i am finally back in the panoramic game - join me for a walk around a german east frisian island with my mammoth linhof technorama 617s camera.
Ever since I sold my Hasseblad Xpan (35mm panoramic camera) I have lusted after a new panoramic camera. I have always had my eye on the medium format version (either the Fuji G617 or the impressive Linhof Technorama system). Both seemed out of bounds for a long time given the crazy prices, but I lucked out on a Linhof Technorama 617s system, that whilst second hand, had been well taken care of and importantly came with a center filter and external Linhof viewfinder. The camera has a fixed 90mm f5.6 large format lens.
This camera takes 4 shots on a medium format 120 film and let me tell you, the negatives are HUGE. I opted for a roll of Rollei Infrared film (don’t ask me how much an infrared filter cost for this camera…) and a roll of colour Kodak Gold 200 and off I went around the island.
My first shot on IR film, looking for some strong contrasts and a bit of cloud is always good. I have not shot Rollei IR film in years and for some reason thought it was an ISO 100 film so I took into account 5 stops for the IR filter. Only after finishing the roll I realised it is actually a ISO 400 film so I should have been measuring at ISO 12 instead of 3, hence some of the images seem a touch over exposed.
Great first image, really pleased with the strong contrast.
I found this scene hard to compose but I was interested in how different it was left to right, and with the distant wind park on the mainland.
I like the final image, great detail through the shot as you zoom in.
I had a great composition here but managed to mess up rolling on the film and ended up with a funky double exposure!
Part of the final image, the rest is double exposed onto the next frame.
The unplanned double exposure, which actually looks quite interesting! It is a pity the sky is not blue the whole way through the frame.
Vertical shots - hard to do!
The final vertical shots. These are very hard to compose for. The infrared one is quite overexposed and also has some scanning deficiencies in the image, although I am amazed by the level of resolution when you crop the water tower in both infrared and colour shots.
I feel the final image would have looked a lot better if I had positioned myself much closer to the beach cottages, but given many were full I thought it would be a bit intrusive. I might try the shot again during the early morning when the beach is empty.
overall observations
I am delighted to be back in the ‘panoramic game’. The 617 is a mammoth of a camera and whilst it only does one thing, boy does it do it well! The external viewfinder is fantastic for walking around and checking out compositions before pulling out the large camera and setting up the tripod, etc, which can take ages.
I really enjoyed shooting infrared again, it is one of my favourite film stocks, and in wide panoramic mode it is hard to beat, even if I messed up the exposure on some of the shots.
Here’s to more outdoor adventures with this panoramic camera - see you next time!
Neil
