X-Pan in contrast with M6

[david b]

I have never owned a Leica but I can you that the Xpan II has dragged me away from medium format and has now allowed me to run around with the camera and a bag full of HP5+.

I LOVE THIS CAMERA.

Check the gallery for some of my images.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I have both (at least for a little while longer . . . the XPan is in the process of being sold). I wound up using them in very different situations; M6 - available light portraiture, XPan - group portraiture outdoors. The quality on the Xpan 45 lens is spectacular. They are very different beasts though. I am surprised that Fuji/Hass did not design a 50/2 or a 40/1.4 lens for this camera just to cover the 35mm format. Oy, they would have had a KILLER ap then. As it was I kept reaching for my Leicas because of the speed and handholdability of the lenses (and, really (and this is the point), the kind of photography that I do). I think it really comes down to personal style and the "frame" you put around objects/scenes in the world. If I were travelling and had to choose between the two, I would take the M6. Fewer things to go wrong, full functionality with a dead battery, no need for a tripod to frame things carefully. And ultimately that is why I decided to sell mine: so that I could plunk the $$ down on something that I will use more often. Happy snaps.

 

[david b]

The only time EVER that I used a tripod with this camera was when I was shooting Pan F+ at 25. My negs came out razor sharp and beautiful. But if you are shooting a faster film, the camera can be handheld without a problem.

The camera kicks ass.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Sans doubt, it is a fantastic camera. I will be sorry to see mine go. But for me, what made it not a general purpose camera was the speed of the lenses. The way I shoot, f4 was just not going to do it often enough.

I'll tell you what I like best about it: the pano format really forced me to consider how I was going to fill the frame -- it made me look at things differently. Oh, and the lens. It was just super.

 

[tamerlin]

Agreed on all counts, except that being a landscape shooter, the XPan works well for my style 🙂

I do use the Leica more than the XPan, but when I find a sight that's worth a tripod, it's the XPan that goes on it rather than the Leica.

In the end, I have no complaints about either, other than the fact that the lenses can get expensive (otherwise I'd have a 30mm XPan and a 90mm Summicron also 🙂).

 

[Terence T]

The Xpan is definitely not built for speed but its ever so soft electronic shutter produces very little shake and can be handheld to speeds as slow as 1/8 without any discernable shake.

I own all 3 lenses with my TX-2 and use the 45mm and 90mm most regularly. The camera usually finds a place in my bag ahead of its other regular 35mm cousins. I've come to appreciate the pano format quite a bit and am in the process of experimenting with pano portraits... talk about having a lot of space in the frame to fill.

 

[GeroV]

A couple of you have mentioned using Velvia with the Xpan - do you then scan the slides or are you projecting them using custom mounts. I have a scanner on the way, so I'd be interested in hearing about your scanning results, and if you're mounting the slides, where can one find the specific mounts for this format?

thanks,
Gero

 

[tamerlin]

A couple of you have mentioned using Velvia with the Xpan - do you then scan the slides or are you projecting them using custom mounts. I have a scanner on the way, so I'd be interested in hearing about your scanning results, and if you're mounting the slides, where can one find the specific mounts for this format?

I'm scanning them, using an Epson flatbed scanner and VueScan. It doesn't always work out so well though; so far, the slides invariably look much better than the scans, usually because the scanner seems to be underexposing them.

I've been told that there are mounts you can get for XPan slides, made by GePe, but you would have to mount them yourself.

 

[wdenies]

Gepe produces 2 mounts for pano.

22x54 mm art.nbr 2603
22x64 mm art,nbr. 2702

the first format fits in a 7x7 projector, the seconf does not!
You will need a special projector (8x8 I think). Those projectors are hard to find and....... VERY EXPENSIVE