Panoramic film cameras: fixed-lens and swing-lens, 35mm and 120

Panoramic film cameras fall into two classes. Fixed-lens cameras, such as the Fuji G617 and the Hasselblad XPan, use an ordinary lens over an extra-wide frame of film. Swing-lens cameras, such as the Noblex, Widelux and Horizon, turn the lens during the exposure and sweep the image across a curved strip of film for a wider view.

Fixed-lens (wide-frame) cameras

These keep straight lines straight and take interchangeable or fixed lenses like any other camera; they are panoramic because of the shape of the frame.

• Fuji G617 / GX617: 6×17 cm frames on 120 film. One long-time user compares its transparency to roughly half a 5×7 inch sheet of film.
• Linhof Technorama 617S: also 6×17 cm, four exposures on a roll of 120 film or eight on 220. A rental kit pairs it with a 90mm Schneider Super Angulon covering about 110°. Linhof's page on the original 1976 Technorama lists the same lens.
• Hasselblad XPan: a 35mm rangefinder that can join two successive 35mm frames into one panoramic frame, and switch back to normal frames on the same roll. Its panoramic frame is about half the area of a 6×7 cm medium-format frame. Hasselblad says about 16,800 were made between 1998 and 2002.
• Holga 120 Pan: a plastic camera with a 6×12 cm frame on 120 film, sold new.

Swing-lens (rotating-lens) cameras

The lens turns during the exposure and the image passes through a slit onto curved film. That gives a much wider angle than the focal length alone, with the curved look of straight lines these cameras are known for.

• Noblex: German, motor-driven, made in several models for different film formats. The 6/150 model's 50mm lens covers about 140° on 6×12 cm frames of 120 film.
• Widelux: a 26mm pivoting lens on 24×56 mm frames of 35mm film.
• Horizon: a Russian swing-lens line, mostly for 35mm film, found on the used market. Lomography sold a later model, the Horizon Perfekt.
• Panon 120: a 1950s rotating-lens camera with a 50mm f/2.8 Konishiroku Hexon lens and a curved film plane, giving a 6×14 cm negative.

Scanning the film

Wide frames don't fit ordinary scanner holders. A 35mm panoramic frame can be scanned in two halves on a standard 35mm scanner and stitched back together; a 6×17 cm frame needs at least three passes on a medium-format scanner, or a scanner that takes film up to 60 × 180 mm.

Film

120 and 35mm film are both still made. ADOX, a German film and photo-chemistry brand that traces its history to 1860, is one of the companies selling it, alongside Ilford (HP5 Plus), Kodak (Tri-X 400) and Fujifilm (Velvia 50), all in both sizes.

For digital panoramas, a panoramic head on a tripod does the same job with any camera, by stitching several frames.