Down through the ages, there have been many types of panoramic camera, but one style has survived and is still available today – the swing lens camera. This obviously can only be used by film buffs, but digital photographers can use a swing lens camera with film, have it processed but not printed, and then scan the negatives.

In a swing lens camera, the lens is situated at the end of a short tube, at the other end of which is a slit. The film is loaded around a curved film plane and then, as the exposure is made, the lens swings through an arc, progressively building up the image on the film as it goes. The faster the lens swings, the faster the effective shutter speed.



The camera on the left is called the Horizon and these can still be bought new today. It shoots the equivalent of one and a half 35mm frames side by side to give an image on 35mm film that is 24 x 58mm. The camera on the right is the Horizont, more of a collectable camera, made in the 1950s, but which works on the same principle. Both cameras give an even weirder effect if you turn them vertically and shoot an upright panorama.



This camera is an FT-2, another swing-lens camera from the 1950s, which shoots the equivalent of three frames side by side, producing a super-wide 110 x 24mm negative.

To use a swing lens camera, point it straight at the principal subject, keeping it as steady and straight as possible. The swing of the lens will then take in other aspects of the subject either side.