Nokia Asha 300, at the Farmer's Market II

Panoramas: Images with a vintage candy-bar Nokia Asha 300, cropped to the 2.7:1 image aspect, an early morning trip to the Farmer's Market, Part II.

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Part II of my outing to the Farmer's Market with the Nokia Asha 300, with the images cropped to the 2.7:1 image aspect ratio. The crop might not be the true Xpan image, but the image aspect ratio is. The visit has been quite a while, just before the COVID-19 constraints were imposed.

Nokia Asha 300

Nokia Asha 300, at the Farmer's Market I

Panoramas: Images with a vintage candy-bar Nokia Asha 300, cropped to the 2.7:1 image aspect, an early morning trip to the Farmer's Market, Part I.

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It has to be a very early morning trudge or even a footslog, verging on dawn, if you are after the best of choice and the widest of selection of farm produce and what have you at the farmer's market. Park your car away from the rush into the site's parking lot, do the walk-in instead, and take your time with the pick, and you can still be done before the sun is up.

Images were shot on the Nokia Asha 300 and cropped to the 2.7:1 image aspect ratio.

Nokia Asha 300

Nokia Asha 300, A Cinematic Sunday

Panoramas: A day out with a Nokia Asha 300 (2011), a classic touch-type feature phone, with images cropped to the 2.7:1 cinematic image aspect ratio.

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I am not into movie-making here, just the fun of having a few images cropped to the 2.4:1 cinematic image aspect ratio and a visual storyboard of a Sunday outing with the Nokia Asha 300, the camera phone I have been regularly using for the past few months.

The 2.4:1 cinematic image aspect ratio, or anamorphic format, is a cinematography technique that shoots a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio.

When projected, the 'distorted' images are again stretched through an anamorphic projection lens to recreate the original aspect ratio on the viewing screen.

Nokia Asha 300

While we do have mobile devices that are starting to use the 21:9 format, these images are not. They were shot on the Nokia Asha 300 at its native 4:3 image aspect ratio, post-processed, and cropped to the 2.4:1 image aspect on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3). Final print sharpening was done on Google NIK Sharpener Pro3.

LOMO Holga 120Pan, Trying To Get It Right II

Panoramas: Getting it right with the Holga 120Pan, a lightweight, plastic medium-format panoramic film camera, on a roll of expired Fujifilm Pro 160-S.

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Well, here I am, back again with the Holga 120-Pan at the park right near where I live, and as per my previous visit, I had the camera loaded with a roll of expired Fujifilm Pro 160-S.

The Holga 120-Pan is a medium-format 6x12 panoramic camera released around 2010. Its form factor is based on the Holga 120-WPC pinhole camera body, as can be seen by the same field of view lines on top of the body.

The camera comes with an attached viewfinder, two hot shoes, and a level bubble, features that make the Holga almost a complete contraption, all set and ready for tilt and yaw adjustments.

Holga 120-Pan

The 90mm optical lens has the same four focusing distance positions as seen on other Holgas as well - 1M,  2M, 6M, and 10M-Infinity. Same as other Holga cameras, it has a single (N) 1/100 second shutter with a B(ulb) setting. The film back has a fixed film counter window.

Holga 120-Pan

To get the correct frame count, the film must be advanced to the next odd-numbered exposure number; otherwise, the film will not be properly forwarded to cover the panoramic film frame, and overlapping exposure will occur. An optional 35mm film kit is also available, which can expose 24 x 108mm images.

Olympus LT Zoom 105, Highway R&R Stops

Panoramas: Images with the Olympus LT Zoom 105 Panorama QD (1997), a stylish, weather-resistant 35mm point-and-shoot camera with a 38-105mm zoom lens.

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A category of 35mm film cameras capable of taking panoramas is cameras with the crop-frame feature. These are normally full-frame 35 mm cameras with a switch or lever that activates a pair of blind or crop film gates that will reduce the 24 x 36 mm frame size to about 14mm x 36mm.

The Olympus LT Zoom 105 QP is one of these cameras. The panorama switch lever is located at the back of the top plate, towards the left side of the body. When activated, the lever will not only set the film gate to the panoramic shooting position but will also activate another pair within the viewfinder window, making the viewfinder panoramic as well.

Olympus LT Zoom 105 Panorama QD

As all images are still captured on the 24mm x 36mm film frame, you are free to switch between the two shooting modes - full-frame and cropped-frame panorama - on any frame you wish to do so. Aside from the diminutive viewfinder, the autofocus and fully automatic retro-style LT Zoom 105 with the Zuiko 38-105mm F4.5- 8.9 zoom lens are quite fun to use.

LOMO Holga 120Pan, Trying To Get It Right I

Panoramas: Getting it right with the Holga 120Pan, a lightweight, plastic medium-format panoramic film camera, on a roll of expired Fujifilm Pro 160-S.

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The Holga 120-Pan, similar to its sibling Holga 120-GN, is a very lightweight, simplistic camera that comes in a plastic body that is susceptible to light leaks, a 90mm optical lens, a single shutter speed of 1/100th second, and two aperture settings, f/8 and f/11.

The Holga 120 Pan, however, takes 60x120mm panoramic images on 120 format color or B&W film, which is twice as wide as the square 6x6 format.

Focusing is adjustable to 4 zones - portrait, small group, big group, and infinity. Interestingly, the camera is fitted with a clear-line viewfinder fixed to the top plate and a spirit level embedded within the top plate towards the left of the top plate.

Holga 120-Pan

The film back, with the red film frame count window set for 12 and 16 (glued fixed) frames, is clearly from the GN model; the 120-Pan can only take up to 6 shots per 120 film roll. In use, with nothing much by manual control or other adjustments, all you have to do is set the camera level and steadiness before pressing the shutter.