Plastic Panorama

ProgramPlus · Dec 4, 2019

Due to this thread, I looked for a CHEAP panoramic camera but didn't find any to my liking (at least price wise). It's amazing how difficult it is to fined the Funsaver Panoramic cameras have become.
Anyway, I ran across this camera last night. I think of $30 as being a bit much for a chintzy plastic camera but not crazy.
By the name, it makes me thinks it's another version of the Vivitar Wide and Slim camera that Deon mentioned earlier in this thread. Has a 22mm lens, same as the Vivitar. By looking at the pictures in the ad, it is't a panoramic, but it looks like Deon had to glue a mask into his to make it panoramic.

35mm-film-camera-fpp-ultra-wide-slim-pink

Oh yeah, it only comes in ...... Pink

ProgramPlus · Dec 4, 2019

Actually, comparing the two pictures, it looks clearly to be the same camera or at least the pink one is trying to exactly copy the pictured "Black Devil" down to the "Super Fat Lens" printed on the front.
Anyone find these WIDE point and shoots cheaper (for new)?

Cholentpot · Dec 4, 2019

Here's a shot from the summer taken on an Ansco Panorama.

Honestly it did surprisingly well. Sure I was using way past expired Kodak 400 but I'm genuinely happy with the results.

reddesert · Dec 5, 2019

I used to reload a Konica single-use panoramic camera, which had about a 17mm lens, with black and white film. This was about 20-25 years ago. The Konica panoramic single-use cameras were not super common, but not impossible to find either. I think I still have one or two. They had a mask like the one Deon showed earlier. It could be popped out to expose more of the frame. However, the cheap 2? element plastic lens has a significant curvature of field. The mask held the film curved in a cylindrical shape to roughly match the curvature along the horizontal midplane of the image. Further from the midplane, image quality degrades, and if you remove the mask to get more vertical extent, you can really see the difference. Of course, one uses these cameras for their charms and immediacy, and not expecting to get the same results as a $1000 wide-angle. They were noticeably wider than the typical P+S cropping down a 28mm lens to a pseudo-panoramic format.

ciniframe · Dec 5, 2019

ProgramPlus said:
Due to this thread, I looked for a CHEAP panoramic camera but didn't find any to my liking (at least price wise). It's amazing how difficult it is to fined the Funsaver Panoramic cameras have become.
Anyway, I ran across this camera last night. I think of $30 as being a bit much for a chintzy plastic camera but not crazy.
By the name, it makes me thinks it's another version of the Vivitar Wide and Slim camera that Deon mentioned earlier in this thread. Has a 22mm lens, same as the Vivitar. By looking at the pictures in the ad, it is't a panoramic, but it looks like Deon had to glue a mask into his to make it panoramic.

35mm-film-camera-fpp-ultra-wide-slim-pink

Oh yeah, it only comes in ...... Pink

That price is the going rate for those cameras, not a super deal but not a ripoff either.
So, the only judge of if it’s worth it is you.

ProgramPlus · Dec 6, 2019

This prompted me to check out Ebay again. There were two Funsaver Panoramics for sale. One $12, open box but still sealed in foil and another with box intact. I offered $10 for the open box camera and they accepted so I'll be trying my hand at panoramic soon. Looks like these came filled with Kodak gold 400, so my bulk Kentmere 400 B&W will work fine for reloading.

rknewcomb · Dec 6, 2019

Cholentpot said:
Here's a shot from the summer taken on an Ansco Panorama.

Honestly it did surprisingly well. Sure I was using way past expired Kodak 400 but I'm genuinely happy with the results.

That is a nice little Summer picture - has a nice warm feeling to it.
Robert

Cholentpot · Dec 6, 2019

ProgramPlus said:
This prompted me to check out Ebay again. There were two Funsaver Panoramics for sale. One $12, open box but still sealed in foil and another with box intact. I offered $10 for the open box camera and they accepted so I'll be trying my hand at panoramic soon. Looks like these came filled with Kodak gold 400, so my bulk Kentmere 400 B&W will work fine for reloading.

