Enjoy some european panoramas

A very good site for european panoramas http://superpanoramas.com/eu/english/index.asp. Enjoy some more photos here.

The Panorama Journal is back

'Panorama',  the journal published by the International Association of Panoramic Photographers (IAPP) is now again made freely available. 

You can select individual pdf copies from a list  here  or can directly go to the  index of archive

Visit the IAPP site for many useful resources on panormaic photography.

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.

A mahogany 4x5 with 6x12 back

A real elegent masterpiece by Jack Tait. The camera is a  mahogany clad, aluminium frame 4x5 camera able to take 6x12 back for Panoramic work.

I thank Mr. Tait for providing the pictures and information on the cameras. To know more about him and his works, visit his website:

http://web.me.com/jacktait/Taitographs2/Home.html

A superwide 6x9 by Jack Tait

This is Jack Tait's another beautiful example of craftsmanship. According to him, this is probably the best engineered camera he ever made. The camera is now owned  by  a  City of Bath photographer. This is a superwide angle camera 6x9 able to take panoramic pictures due to its extreme wide angle. 47mm lens.

 I thank Mr. Tait for providing the pictures and information on the camera. To know more about him and his works, visit his website:

http://web.me.com/jacktait/Taitographs2/Home.html

Some more Jack Tait cameras

In continuation to the previously described cameras made by Jack Tait let me present some more from his inventory.

Here goes a little introduction about him: Mr. Jack Tait is a UK based camera maker. who constructed a number of beautiful precision cameras . Beside building cameras he  established  two schools of photography and one of design, written a few books and practiced as a freelance. He is also well known for building  'Taitographs', which are some very interesting analog plotting devices.

This particular camera is a 4x5 wide angle  metal camera with large amount of rising front and can be used with Horseman 6x12 back. The camera is now owned and used by a  professor in Lancashire for architectural work.

 

Do visit his website to know more about him, his cameras and other very interesting objects.

http://web.me.com/jacktait/Taitographs2/

 

I thank Mr. Tait for providing information and pictures of  many  of his handmade cameras.