"Panorama" with 8x10 camera

[DREW WILEY]

Turpentine evaporates way too slowly for my needs. Besides, I wouldn't want to carry it in my pack. An example from a couple weeks ago : I was just about to change film in my 6x9 rangefinder along a creek in the high country, it's snowing, and suddenly I find pine pitch all over my fingers. Want something fast. I checked out PEC pads and they don't have any solvent on them - they're just plain pads. So guess I'll carry a little bottle of PEC film cleaner instead. Probably not healthy on skin itself, but it would be just for emergency use. Another application would be for tent fabric or my parka. Acetone can attack certain fabrics etc, so that's out of the question; and it dries too fast. Cleanup of gear back home is a different question. I have all kinds of appropriate solvents for that.

 

[Ian Grant]

That's a little trickier and there is more than one kind of panorama. I'm not trying to discourage you, I've done this same thing with 35mm film in a MF back, with a Sprocket Rocket, and it could also be done with something like 4x10 sheets of film in a modified 8x10 holder (of if I had a bad 8x10 slide by shooting two images per sheet with a modified 8x10 darkslide). Lots of fun but maybe not "true" panorama. Some thoughts:

1. A panorama should have a wider angle and a wider field of view than a photo taken with a normal lens. If you were to make a long thin print from a "normal" lens, the "crop factor" actually makes the effective focal length longer not shorter. (For the sake of my argument if an 8x10 camera has a nominal normal focal length of 12.8 inches, the nominal normal focal length of a 4x10 format is 10.77 inches. Taking the photo with a 12 inch lens does not qualify.)
2. Some folks will argue that true panoramic aspect ratios start at about twice the normal aspect ratio for that format . By that criteria a 4x10 is panoramic on 4x5, so that one is good.
3. Panoramic images should revolve around the "nodal point" of the camera. This can be accomplished by a curved film plane, a swing lens, or a spin camera. It can also be accomplished by cropping a fisheye image if the film plane is flat. In addition to my Sprocket Rocket I have a Lomo camera that spins the camera body and another, a Horizon, that swings the lens. None are "high fidelity" but all are fun to use.

I agree with the first two points but not the third as I don't want to make panoramic images that look like those made with the Horizon, Noblex etc type camera. Taht's just a personal choice though.

I have considered making Panoramas with my 10x8 Agfa Ansco's as I'd like to move up in terms of quality from my dedicated 6x17 camera. Your point about angle of view is very important and needs to be thought of in two dimensions the Horizontal and the Vertical. My lens of choice on my 6x17 camera is a 75mm Super Angulon - this is typically a standard lens focal length on a 6x6 camera, and that suits the vertical aspect of what I typically photograph with the camera, the 17cm (nominal) horizontal aspect gives me the wide panoramic shots I want to capture.

With my 10x8 cameras I'd be limited to my current 165mm f8 Super Angulon which is really too heavy for landscape work, or my Wollensak 159mm f12 ExWA - viewing/focussing aperture is wider I think f9. I'll make a baffle plate to split the image to 10x4.

Ian