Nice.  I always wanted to try a 6x17 camera, or at least an Xpan as a 6x17 presents bigger challenges with scanning.

I bet the slides look amazing.

There's no substitute for size.

On May 12, 2026, at 9:43 AM, pkn291262@gmail.com wrote:

Hello All
I have always liked the idea of a panoramic camera. Unfortunately the funds have never been there. I have and still do use occasionally the panoramic half frame on the mz series cameras. The success varies a lot. I came across this the other day
A half frame 645 conversion on a Pentax 645n
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPeFS_eghps
Could work well
Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: Ralf R Radermacher pdml@uebra.de
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 12:09 PM
To: pdml@pdml.net
Subject: Re: OT Two panoramas

Am 12.05.26 um 11:33 schrieb David Mann:
Nice.  I always wanted to try a 6x17 camera, or at least an Xpan as a 6x17 presents bigger challenges with scanning.

Scanning Xpan frames is more difficult, as there are no 35 mm scanners that scan longer frames. 6x17 can be scanned on a Epson flatbed like the V700. I'm now using a Epson F-3200, a 'real' film scanner that goes up to 6 x 20 cm and 4x5 inch.

The greater challenges arise whie taking the picture. 6x17 has all the drawbacks of large format. You'll have to stop down to f45 in order to get even exposure into the corners of the frame. That leads to rather long exposure times, even in bright daylight. I've had motion blur with river barges...

Night photography at f45 is a constant fight with reciprocal failure in the corners and the darker parts of the scene and requires at least ISO
400 film.

I bet the slides look amazing.

I've only used negative stock because it is less critical to expose.

There's no substitute for size.

Sure is. More size.

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher  -  Köln/Cologne, Germany Blog  : http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Fotos : https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/770012

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Paul I agree with you except in one scenario - movement in the frame.

On May 12, 2026, at 2:16 PM, pkn291262@gmail.com wrote: but q

Paul I agree with you except in one scenario - movement in the frame. I have a sequence of frames from an sea scape that the software will not auto stitch. The movement of the sea prevents it from aligning the frames. I do take digital pano's the last one I think was 5 or 6 frames on a k1. My laptop still struggles to open the end result. I am happy with the result - as you say the software is very good. I personally would probably never hack hardware to achieve something unless there was no other option. I did come across somebody who created a frame to hold 5 entry level Nikon DSLR'S at the right angle and remote releases wired together to get around the movement problem. Again more effort than I will spend.
Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Stenquist pnstenquist@mac.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 6:15 PM
To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List pdml@pdml.net
Subject: Re: OT Two panoramas

Contemporary software makes it easy to create panoramas from multiple high resolution frames. Why fuss with hardware?
Paul

On May 12, 2026, at 9:43 AM, pkn291262@gmail.com wrote:

Hello All
I have always liked the idea of a panoramic camera. Unfortunately the
funds have never been there. I have and still do use occasionally the
panoramic half frame on the mz series cameras. The success varies a
lot. I came across this the other day A half frame 645 conversion on a
Pentax 645n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPeFS_eghps
Could work well
Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: Ralf R Radermacher pdml@uebra.de
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 12:09 PM
To: pdml@pdml.net
Subject: Re: OT Two panoramas

Am 12.05.26 um 11:33 schrieb David Mann:
Nice.  I always wanted to try a 6x17 camera, or at least an Xpan as a 6x17 presents bigger challenges with scanning.

Scanning Xpan frames is more difficult, as there are no 35 mm scanners that scan longer frames. 6x17 can be scanned on a Epson flatbed like the V700. I'm now using a Epson F-3200, a 'real' film scanner that goes up to 6 x 20 cm and 4x5 inch.

The greater challenges arise whie taking the picture. 6x17 has all the drawbacks of large format. You'll have to stop down to f45 in order to get even exposure into the corners of the frame. That leads to rather long exposure times, even in bright daylight. I've had motion blur with river barges...

Night photography at f45 is a constant fight with reciprocal failure
in the corners and the darker parts of the scene and requires at least
ISO
400 film.

I bet the slides look amazing.

I've only used negative stock because it is less critical to expose.

There's no substitute for size.

Sure is. More size.

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher  -  Köln/Cologne, Germany Blog  :
http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Fotos : https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/770012

%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to
pdml-leave@pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.

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link directly above and follow the directions.
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You can also do panoramas in software similar to the way the PZ-1p did
them.

The PZ-1p had a set of masks that covered the top & bottom of the film
frame when you put it into panoramic mode.

With digital you can just crop a strip from the center of the image.
That's how I got the panorama of the snow geese at Bosque del Apache
(in New Mexico)

https://flic.kr/p/fLjxLL

It's just the center of a frame from the K10D cropped to 1x3. No
stitching required.

Paul I agree with you except in one scenario - movement in the frame.

Scanning Xpan frames is more difficult, as there are no 35 mm scanners that scan longer frames. 6x17 can be scanned on a Epson flatbed like the V700. I'm now using a Epson F-3200, a 'real' film scanner that goes up to 6 x 20 cm and 4x5 inch.