Why Shoot Panoramas and a Special Digital Fujifilm XPan Camera is Needed

We recently told you that Fujifilm could potentially release…

• the digital version of the Panorama XPan camera in 2028

For all the details check out our article here.

The reaction were mixed, but mostly positive, with 55% of you approving such a camera.

And one of the guys who would be very happy about such a camera is FR-reader Pavel, who back in 2022 shared with us his renderings about a digital Fujifilm X Pan Camera. You can read the article and see the images here.

Well, Pavel reviewed the comments on our rumor and wanted to address some of the skepticism surrounding this camera.

Hence, down below I’ll share a short article where Pavel explains why a special panorama camera is needed.

by Pavel

Why shoot panoramas and why a special camera is needed for this

As with most people, the first panoramic images I saw were in the cinema. However, I never tried to analyze the framing, focusing more on the story, actors, music, and special effects. But the first time I saw panoramic photography, it was really striking. It was a clipart collection with many photographs of very common agricultural landscapes, suburbs, some woods, and parks. Nothing “gorgeous” or “dramatic,” but those “basic” sceneries in a panoramic frame looked incredibly attractive.

I watched those images every day, and still love them. Few things that I understood from them: 

• There is amazing freedom of composition in panoramic frame
• Narrow vertical FOV allows foreground and background keeps its visual importance
• Foreground branches, trunks, stones could cover 5/6 of the frame and still does not obscure the distant background, preserving depth and “scenic feel”
• Arguably panoramas are rather natural to human perception.
• Panoramic framing is very good in recreating the “feeling of space” giving high immersiveness

I don’t know who was the author of those pictures, but I believe some of them could be taken by Garry Irving (YouTube).

Later on, I realized how good this framing is for street photography and portraits. Panoramas are not that specific—they are rather universal. I don’t mean that panoramic framing is simply the best, as there is no “perfect frame” for every situation. A wide view may lack the coziness of common 1:1 or 3:2 ratios, and panoramas may not be good for showing vertical stratifications or when you want a lot of sky. What I mean is that there is no reason to omit panoramas in digital photography. It is a rather popular format in film photography and is the main reason why I started shooting film in 2008. Try searching for a 6×17 panoramic camera on eBay. Fuji made two: the GX617 and the G617. Those are for landscapes. The Fujifilm TX-1 (Hasselblad Xpan) is perfect for street photography. Search “xpan” on Flickr or on YouTube (check out the one from GxAce in particular) to see examples. But you don’t find many photographers around you with an Xpan, right? It was always very rare and expensive and still is—starting from $5000 on eBay.

Now blitz-replies to some comments.

 Why not just put cropping mode in camera? Why is a panoramic digital camera needed? 

• When cropping a common sensor to a panorama you throw away almost half of the pixels your camera is capable of. With the logic of cropping you may not need a telephoto lens – just do your crops! The idea of panoramas is extending, not cropping.
• Neither modern digital camera is optimized for framing panoramas – you’ll get cropped viewfinder and the screen
• Common for any enthusiastic photography – specialized and optimized camera helps to be focused on favorite type of scenes. Being focused is important not to miss.

Why not do stitched panoramas?

• Stitching is a very restricted option. I did lots of them before I bought a panoramic camera. Tripod with a special panoramic head is needed to avoid spatial parallax on close objects. Only still scenes with no wind are good to shoot to have no problems on stitching. No long exposure possible. No street photography, no portraits.. 

What to do with panoramas (in 16:9 world)?

• Enjoy them as normal photos! Print, watch on TVs, monitor, phone. Panoramic monitors are not something rare. 

Thanks to all for your attention.