The Widepan camera - history

The Delicate Design, Perfect Exemplify tool - as the maker's are keen to impress - Widepan WP617-A is manufactured by the Nanchang Phenix-Panflex Technical Camera Co Ltd., of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. This is a die-cast metal, mechanical medium format film camera producing 6cm X 17cm panoramic photographs using a Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon XL 90mm f/5.6 lens mounted in a Copal fully synchronised lens shutter speeded from 1 to 1/500th second. The lens gives 110 degree horizontal object coverage but is not a wide-angle lens.The camera's design concept is similar to other medium format panoramic cameras such as the Fuji 617 and Linhof Technorama which are considerably larger than the 35mm film Hasselblad X-Pan or Panon Widelux models.

Panoramic photography has been in use since its invention in the 1840s. In the latter days of the 19th and early in the 20th century, the craft was as keenly exploited. Burton Holmes travelled the world shooting stock for his popular lantern slide shows presented across the length and breadth of mid-west America. Josef Sudek was another photographer who used a 50 year old Kodak panoramic camera to create images of his home town of Prague.