Re: XPan, etc.

[thinhle@xxxxxxx (Thinh Le)]

I thought I should bring this up since we are talking about the
possibilities of the various panoramic formats and cameras. Aperture
recently published a beautiful book of black and white panoramas called
"Inside Algeria" by Swiss photographer Michael von Graffenried. Michael von
Graffenried used what he called an "ancient Widelux" panoramic camera and
shot from the hip, literally, without using a view finder to capture the
life of Algerians during the civil conflicts between 1991 and 1998.

Another book published by Scalo, containing not entirely of panoramas, by
another photojournalist, Michael Ackerman titled "End Time City" contains
many arresting b & w panoramic images of Benares in India. The pan images
looked like they were made with a swing lens camera.

Swing lens rules? not quite!
Brand new is large book from Phaidon called "Chaos" by Magnum's Josef
Koudelka, the Czechoslovakian author of the classic "Exiles". The book's
perspective is Koudelkaesque but only a very few of the photos contains any
humans. The format is 1:3 ratio, all black and white of course.

BTW, amazon.com gives good discount on all three books in case you can't
find them at a local shop.

The Roundshot 35 is built, works and weights like a tank. It's very rugged.

-----Original Message-----
From: Clyde Soles <csoles@xxxxxxx>
To: panorama-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <panorama-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, December 22, 1999 9:38 PM
Subject: Re: XPan, etc.


> We see so much in the panorama field
>about the number degrees of the photos and all about the technology but in
>the end it is not the camera but the creative artistry with which the
camera
>is used.

Yes and no. I'm also interested in the reliability and performance of
the camera so it can deliver the artistry when I get to remote
places. From what I've gathered off this list, the Noblex and
Roundshot are nice cameras but not suitable for rugged travel. The
Xpan seems to have advantages for my purposes but I'm still not sure
I'd rather take it instead of a Horizon to Nepal.