I've been doing panoramic photography since about 1992, when I first encountered a 35mm Widelux camera. I was immediately taken by the extreme perspective and shape of the image. It’s a great tool for highlighting an extraordinary subject, or for bringing a new perspective to something ordinary.
I’ve had people comment pejoratively on the distinctive distortion caused by the camera’s rotating swinglens. My response is always, “of course it's distorted! That’s the point!” My feeling is that a non-rotating, panoramic lens (such as on the Fuji 617) is not truly panoramic, but merely a cropped “normal” image. It’s the distortion of the swivel lens that puts you into the picture.
Technically, this camera is very limited. It’s cumbersome to carry, slow to load, and requires a great deal of care in framing and composition. By its very nature, it requires extra attention in use.
All of the photos in this set are taken with a 35mm Widelux F7 camera. The distinctive feature of this camera is the rotating taking lens, which swivels a about 130 degrees to create a panoramic view. This creates a negative that measures about 120mm wide — which is roughly 1-2/3 the size of a standard negative.
Of course, today these kinds of images can be more easily done digitally. Recently I have retired my trusty Widelux and taken up Quicktime VR panoramas.