This is what I crave if I could find the budget for it:
New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
81–90 of 120 posts
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#82I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…
You can get a new panoramic film camera for $69 - the Sprocket Rocket [1]. It makes images with grungy lomography charm - edges are soft but center is surprisingly sharp for a plastic lens. I really like the look of the images it produces. It has a hot shoe and a bulb setting. [1] https://shop.lomography.com/us/sprocket-rocket-35-mm-film-pa...
They used to sell one that was much closer, the Horizon Kompact, that is reasonably available used (https://shop.lomography.com/us/horizon-kompakt)
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#83For those that don't understand the connection: Jeff Bridges has been using Widelux cameras since at least the 80s. He's even got shots from the set of Tron! https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/3... https://www.reddit.com/r/lebowski/comments/1rjcrfj/behindthe...
Amusing that's he's praised the original for it's lack of precision and predictability, which makes it more "human" and "honest", then spends loads of money refining it. Must be craving precision crafted dishonesty in his photography these days.
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#84I was trying to understand what’s new in this version compared to the old one. From the site: What Has Changed - Modern precision - Serviceable parts - Modern glass - Improved rewind - Custom finishes Which is a bit too vague for my taste.
Well that's just like, your opinion, man
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#85The "single exposure" brag is a bit silly. Since it's a swinging lens one side of the frame will be older than the other.
This is being pedantic. Actually, I'm not even sure it's pedantic so much as just wrong. Such is also the case for rolling shutter cameras, the top of the frame is older than the bottom. That's why you get strange artifacts when recording video of fast rotating objects on your smartphone. But we still call it a single exposure.
That's a fair point. I was comparing the claim to rolling vs global shutter rather than "take a photo, rotate, take a photo." You can, however, get a true global shutter single exposure panorama using anamorphic lenses.
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is indeed part of the charm. The people who like swing lens panoramic cameras like the Widelux like that look. The alternative is something like the Hasselblad Xpan, or even just a panoramic crop from a regular camera. A swing lens does something unique.
I'm curious, is it generally used hand-held, as in the website's pics? I would guess that it adds wobbling on top of the distortion (maybe a less desirable feat).
Yes, they're handheld.
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#87I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…
It’s an esoteric enthusiast product handmade in Germany to extreme mechanical precision. It’s a miracle they got it down to $4400… I bet they’re not making much money on this, and it’s more of a labor of love.
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#88I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…
You can get a new panoramic film camera for $69 - the Sprocket Rocket [1]. It makes images with grungy lomography charm - edges are soft but center is surprisingly sharp for a plastic lens. I really like the look of the images it produces. It has a hot shoe and a bulb setting. [1] https://shop.lomography.com/us/sprocket-rocket-35-mm-film-pa...
While cool, there is quite a bit of difference between this and what the widelux is. The widelux rotates the lens as the front cover moves, which creates a drastically different look.
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#89I've been patiently waiting for this to drop for ~5 years, and I was hoping that it would somehow be under $1000. Oh my god. $4400 is... a lot of money. $175 shipping had better include a Jeff Bridges Cameo video. Don't get me wrong: I suspect that he's spent millions of dollars getting the project to this point, and that it's a mechanically perfect instrument. Huge respect for caring this much and seeing the project…
That is bonkers pricing. There is no way they actually expect a sell out with this price.
There is a whole class of people out there that think about money in ways you and I cannot comprehend, and this product is for them, not us. It'll be successful without us little folks.
Re: New mechanical panoramic film camera from Jeff Bridges
#90I'm glad that this exists. I hope Wideluxx is able to make a profit and remain in operation. But for me, while I think film is cool, that's one rabbit hole that I have no interest in going down personally. And if I did, I would probably buy used vintage gear rather than spending $4,400 on a new (and extremely niche) film camera. Digitial photography and retro film simulations/filters are good enough for me if I want…
There's a pretty significant misunderstanding here of why people shoot with film or use any high-end camera; it's got very little to do with the end result. After all, very few people evaluate an image based on what camera it was captured on. No, it's much closer to the reason car people still have manual transmissions. Shooting a rangefinder or TLR are completely different experiences than an SLR. Shooting a Hasselb…
This is only true for gear hoarders. Many many many people still shoot film or use high end cameras explicitly for the end result.