Re: [Leica] panorama

["Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

At 10:31 AM +0000 1/18/00, Rod Fleming wrote:

>Henning, my experience was with the original Horizon- is the lens on the
>Horizon 202 a new design (or did I just have one of those Friday afternoon
>Russian cameras)?

I'm sure it's a different design. The guy to ask about this is Willem-Jan
Markerink, at w.j.markerink@a1.nl or
http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/mainpage.htm. He also brings in cameras
from Russia, checks them and sells them for a decent price. I recently
bought a 202 for my son from him. The lens is definitely of at least decent
quality, and the whole thing is quite useful, as well as relatively
inexpensive. I've used it at f/4 (it's a 28/2.8 lens), and the results were
very good. It's a Tessar type, so there is some falloff toward the top and
bottom, but not much. Comes with a case, some filters, a handle and a
manual in Russian. The camera was designed in Finland in the early 90's, I
believe. Speeds are 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/60, 1/125, and 1/250. This comes from
the drum having two speeds, and the slit three widths. A very useful range.
Some examples have 1/500, but that is not a good idea because the
adjustable slit is not accurate enough to provide even enough exposure.
Nicks and burrs (very tiny ones) can cause horizontal uneveness of
exposure. Vertical banding, the bane of swivel cameras, has been negligible
in the samples I've seen; much better than with the Widelux models or the
Horizont (old).

>I'd welcome any feedback from yourself or anyone else who has knowledge of
>these cameras. I was very interested by the possibilities it presented, but
>as I said, the lens on the one I tried was not up to the mark- significant
>edge fall off (seen at the top and bottom of the image, as a result of the
>swivel lens) which could clearly be seen on a 10" wide print even when the
>negative was made with the lens stopped down to f11. (When I say clearly, I
>mean that my non-photographer wife said "That's not sharp," the instant she
>saw the print. And if she says that, it ain't sharp. Just in case you think
>I'm excessively picky. Well I am, but that's not the point.)
>
>I believe there is also a 120 version of the Horizon- comments?

There is supposed to be one coming shortly. Willem-Jan has been keeping on
top of it, and last I checked with him he said sometime this spring.

>I loved the effect though, and I reiterate- a panoramic taken with a swivel
>lens is just not the same as a letter-box crop from a normal wideangle; I've
>done my share of those too, usually using a 75mm Rodenstock Grandagon on
>5x4, and the "stretching " of the image at the sides is clear. (And I doubt
>that anyone, even on this group, is going to criticise the quality of this
>lens.)

I have a 65 Grandagon and a 47SA-XL that are excellent on a 612 back (and
they allow movements).

>To get back on topic, though, last week's UK Amateur Photographer has an
>article on panoramics - I had not read it till last night. It mentions a
>proprietary software called Spin Panorama which is distributed with Epson
>printers, so some people may already have it, or a trial version can be had
>from
>
>www.pictureworks.com

Helmut Dersch's software (mentioned previously) is better and a lot more
versatile. It's shareware, available for Windows and Mac.

>According to the article, this should make stitching your Leica panoramas
>together a piece of cake.

   *            Henning J. Wulff
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