Re: Horizon 202 camera

[Marco Pauck <pauck@xxxxxx>]

Hi WJ,

Willem-Jan Markerink wrote:
> 
> On 21 Aug 99 at 2:41, jbader@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
[...]
> > the only thing I have discovered that you
> > have to be careful about is shooting with a pin point light source
> > in the picture (like the sun), because it will band something
> > awful.
> 
> This is not unique to the 202....my Noblex 150 shows this just as
> much, if not worse. Everytime I come across one of these artifacts,
> my fingers begin to itch for taking a Dremel cutting wheel, and open
> up the front of the drum....since the only thing that creates this
> ugly hard edges is the 'marginal' opening of the front of the
> drum....if the lens would be exposed to the sun during the entire
> rotation, the flare would be much more gradual, just like on a normal
> SLR.

Hmmm, my favorite suspected source of these banding artifacts are
the shutter's edges at the back of the drum. I'm thinking about
painting them with some special deep-black paint.

There is probably an additional source for this problem. Just take a
look at the sample image in the 'Tips' section of

http://www.pauck.de/marco/photo/panorama/horizon202/horizon202.html

I suspect the shiny inside of the back door for this effect. Some
deep-black paint will help in this case as well.

I'll try to verify this theory as soon as I'll get a Horizon that
outlives its six month warranty without any problems. Right now,
I'm waiting for my third one as the first two had problems with light
leaks and transport. From the feedback I got from other users, light
leaks at the seals of the lens drum seem to be a *major* problem.

According to the dealer where I bought my Horizon, the overall defect
rate was app. 10% over the last years (which is far better than for
other Russian cameras). However, it has increased to app. 30% during
the last year. 

Can you comment on this from your own experience of selling the
Horizon, WJ?

Regarding the quality of the Horizon and other east-european cameras,
you might also want to check

http://www.pauck.de/marco/photo/stuff/russian_and_ukrainian_cameras/russian_and_ukrainian_cameras.html

	Marco
-- 
Marco Pauck - WMD GmbH Hamburg, Germany - http://www.pauck.de/marco/
e-mail: marco@xxxxxxxx, phone: +49-40-58958-120, fax: +49-40-58958-199
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