade by a former member of this club, Mr. Jean Faoro. Very unfortunately Jean Faoro passed away two years ago.

The first of the two is a slit-scan rotational panoramic design derived from the body of a medium format camera. The camera can accomodate a very wide angle lens and can take full 360 degree panoramas !!!!!

As you can see from the photograph the camera is electrically powered.

I thank Mr. Lostec very much for enlightening me about the work of this great camera maker.

I'll post about his second panoramic camera soon.

The Voyager panoramic camera

The Voyager is a slit-scan rotational panoramic camera that uses 120 roll film and can use 28mm or 50mm Nikkor lenses. The exposure time can be varied from 1/125 to 2 seconds. The body is made of solid aluminium. The camera comes with a remote control that allows the photographer to actuate it at a particular moment and avoid his inclusion in the frame.

The camera is designed and fabricated by Mr. Gildas Le Lostec. The details of this camera can be found here. Do visit the gallery of captivating panoramas taken by this camera. More information can be found in  Gildas' web site http://pagesperso-orange.fr/panorama/

I thank Mr. Gildas Le Lostec for providing the details of this and some other cameras and permission to use the picture. 

The Spinshot panoramic camera

The Spinshot is a slit-scan camera in league with cameras like Globuscope, Hulcherama, Roundshot etc. I recently discovered a great source of information on Spinshot provided by Mrs. Heather Oelklaus. Click here to read her very engrossing article titled "The art of spinning" which appeared in the JPG Magazine.

Her book titled "Long & skinny" showcases some of the great panoramic photographs she has taken using the Spinshot and other panoramic cameras. To have a preview of the book click here.

To see more of her works visit her website http://www.camerakarma.com/ .

I thank Heather Oelklaus for allowing me to use the picture of this camera.

It's important to note that the Spinshot was invented and fabricated by Rick Corrales, a talented photographer and engineer. Unfortunately he passed away in 2005, only at the age of 48. You can have more information on Rick Corrales here. 

If you're interested in the internal mechanisms of such a camera have a look at Patent 1  and Patent 2 filed by Richard Corrales.

P.S: A crude emulation of the Spinshot can me made with a Diana camera. For details visit this site.

In case you own a Spinshot which is in need of servicing, you can send it to 3R Camera of New York.

Panorax Zi panoramic camera

The Japanese Panorax Zi panoramic camera offers an unusual design. With a 360 degree horizontal coverage it was designed by Hiroshi Mito in 1954. It uses 35 mm film, though variants using other smaller and larger film formats were reported to exist.

This is a rare camera and the price varied around ten grands, the last time I saw in this ebay offer.

For a summary of features of Panorax (and many other pano cameras)visit the site of Massimo Bertacchi .

For more elaborate descriptions on this and other unusual classic cameras visit SPIRA .

Disclaimer: I'm no way related to the ebay seller and not endorsing any way his/her items

Seitz Roundshot in action

Have a look at how wilderness photographer Carl Heilman  sets and takes photo with a Seitz Roundshot 360 degree panoramic camera.Particularly notice how the photographer positions himself to exclude him from the frame.

The Wideboy panoramic camera

The term 'wide' is so obviously associated to so many panoramic camera brands like the legendary Widelux to multi format Widepan. The name list would be incomplete without the inclusion of Wideboy, a swing lens design by Horsley Cameras. Though less known than it's popular cousins, nevertheless it is a very interesting camera.

Horsley Camera of UK fabricates many types of panoramic cameras and not only just the Wideboy. Their inventory boasts of many novel designs of swing lens, 360 DEGREE rotational and even 'steam driven panoramics' !!!!.

Have a look at their product catalog and sample image gallery taken by these great cameras.

Don't forget to visit the page of Mike Rignall, the brain behind the Wideboy. Besides, information on even more interesting cameras, including shift lens panoramics are there.