Back in the 1970s competition in the SLR camera market was fierce. Most companies needed to innovate regularly to maintain their profile and market share. Konica had been building up their Autoreflex system for some years. With the T3 they had produced a camera that did pretty much everything and was backed by a highly respectable system. However, there was still a need to keep up with trends and innovate.
I’ve had a thing about panoramas for some time and have experimented with rotation points and stitching software quite a bit over the years. Analogue panoramas are something else though. Posh schools seemed to do whole school photographs using panoramic cameras with rotating heads. None of my schools had enough space for the whole school to sit together, or teachers who were brave enough to try to herd us all together. I’m also aware of the Hasselblad XPan, the Widelux and the Russian Horizon cameras, but they are quite pricy (and I’m quite cheap).
Dedicated panoramic cameras tend to be a bit pricey. This Lomography Spinner 360° is refreshingly affordable. It retails new for £89 on the Lomography website. I bought a shop-soiled copy from a popular auction site for a bit less than that (because I’m a cheapskate). At some point, someone seems to have decided on a dolphin logo for this camera. I’m not sure what relevance the Dolphin has to panoramic photography, but it doesn’t detract from form or function.
You can read about the Travelling Canonet project here. We have over 50 photographers on 4 continents waiting to take part. Two Canonets are involved, each travelling in a different direction. Participants take 5 or more shots and send the camera on to the next person on the list. Previous pictures from the first, second, third and fourth rolls from this camera and the first and second rolls from the Original Canonet are also available on 35mmc.
I’ve recently been shooting with a Praktica BX20, which was one of the last Praktica models produced by Pentacon before they were wound up in the wake of German unification.
The company Pentacon was born out of a merger of various East German-based camera manufacturers after the war. Most prominent of these was Zeiss Ikon AG Dresden. Over the years KW, Welta, Ihagee and Meyer were absorbed.
