Re: Horizont and Horizon 202 Cameras

[clothier <clothier@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:57 PM 7/5/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello!
>
>I was thinking of getting into panoramic photography and was wondering if
>anyone had any opinions on the Horizont and the Horizon 202 cameras as far
>as functionality, optical quality, build, etc.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Russell Graves
>
>Hi there Russell, I've got a 1970 Horozont. My friend has a new Horizon, 
>and I would not swap for any price (well I could be tempted eh?).

However I must say that it has taken me quite a few hours of work on the 
Horozont to make it a reliable functional camera that I can pick up at any 
time and shoot top quality images with. When comparing this model with the 
Newer Horizon, I doubt that one could carry out some of the mods I've done 
with the same degree of control and ease on the newer camera. The real 
secret is in keeping it all sooooo clean and being aware of the limitations 
as to light direction etc. I have not had any banding in the last 30 odd 
rolls of film taken over about a year, and in some of my shots I have been 
able to include sun directly into the frame without failure.

The optical quality of my camera is very good compared with my Nikon and 
Schneider lenses (I'm not saying it as good) but I can produce 1.5 meter 
long enlargements without any unacceptable degradation of grain or focus. 
You can use the apeture for selective depth of focus to quite good effect. 
Good luck I hope you find something that suits. It appears that so many 
others on the lists have very little joy with their cameras. I leave you 
with the thought though that you will need to spend time or money "tuning" 
the camera to keep it consistently good.

Cheers for now ...Julian Clothier