Panon
|
| Premises of the Pano Camera Co. in Tokyo image by Keita Sato (Image rights) |
Panon Camera Shoko was a small-scale Japanese camera manufacturer, founded by Nakayama Shozo in 1952. The company is bets known as the maker of the Widelux panoramic cameras. The Widelux, as well as its predecessor the Panon, uses a lens which swivels through a horizontal arc, projecting an image onto a cylindrical film gate.[1] The principle is similar to the Noblex and Horizont cameras—or for that matter the Kodak Panoram series, begun in 1899.
Panon was the name of the company's original 1952 panoramic camera for 120 film. In 1958 the company introduced the Widelux FV which used 35mm film (135), and which underwent various model upgrades (last model F8, ceased production in 2000). In 1987 Panon resumed offering a model for 120 film, the Widelux 1500, but production was ended when the factory suffered a fire in the mid 1990s.[2]
|
| Widelux 1500 for 120 film image by Jean-Luc Elias (Image rights) |
Product Line
Panorama Cameras 120 format
- Panon Camera 50A (1952)
- Panon Camera AII (1952, Oct) with Konica Hexanon f/2.8 50mm[3]
- Panon Camera AIII (1953, Jun) with Panon /2.8 50mm[4]
- Panon Camera AI (1954)
- Widelux 1500 (1980)
- New Widelux 1500 (1987)
Panorama Cameras 135 format
|
| Widelux F7 panorama camera for 35mm film image by Rachel Rayns (Image rights) |
- Widelux FI (prototype?)
- Widelux FV (1958) with Panon f/2.8 26mm
- Widelux FV I(~1964)
- Widelux F6 (~1970)
- Widelux F6B (~1970s)
- Widelux F7 (1979-1988)
- Widelux F8 (1988–mid 1990s)
Other
- Septonflex accessory reflex finder
Notes and References
- ↑ Movies showing the turret of a Widelux F7 turning at various exposure speeds as seen from camera front and camera back
- ↑ Detailed information on Panon is very hard to come by
- ↑ West Licht Auction 3, Lot 799
- ↑ Panon Camera AIII at Map camera
Links
- Japanese Wikipedia entry
- image of (closed-down) workshop Photo by Keita Sato
