Film camera Horizon 202 — exhibit F189
Film camera2000★★★★★
| Catalog index | F189 |
| Brand | Horizon |
| Model | 202 |
| Case | Yes |
| Production year | 2000 |
| Description | The Horizon-202 is a panoramic camera that doesn't so much "take" a photograph as "scan" the scene. Inside its body, the lens is mounted on a rotating drum: when you press the shutter release, it swings through roughly 120 degrees, and a narrow slit in the shutter gradually sweeps the image onto film. The result isn't just a wide frame — it's a genuinely elongated one, 24×58 mm, about twice the length of a standard 35 mm frame. A standard cassette holds around 22 such exposures. The camera appeared in the early 1990s as an updated version of the original Horizon of 1967. Externally it is distinguished by a plastic body (an early ABS that, by many accounts, proved less than resistant to scratches) and a built-in viewfinder centred on the top plate. Inside the viewfinder there is a bubble level — with panoramic shooting this is not a luxury but a necessity: tilt the camera even slightly, and the horizon line in the resulting image will be noticeably curved. The lens is a fixed MC 2.8/28 (early units came with the OF-28P, later ones with the MC Arsat). The aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/16, shutter speeds from 1/2 to 1/250 second. There is no focusing as such: the lens is set to the hyperfocal distance, so everything from a few metres to infinity should be sharp. The controls are entirely mechanical, with not a single electronic component — a spring mechanism drives the drum, and on release the camera gives a noticeable kick back into your hand. |