Horizont Pano... sweet!

I bought one of these interesting beasties several years ago, but have been plagued by the usual banding problem, as the shutter rotation is uneven. The excellent shots in this string are motivating me to have another try with this camera.

In the hopes that this is a lubrication issue rather than just fundamentally poor machining, I want to strip the camera down and re-lube it. Does anyone have a link for a site which contains teardown information for a Horizont?

Cheers,
Dez
 
I bought one of these interesting beasties several years ago, but have been plagued by the usual banding problem, as the shutter rotation is uneven. The excellent shots in this string are motivating me to have another try with this camera.

In the hopes that this is a lubrication issue rather than just fundamentally poor machining, I want to strip the camera down and re-lube it. Does anyone have a link for a site which contains teardown information for a Horizont?

Cheers,
Dez



I think I've got the instructions saved in my delicious account. I'll dig them up when i'm on a proper computer (on mobile now).
 
I think I've got the instructions saved in my delicious account. I'll dig them up when i'm on a proper computer (on mobile now).

Hi randomm, If you do find the file, could you please post a link to it here or email it to me at - mobrien9 (at) emich (dot) edu - I would really like to have a copy of that on hand. Thanks much!
 
Great images ... and what a cool looking camera these are! There's one on ebay at the moment.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/220840176468?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Hey Keith, If you are thinking of bidding on it, be aware that it seems to be missing the finder! :( Also missing the grip, which is much less of a big deal. Glad you like the pics, this has been a really great camera so far, I bet you would enjoy using one for those massive Aussie vistas.
 
Finally got round to fixing the light seals in my Horizont. I followed Pierre Kerr's excellent instructions available here http://web.ncf.ca/ac210/photography/horizont.html

If you attempt this and get into trouble get in touch with me, I may be able to help. My light seals had receded significantly and were no longer touching the turret. I made new ones from discarded 135 film canisters seals (quite a few on top of each other, cut to shape, attached to each other with some glue). The turret's spring is not very strong, so I had to spend some time fiddling with the pressure that the seals push against the turret as in the beginning it wouldn't turn at all.

I've also made the Dymo-tape hack to it to move the film further out from the lens (this is reversible in no time). I'd love it to focus to about 2m wide open, but first to find out need to go out and shoot a test roll!
 
I bought one of these interesting beasties several years ago, but have been plagued by the usual banding problem, as the shutter rotation is uneven. The excellent shots in this string are motivating me to have another try with this camera.

In the hopes that this is a lubrication issue rather than just fundamentally poor machining, I want to strip the camera down and re-lube it. Does anyone have a link for a site which contains teardown information for a Horizont?

Cheers,
Dez

Most of the turret's turning mechanism is under the bottom plate. The bottom plate is attached with 4 small screws and by so is very easy to remove. If I were you I'd just peek in and see what's happening as the turret rotates. The turret's spring is also relatively easy to add turns to: remove three (well there are holes for six, who knows how many screws you'll have!) screws holding a circular plate around the turret's axis, hold it in place with fingers as after the removal of the last screw it will try to turn by the force of the spring, then turn it counter-clockwise to add tension, lets say half a turn or a full turn, re-attach and see if it made any difference... the spring tension does not alone determine the rotation speed so you should not worry too much about adding tension. However, I'm guessing that if the spring is too loose then you might experience uneven rotation...

The speed rotation is managed by a centrifugal brake that you'll be able to see once you remove the bottom plate.

Also, if anyone has a spare finder for these beasts I would be very interested... :)
 
Last edited:
mto'brien gave me permission to post some photos here. These are from a test roll shot today after fixing the light seals. Focus seems to be set at around 1.2-1.4 metres, which is too close I find. I have to remove one layer of Dymo tape to get it slightly further out, as with the current focus I can't get infinity even with f16 aperture.

Anyway, looking forward to doing street with this now that it no longer leaks light!


Vahti Mestari by randomm, on Flickr


Kukat ja kiire by randomm, on Flickr


Metron kaistat by randomm, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Hey Jani, Thanks for posting! Great images! I love the expression in the first one. No permission needed to post in this thread, please post more when you can...

Looks like your DIY repair worked out well, nicely done.

Yesterday:

untitled-254.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom