My submission to the Photo of the Year collection was taken back in January 2025, in Rome. I had just got on a city bus, waiting at its first stop, when I noticed this line of parked mopeds outside – so evocative of all of Italy – and thought the scene might suit my Noblex panoramic camera. I jumped off the bus, quickly took my photo and got back on in time to retake my seat before we departed. The film used was Cinestill 800T with an 85 filter to balance for daylight.
I bought my Noblex 135S new back in 2002, when I was eyeing up various panoramic camera options (including trying and dismissing the XPan). For anyone not familiar with Noblex cameras, they are rotating-lens cameras, where the lens sits inside a drum, which rotates during exposure to take in a 127° horizontal angle of view. Negatives measure 24mm × 66mm, and you get 19 to 20 exposures from a standard roll of 135 film. Because the lens rotates during exposure, you can get this bulging “cigar” effect and wonky horizons, especially when the camera is not level, but it also results in some really unique pictures. The better-known (and soon-to-be-resurrected) Widelux functions in essentially the same manner. Noblex wasn’t on the market for decades like the Widelux was, so they are less common and less well known. There was also a (repairable) issue with drum rotation on the Noblex, where the original materials used to drive the rotation would degrade over time – and this of course did nothing to help the camera’s reputation. However, I loved my Noblex, took it on many trips around the world over 20+ years, and took many fantastic photos with it.
After a week or so in Rome, my travelling companion and I boarded a train to Venice for the second part of our Italy vacation, but this was where my trip and story came to a bit of a sad end. We paid extra for our train tickets to sit in a more comfortable and spacious “Prima” carriage, which was calm, quiet and almost empty, and the train was fast, with only a few stops between Rome and Venice. Approaching Venice, I got up to prepare for arrival and my heart sank when I immediately realised what had happened… Somewhere along the route, someone had taken my backpack and slipped away unnoticed. It had been on the overhead luggage rack, and with the almost-deserted nature of the carriage, I had dropped my guard. Inside the backpack were a laptop, a Rolleiflex TLR, a Sony mirrorless camera and my beloved Noblex.
The train staff didn’t show masses of sympathy, and I was a little shocked to learn that there was no CCTV in the train. I reported the theft to the police who offered a little more sympathy, and dutifully completed their paperwork, but didn’t instil any confidence in me that they were going to put any effort into trying to trace or locate my cameras. I had travel insurance, but due to the valuable nature of the gear and various limits applied to my policy, I recovered only perhaps 10% of the cost of replacement. A very expensive and upsetting lesson for me.
Over the course of 2025, I bought a new Sony camera and found a Rolleiflex 3.5F for sale in good condition to replace the one I lost. The Noblex however still waits to be replaced. I hope this photo – one of the last I took with the camera – can just serve as a little homage to this wonderful, cherished camera.
You can find more of my photographs on Instagram.
Addendum: Maybe the camera ended up in a garbage bin, but just in case anyone comes across it, the serial number of my Noblex 135S is 104790.
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