Do you think the Kodak Funsavers will give better results that say the Ansco Panorama I'm using? I see a few on ebay and I'd like to know if it's any better than what I'm using now.

rknewcomb said:
That is a nice little Summer picture - has a nice warm feeling to it.
Robert

I was pleasantly surprised. The film I used was terrible for everything else, it worked very well with this camera. I'd say to use 100 speed or slower film with these things. I'd rate this film, which started at 400, at below 100 at this point and it performed very well in this camera.

ProgramPlus · Dec 6, 2019

^^ I have no idea whether the Funsaver or the other Panoramic cameras give better images, but I really was impressed by the results of the original poster. Hoping that under the right circumstances I can get good results. My goal is better than my IQ Zoom which takes panoramic photos by masking a regular 35mm negative.

Cholentpot · Dec 8, 2019

ProgramPlus said:
^^ I have no idea whether the Funsaver or the other Panoramic cameras give better images, but I really was impressed by the results of the original poster. Hoping that under the right circumstances I can get good results. My goal is better than my IQ Zoom which takes panoramic photos by masking a regular 35mm negative.

All these plastic panos mask 35mm negatives.

ProgramPlus · Dec 8, 2019

I think I said that poorly or maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the Funsaver produces panoramics.
Looking at some of the Lomography cameras, they have some that produce normal height, but very wide negatives on 35 mm film.
My understanding of point and shoot 35 mm cameras with a panoramic mode and the old APS cameras is that they simple mask off the top and bottom of a regular size negative, therefore producing an actually smaller negative. Kind of a faux panoramic. I think I misunderstood that the Funsaver was the former, not the later type of panoramic. I think perhaps I was wrong about that.

So other than the Sprocket Rocket, is there no other CHEAP panoramic camera which uses the top to bottom height of the film, because that seems to be the ideal for image quality, a larger negative?

reddesert · Dec 8, 2019

The single-use panoramics like the Funsaver absolutely do mask off the top and bottom of the film (letterboxing). You get a roughly 15x36mm exposed area of the negative, unless you remove or modify the mask. They are not a bargain XPan, Widelux, or Horizon. To get a much larger exposed area you would essentially be talking about a lens that could almost cover medium format.

The cool thing about the single-use panoramics was that they came with a wider lens than was typical on point-and-shoots that masked the film. P&S were typically no wider than 28mm, which isn't really that panoramic, while some of the single-use cameras had a 17mm lens, which is wide enough to give an actual panoramic effect.

Please keep in mind that these use simple plastic lenses (as does the Lomography camera) and ultimate image quality isn't their strength. The OP's enlargement to a wheat-pasted wall poster looked great, but I'm sure it was intended to be viewed from a large distance, not pixel-peeped.

I found an old Focal (K-mart brand) single use panoramic that I reloaded BITD, and can post pictures of the outside and inside if there is interest.

Cholentpot · Dec 8, 2019

reddesert said:
The single-use panoramics like the Funsaver absolutely do mask off the top and bottom of the film (letterboxing). You get a roughly 15x36mm exposed area of the negative, unless you remove or modify the mask. They are not a bargain XPan, Widelux, or Horizon. To get a much larger exposed area you would essentially be talking about a lens that could almost cover medium format.

The cool thing about the single-use panoramics was that they came with a wider lens than was typical on point-and-shoots that masked the film. P&S were typically no wider than 28mm, which isn't really that panoramic, while some of the single-use cameras had a 17mm lens, which is wide enough to give an actual panoramic effect.

Please keep in mind that these use simple plastic lenses (as does the Lomography camera) and ultimate image quality isn't their strength. The OP's enlargement to a wheat-pasted wall poster looked great, but I'm sure it was intended to be viewed from a large distance, not pixel-peeped.

I found an old Focal (K-mart brand) single use panoramic that I reloaded BITD, and can post pictures of the outside and inside if there is interest.

what focal is the kodak fun saver?

reddesert · Dec 10, 2019

Cholentpot said:
what focal is the kodak fun saver?

I don't have one, but the OP in the first post of this thread says it is 25mm f/12.

Cholentpot · Dec 10, 2019

reddesert said:
I don't have one, but the OP in the first post of this thread says it is 25mm f/12.

