Wide Pan Pro II 140 Test Drive

Recently we had the very first Wide Pan Pro II 140 returned to our office, because there was a slight problem with the 2-second setting. The good news is that everything else on the camera worked perfectly. So before sending this camera back to the lomo-doctor for a check-up, I decided to take it out for a test-drive and see what all the fuss is about.

Recently we had the very first Wide Pan Pro II 140 returned to our office, because there was a slight problem with the 2-second setting. The good news is that everything else on the camera worked perfectly. So before sending this camera back to the lomo-doctor for a check-up, I decided to take it out for a test-drive and see what all the fuss is about.

First off, this thing is a beast. Imagine a camera the size of 3 Horizon Perfekts. Carrying it around is exhausting. This is no LC-A+ by any means. After 20 minutes of shooting, my arms were actually tired from swinging it around. Forget putting it on a strap unless you have a great chiropractor.

Then there is loading the film. Those of you old enough to remember those old projectors they used to use in schools will remember what loading film is like!

Operationally, the camera is amazing. All the settings you could ever need, plus focusing which the Horizon does not do. It took me a few moments of study to get the hang of the switches and advances. Then I was off and shooting. And to make it even sweeter, this is a camera that can shoot multiple-exposures without advancing! Swoon!

One of the problems with shooting medium format film through a Wide-Pan camera is that with 120 film, you only can get 6 shots to a roll. This can get very expensive if you plan to shoot often with this camera. But there is a perfect alternative: use 220 film! I had a few boxes laying around, so I put in 220, and now I can get double the amount of images as 120 – 12 to a roll – and since my lab charges the same price for processing 120 as 220, I get double the photos for the same price!

But what makes this camera so incredibly sweet is the thing that matters most – the photos! All you have to do is look at the quality of these medium format panoramic photos to see why this camera is worth every penny.

Enjoy!

http://shop.lomography.com/widepan/widepanpro/

Scritto da ouroborosx il 2008-11-04 in #gear #medium-format #review #panoramic #wide-pan