Clayton..stay with us!

["George S. Pearl, BCEP, FEPIC, BCQDE, QPP" <alps007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Clayton,
  I have read your e-mail and that of the others about the Panorama Cameras
vs. Panorama Format. It really isn't that big of a deal folks as long as you
define what you are doing. The FORMAT of a panorama has always been a long
skinny thing of SOME DEGREES of coverage. As to how you got to that FORMAT
picture really doesn't matter, but what really ticks us rotational camera
users off is when people say: "Oh yeah, I'm a Panorama Photographer
TOO...I've got that little switch on my plastic Drop-o-Flex Disposable
camera that lets me do the same thing..."  Well, it isn't the same thing by
a long shot!

People like Bob Erickson have major investments in Curkut Cameras, and are
shooting in a different league than the guy with the " 35mm panoramic
snapshot camera". They have not only a large investment in the specialized
equipment that sweeps past anything that little 35mm camera could do, but
they have years and years of training and experience producing outstanding
examples of their craft. When people just lump all of the pan shooters
together no matter if they have a disposable panorama camera or a #10 Curkut
they are shooting with, it seems to be an insult to these people. (I feel
sort of the same way about this, but I understand exactly what you are
saying about the USE of a camera etc. to provide the IMAGES that YOU want to
make as a photographer.)

What I am saying is that when someone has spent years and years and
thousands of dollars working to perfect doing something, and every time he
shoots a picture... just with one shot the film and processing cost more
then some of the other guy's 'panorama cameras' have cost, it is sort of a
low cut for them to be implying they are in the SAME LEAGUE, on the same
team, are panorama photographers TOO!  I think this is the major issue here.
It is called "feelings", and we all have them.  There IS a BIG difference in
shooting a rotational type camera to achieve outstanding results. It is not
like just pointing your 35mm (insert camera name here) and snapping the
shutter.

The difference in the two type of people shooting a scene is the 35mm
shooter says, SNAP!, "ALL DONE....that took about 3 seconds to take that
"panorama", now I'm going home." ....... In the meantime, the Curkut artist
hasn't even gotten his camera out of the case yet due to the time it took to
lug all of the heavy equipment up to shoot the same scene. The degrees of
coverage will be more with the Curkut, and it may be a sharper image, but
the guy with the snapshot "panorama" camera might have gotten the whale
jumping out of the water for a great shot, while by the time the Curkut
camera guy got his equipment set up, the water was iced over and there were
Eskimos ice fishing instead! It is to each his own here. It just depends on
what type of image the photographer is trying to capture here as to what
type of equipment will do the BEST JOB!...BUT...

There are two different things going on here, and for certain two different
degrees of coverage with the cameras being used. It seems to me that by
grouping everyone into one boat called panorama, there is a rift formed for
the above reasons I have stated.

So, when I hear from some person that he can do panorama pictures too with
his little plastic camera and that switch or whatever, I just smile and then
pull out some 48 inch pictures for them to see. End of discussion.... They
get the picture Loud & Clear when they see my pictures verses their pictures
(which I never get to see for some reason). We just need to think about
defining what we are doing just a bit more. That is why I earned the QPP
rating from IAPP. I think it helps to define what I do is a little bit more
than that guy with the disposable "panoramic" camera.

You should stay on this list Clayton! I like to hear your thoughts, and am
very happy that you like your camera and what it does. Maybe one day you
will be the lucky guy that snaps that panorama of that whale jumping out of
the water! Don't mind what those other guys are saying about your snapshot
camera, just go out and make some great shots with it! Come to the next IAPP
world meeting and enter your pictures into competition. Get some blue
ribbons! It's the images that count the most. You know what your abilities
and limitations are with the camera you choose to use for the job at hand.
It is just a tool. Panorama is just a format. There are people of all kinds
and abilities with equipment of all sorts and we should all be respectful of
everyone and what they are doing.

Good luck with your picture taking...show us that whale!

My best,
George S. Pearl, QPP

Atlanta Legal Photo Services, Inc.
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George S. Pearl...
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