Trying to evaluate the need for a XPan …

Thanks Tim, so understand I right, that there is no under or overexposure indication, just a right on LED?

I very often meter with deliberate over or underexposure on the fly with the Leica and the help of the arrows - very easy and quick use. I would miss these indicators.

The AE use without indication of shutter speed would be an issue, especially with the rather slow lenses, the XPan offers.

It looks, the XPan II is really the better camera for this, but double the price ???
 
Sorry, the display has a -, a dot, and a +. So you know when you are over or under. It also has exposure compensation on the top. The lack of a readout in the finder in AE mode does kind of stink as I said.

However, in my use so far, if the light is good, AE is perfectly useable. Actually, I just use an incident meter and put the camera in manual as I find this the fastest way to work in good relatively stable light. If the light is bad, the lens is kind of too slow anyway to be used handheld effectively, so the AE/shutter readout thing isn't that big of a deal. At least the way I shoot.

I got mine for $1350. All the XPan II's I saw were over $2000.
 
Thanks Tim for clarifying that ;-)
Sounds like it's not more difficult to use like my M6 then.

Is the AE Lock used with a position of the shutter release button or an extra button?


This is a solid, reliable, strong camera. For what you get, the price is very reasonable.
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I feel the same for a XPan + 45mm package for slightly over 1000 USD.

might be an alternative:

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~razzle...ssion_617.html
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Although interesting, it is too alien from what I use otherwise ;-)
The XPan really looks like a nice addition as of it's form factor.

Does it have the same height and depth, like a Leica M with 50mm lens attached?
This would mean, I could slip one additionally in my current bag and would not recognize the extra bulk (bar the weight).

Can the XPan be set permanently for leader out rewind?
 
Don't know about the leader rewind. It's slightly thicker (very slightly), the same height, and about an inch wider than an M. So it fits in my bags more or less fine in place of an M. The AE setting is a position on the shutter, just like on an M7.
 
Parkes Owen said:
There a plenty of cheap MF options , but they are mostly SLR`s, so to get a 25mm FOV like the xpan will have a typical wide angle look and distortion.
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You get exactly the same wide angle look with an XPan - an angle of view is an angle of view. Distortion is just a matter of buying a good lens, but it's not like there's a shortage of good SLR or RF 24mm lenses.
 
Looks like this is sitting it out - XPans in Shanghai camera shops go for 2100 USD (!!!) - that would be XPan I + 45mm without box in user condition (paint off).

This is madness.
 
Xpans are great cameras with very good optics, but too much money for my tastes $12-1500.00 I have used a russian Horizon 202 panoramic camera for years and for the most I am very happy with it. It is a swing lens camera with 120 degree view, Wide enough for most panoramics. It make 56mm long exposures on 35mm film twice the width as a 35mm frame. It has shutter speeds of 1/2 sec thru 1/250 sec, fast enough to freeze moving subjects. And slow enough for low light photography. Best of all you can pick up one on ebay for 200-300.00 bucks Very Reasonable.... Unlike the xpan... Mine is part of my regular kit and if it does not get much use at times, no big deal, I only have a few hundred bucks into it unlike a Xpan............. Kievman www.michaelmaltese.com
 
Yes Colin and Michael - I will wait it out now.
The shops are not the way to go, it seems.

I will experiment further and deliberately look, if I can virtually fit the odd XPan shot into a story - it's a fun experiment, that might end up being a real XPan in my bag some day ;-)

L1000795-Edit-cinema.jpg

"cinema" | M9 | 35 Lux ASPH

L1000785-cinema%20-%20first%20projector.jpg

"cinema - first projector" | M9 | noct f1

L1000787-cinema%20-%20the%20projectionist.jpg

"cinema - the projectionist" | M9 | noct f1

At the moment, I am always shooting mostly the Noct f1, despite, which other camera I carry with me - it's strange.
I only have to switch to the 35mm, when I need wider.
I feel the dream combo for my bag now would be M9+noct f1, XPan + 45 + TriX@3200 and a 35 Lux + Canon 100/2 LTM thrown in the bag for when there is a need.
 
I've made several trips to China with my XPan...a great place for a camera like that.

Swing lens cameras are OK too (I owned a Widelux F7 and the optics were quite good, also. Can't speak for the Horizon) but they are very different machines...for one, you get perspective distortion -- which may or may not be to one's tastes.
To me they are not comparable, just different cameras.
 
Get a 12 or 15 mm CV lens and crop to panorama as a start. At some point, then make a decision on x pan or other pan camera.

Stitching will not work for moving subjects naturally.
 
A challenge in trying to use an XPAN in a fast-moving urban situation is to ensure that everything in the shot from left to right is relevant or pleasing to the eye. Especially with the 30mm lens, I may wind up cropping from the left or right to get rid of something such as a person I don't want--or a garbage can. With the 45mm it's easier to control what gets into the frame; but the 45mm often does not include quite enough vertically.

Next week I will take the XPAN along to Colorado, but I expect to do most of my panoramic shots with the 40mm Distagon on the 500C/M. I have found that a 2:1 aspect ratio is often best for both landscape and urban shots; enough width, combined with enough height. So I crop to 27 x 54mm to project in the Hasselblad projector.

There are times, though, when I need the full coverage of the 30mm XPAN lens.
 
dogberryjr said:
Go big or go home! ;)
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I have had a loooong look through photographs from the swing lens panoramic cameras and find, that they are very interesting tools, but do give you more limitations, where a shot works due to the distortion.

There are some very intelligent uses, where the distortion actually works with the subject, giving the impression, the subject actually shapes in a wave instead of looking like a warped view around a a corner.

I think, it is difficult, to shoot these cameras with this in mind.

@Rob
This is exactly, where I experiment around with cropping frames to the format from the M9.
It is a nice method, to tiptoe into panoramic thinking and evaluating lenses. The 30mm would be too slow and too wide for me I fear (+lifting the system price way into Leica territory).
 
menos said:
I have had a loooong look through photographs from the swing lens panoramic cameras and find, that they are very interesting tools, but do give you more limitations, where a shot works due to the distortion.

There are some very intelligent uses, where the distortion actually works with the subject, giving the impression, the subject actually shapes in a wave instead of looking like a warped view around a a corner.

I think, it is difficult, to shoot these cameras with this in mind.
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Yeah, I was mostly being perverse. I'm still trying to figure out the Noblex.
 
The other alternative is the Mamiya 7 with panaromic adapter. It's a bit big, but you also get 6X7.
 
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