Thanks!

wahiba · Jan 4, 2020

I received a LOMO Sprocket Rocket for Christmas. First of all a frame is supplied so the image does not have to go on sprockets. It has a 30mm lens, 1 shutter speed, two aperture and two distance settings and a hot shoe. It takes 35mm film so 30mm is just average wide vertically. As the horizontal image is two frames, ie 72mm it is very wide in that plane, I suppose equivalent to 15mm on normal frame. Also all the film is used so a bit better resolution. If you want a cheap fixed lens panoramic camera it delivers.

wahiba · Jan 5, 2020

This is what the Sprocket Rocket produces on XP2 with the frame in place.

ProgramPlus · Jan 7, 2020

Very nice. I see the Lomography cameras come up once in a while on local classifieds. Might have to keep an eye out for a Sprocket Rocket.

tezzasmall · Jan 8, 2020

wahiba said:
This is what the Sprocket Rocket produces on XP2 with the frame in place.

Love the picture Wahiba! But now imagine how much better it would be if it was all in focus LOL.

Seriously though, I too love taking pictures on some of these classic, cheap and plastic cameras. Some of my favourite cameras are the panoramic styled ones. Some of them are even quite sharp - in the middle area anyway and I've used them to send out pictures in print exchanges on this and other forums.

It's really relaxing as well, only having to worry about composition, as everything else is preset for you.

Terry S

Daire Quinlan · Jan 8, 2020

How robust is it ? Does it do a good job of keeping the film flat ? Good pressure plate, etc ? I was considering it as a body for a panoramic format camera with an angulon or something stuck on the front. I actually got what I thought was a parts Realist last week for cheap to hack it up, but having gotten it and disassembled and lubed it up it actually looks to be in perfectly working order so I'm loath to tear it to bits now :-/

xya · Jan 8, 2020

Daire Quinlan said:
How robust is it ? Does it do a good job of keeping the film flat ? Good pressure plate, etc ? I was considering it as a body for a panoramic format camera with an angulon or something stuck on the front. I actually got what I thought was a parts Realist last week for cheap to hack it up, but having gotten it and disassembled and lubed it up it actually looks to be in perfectly working order so I'm loath to tear it to bits now :-/

with an angulon you'd better go for hacking a 120 film holga wpc. I have a holgamods, which I have to rework a bit http://www.oddcameras.com/holgamods_612_pan.htm . finding a 30mm lens which covers the image area of the sprocket rocket will be difficult. If someone has suggestions, please let us know...

Meyer Trioplan · Jan 9, 2020

I personally find the lens on the Sprocket Rocket to be more or less fine for the purpose, and as much as I tend to like to tinker and hack, I've never considered hacking it, though admittedly, I'd also be hard pressed to think of a fixed (non rotating) lens with a short enough focal length that would cover the double frames that the Sprocket Rocket does.

My one hack job to make a fixed Semi-Panorama camera was to take a Kodak 3A Folder, install a Contessa-Nettel 105mm/f4.5 4/4 Dialyte and then recollimate common focusing distances onto a piece of masking tape on the bed. In usage, I'd use 120 to 122 adapters and count turns to get 5 shots per roll of 120. Results were quite good with coverage across the frame, but expected distortion in the left and right 20% of the frame.

Daire Quinlan · Jan 24, 2020

Ok, so taken the plunge, milled out the film gate of a dodgy old Yashica, gutted the innards until only the wind mechanism remains, got a grab bag of parts hanging around including one of those cheap chinese helicoids, some brass sheet, copal 0 on the way, will hopefully fit the elements of my bronnica 50mm and we'll see how it goes. Not quite a plastic panorama but still

Cholentpot · Jan 24, 2020

Daire Quinlan said:
Ok, so taken the plunge, milled out the film gate of a dodgy old Yashica, gutted the innards until only the wind mechanism remains, got a grab bag of parts hanging around including one of those cheap chinese helicoids, some brass sheet, copal 0 on the way, will hopefully fit the elements of my bronnica 50mm and we'll see how it goes. Not quite a plastic panorama but still

Of this works I'm going to pester you to make me one...

Here's my latest shot off of an Ansco Pano

Expired Gold 400.

Paul Ozzello · Jan 24, 2020

Very nice. Do you have a close-up of what that billboard print looks like up close ? Did you print it in strips ?

Plastic Panorama

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