Mechanical XPAN, is it possible?

Archlich said:
There is also this...unspeakable horror dripping with the original sin that is called Holga. They have a model called 135 Pan, with a 55/8 lens. It (somehow) does the job and doesn't break the bank. Plenty of fun for the price if you'd take it as is.
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While we're on the topic of unspeakable horrors and sins, there's also the Lomography Sprocket Rocket. 30mm with two apertures, f/10.8 and f/16, with a fixed 1/100 shutter speed plus bulb. I have one, never got along with it, and is in pile of gear waiting to be sold. 😛
 
The Mamiya 6MF has a good 35mm adapter which turns it into a very usable Xpan-ish thing.
As for the mechanical version of an Xpan, the easiest way to do this would be to get a folding 120 camera then simply mask the film plane and make an adapter for 35mm cassettes. After that, you could hack a stereo camera as was already mentioned.
Phil Forrest
 
I DIY-ed a Holgarama few years back. Cheap, very light, fully mechanical, 6x12 format but using 120 film and scale-focus only. Works great. Poor man's technorama 😀

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Huss said:
Post some pics you took with it!
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My Coolscan 9000 could not scan 6x12 so I didn't scan a lot of pictures.

This was the very first scan (two 6x9 scans stitched) to see if there was any light leaking. (There was indeed leaking as evident in this shot, but was rectified since.)

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Interesting cameras in here...wow! For the OP, I would think your X-Pan May survive longer than you think and retrofitting it with mechanical insides is probably going to be costly and imprecise.
 
Hey everyone! thanks so much for all the insight! I guess it's not realistic to retrofit a XPAN skeleton with mechanical parts. However I had no clue there were so many great alternatives! thanks everyone.
 
yes, some very interesting custom cameras in this thread! Fun!

I'd leave the Xpan alone and just use it. In my experience, the least likely thing to fail on any of my cameras has been the shutter timing mechanism of the ones with electronic shutters ... What has failed or needed ongoing service over the years has always been the mechanical shutter timing mechanisms, in particular the slow-speed timing mechanism (in addition to rangefinder mechanisms and occasional film transport mechanisms). In the electronically timed cameras, the electronics that have shown the most failures are the bits that drive electronic display bits, but the camera continues to work fine even with those bits dead.

All of the cameras I've had that need attention are older cameras, from the early days of the incorporation of electronics into cameras. So far, not one of my all-electronic* digital cameras has failed at all.

* "all-electronic" excepting the shutter recock mechanism, which still relies upon spring power to operate.

I wouldn't worry about it over much. Just go make photographs! 😀

G
 
Godfrey said:
yes, some very interesting custom cameras in this thread! Fun!
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Oh, yeah. I love the converted stereo camera. And it's pretty hard to convince myself I don't want to have one 🙂

Godfrey said:
I'd leave the Xpan alone and just use it. In my experience, the least likely thing to fail on any of my cameras has been the shutter timing mechanism of the ones with electronic shutters ...
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One anecdotal story about it: When I had to send my Xpan to service, because the finder needed to be adjusted, I asked the guy who did the repair (and who was trained in Japan at Fuji to repair and service Xpans back in the time) if there is anything else what he would recommend to service, once it is in the workshop anyways, like the shutter.

He replied he never saw a failed shutter, it would be more likely that the film transport motor or the main switch would be failing.
 
I love love love the XPan and have been using it as my main camera of recent months. I agree that there is some fear of the shutter or electronics eventually failing, but I am not going to stop enjoying the camera I have because I'm worried it might eventually die. All electronics eventually fail, but so far, my XPan has been an amazing camera and companion.



That said, I would also love a mechanical advance/shutter on the XPan and understand the reasons why people are nervous about buying/owning them.
 
Inspired by these diy cameras, a few years ago I cobbled together a broken canon P and a mamiya 65mm f6.3 together to make a panoramic camera. It uses a cut down focusing bellows I had lying around to focus the lens. And I filed the film gate to make it a lot wider. It’s a bit weird, and I still haven’t figured out how to frame properly, but it works ok.
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Regards Nathan
 
One option to consider is the Widelux. Fixed lens but all mechanical and still available for less than the Xpan. I have both an xpan and a widelux and prefer the Xpan but the Widelux produces a unique look also.

http://stevediggins.com/2016/04/14/jeff-bridges-widelux-camera/

If you're willing to go digital the Fujifilm GFX 50R can be set to shoot the 65x24 format.
https://fujilove.com/shooting-panoramas-with-the-gfx-50r/

In the end you only live once, if it's an Xpan you want, go for it! Cheers, jc
 
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