Know of an Xpan user?

[MP Guy]

Let him or her know about this forum. I would really like to get people interested in the xpan visiting here. I think its a great camera and I would love to hear other stories.

 

[Magnas]

Well at the moment, I'm the only Xpan user I know (except you) but hopefully this will change soon.

I let photography go for about 15 regretable years and then bought a digital camera in the hope of whetting my appetitie again. That was about a year ago. Almost instantly I realised that landscape format was what I wanted to do. My Xpan 2 followed a desperate bout of saving and praying on eBay.

Now I'm happy. I'll be slowly adding to the Xpan gallery and would really appreciate comments: good, or er.... constructive.

 

[trisnadi]

Hi... I am a happy user of Fuji TX-1, the Japanese sibling of XPAN. It was introduced by my friend Gladia (I think he is member of this forum also), and actually I acquire this Fuji TX-1 with street photography in mind, not landscape photography. I'm still exploring.... and excited to this new experience...

 

[kbg32]

I have an XPan and some other panoramas, unfortunately, not rangefinders - Kodak Panoram, Widelux, and FMZ FT-2.

 

[Jarvis]

I have an X-Pan as well, only with the 45mm lens. I don't know what to say about it.... It's a beatifull camera to hold, touch and feel... the quality is OK, not as good as my Hassleblad CX though but this is due to the different format size. As for the panoramic functionality, a cropped pic of my Mamiya 7-II is better.
Two downsides are the cost of lenses and the grey-spot filters which you really need (400€ for a filter is riddiculous) the paintwork is really very very bad. I got mine by reding it for a Nikon F4 configuration... I would however never do this again let alone buy it, but I'me holding on to it maybe in future I will find a use for it.

 

[RJNear]

Hi

I have been shooting all digital for the last couple of years until about three months ago when I purchased a Xpan system, I fallen in love with film again. There is a gallery of my Xpan photos on my web site.

Robert

 

[Terence T]

I'm a new TX-2 owner with the 45 and 30mm lenses, currently looking out for a good deal on a used 90mm. Hope to post some shots in my gallery soon once I figure out the best way to scan the 24x65 negatives. I'm using an Epson 4990 flatbed now but the results are mixed, I'm a scanner virgin you see...

 

[LTMA]

X-Pan User

X-Pan User

I have been using X-Pan II for about a year with 45 and 90 mm. Well built camera and enjoyable to use. Here are a couple of pictures taken using X-Pan II - 45mm.

 

[skimmel]

Well, I don't own one but am very intrigued. The things stopping me from getting one at this point are: (1) not sure how often I would use it (don't have a lot of time to go and do landscapes so would use it more for candid-type photography); (2) scanning issues (don't want to deal with scanning or buying a large-format scanner and my local pro-shop doesn't scan xpan; and (3) money (so what else is new?)

With respect to #1, above, I'd be curious from owners how they use the xpan: landscapes vs. other stuff?

 

[kickbucket1]

New registered user

New registered user

This is my first post since I registered a few days ago. Found this site by mistake, I hope to learn more about my Xpan II from this forum. I started out with 35mm film then moved to Nikon digital. Since my interest is mostly landscape photography, I got an Xpan to get a little different perspective. I've had the camera for ...um.. gee, can't recollect now maybe two years. Have all the lenses and center filters. Love the camera just wish it would be easier to find a lab who could process and print the panoramics in Central and Northern California. Because of that, I am shooting more MF with my full Contax 645 outfit I bought after the Xpan. Unlimited availability in processing and printing with Medium Format. I do have a Epson 3200 Pro flatbed and have scanned with its 35mm strip holder, but only sometimes just not quite satisfied. I have 2 film holders with Newton glass made for the Epson that I got for the Xpan format. I bought on a group buy online but haven't used it yet, and that was a long time ago. Maybe I'm hoping to be inspired to try the Xpan more, we'll see.

 

[kickbucket1]

Well, I don't own one but am very intrigued. The things stopping me from getting one at this point are: (1) not sure how often I would use it (don't have a lot of time to go and do landscapes so would use it more for candid-type photography); (2) scanning issues (don't want to deal with scanning or buying a large-format scanner and my local pro-shop doesn't scan xpan; and (3) money (so what else is new?)

With respect to #1, above, I'd be curious from owners how they use the xpan: landscapes vs. other stuff?

Having done landscapes (and I'm stll learning) I am thinking of other artistic avenues to use this format. Street, architecture, people, art. Not for commercial use, just self satisfaction. I'm no pro, just an amature. When I do travel, the Xpan is the first camera to hit the travel bag. The camera, lenses and accessories are one of the most compact of all of my formats, except for my Agfa Super Isolette and other RF folders.

 

[Doug]

Welcome, kickbucket1; you've found q nice place to visit! I don't have an XPan, but sometimes I do crop to pano proportions from medium format. I wonder how often XPan owners use the 24x36mm format option of the camera?

 

[jake]

I am very new user of Xpan II & 45mm and this is first post from me. I bougth xpan for street, travel and hiking photography. I use plabel 69 shift (47mm super angulon) viewcamera for critical wide agle landscape and architechture photography and thus I don't need 30mm lens for xpan. Shoulder size portraints and general photos I use Leica digilux 2. I thint that I use xpan in normal mode for portraits too. I scan films Epson 4870 and most times I am very happy with results.

I love panorama format for street photography, but if you want quality and unobtrusitive camera xpan is only real option. How you thisnk, it 90mm lens useful for street photography?

 

[Doug]

Hi Jake; welcome to RFF! Let us see some of your pictures! The 90mm gives you a "normal" angle of view for the long direction while 45mm is normal for the short format. It's hard to say how well the 90mm might work for you in street photography, but it might be good where you have more room to work and longer distances to your subjects, or prefer that longer perspective.

 

[jake]

I have BIG problems with my internet access but now it work again. I upload very first picture RFF gallery. It is also my first xpan photo. I will post more photos on next weeked.

 

[jamesong]

Apart from all the formats that I am applying to my photography, I am also using the Xpan. A great camera for my panoramic photography as a substitute. I have some images in my website.

Happy shooting.

 

[berci]

I use the normal format a lot on my XPan, approximately half of the shots are normal. That's the whole point, you can switch between the formats and I do it all the time. #:-]

 

[wdenies]

After realizing that I was cropping 70% of my landscapes to a pano format, I started looking for a real pano camera.
Fuji and Linhof build superb pano cameras for rollfilm but you have to be in excellent financial and physical condition to carry those monsters.
Beginning this year my camera store offered me a 2nd hand Xpan (7 rolls shot!) and..... I could not resist.
For scanning I use the Epson 4870 in combination with the Silverfast AI software.

One negative point: (has nothing yo do with the Xpan)
Pictures taken on colour film (pos. & negat.) look great. Last week I used Tmax 400 EI 350. This film was developed by the local store and a disappointing result (no details in the higlights)
I think I will reopen my darkroom!

Do not hesitate to visit my RFF galery and give comments