That the best cropped pocket pano camera is the Ansco Pix Panorama
I had just loaded film into one of my favorite 35mm toy cameras - the Ansco Pix Panorama, when I paused to read the following on the base - "Made in China U.S. Patent 4,595,269"
Patented? What could the patent be for? Within a few minutes of Google searching, I found the patent and the patent abstract:
Camera Double Exposure Prevention System
Patent number: 4595269
Abstract: A double-exposure prevention system for a still camera having a cockable spring-biased linear movable shutter-actuating slider operable between a cocked condition and held thereat by a latch movably responsive to a manually operated release member and thereafter upon release of the latch to a shutter-actuating position is provided with means for allowing one end of the slider to be rotated out of and away from the axis of the shutter-actuating movement throughout most of the subsequent rewind operation. While in this second angular position, the slider disables the operation of the release member, preventing accidental tripping of the latch after a cocking condition has been restored. During a small terminal portion of the film advance and after the preceding frame has been safely advanced so as to be out of the way, the film advance mechanism then rotates the slider back to its initial position.
Type: Grant
Filed: October 9, 1984
Date of Patent: June 17, 1986
Assignee: W. Haking Enterprises Limited
Inventor: Wai C. Wong
You can download and read the entire patent, if you wish.
I'd heard of Haking, as the Halina cameras are attributed to that company. From Camerapedia, I found:
W. Haking Enterprises Ltd. is a camera and binocular maker based in British Hong Kong. It was founded by Dr. Haking Wong (1906-1996) and Dr. Pauline Chan in 1956. In 2002 the company was taken over by Dr. Tony Chak-Leung Tai & Dr. Tai-Chin Lo and built a new factory in Xinhui (Guangdong). Its camera products of the brands Halina and Ansco are distributed nowadays in the UK, Ireland, the Middle East and Africa by a company named Halina Imaging, that belongs to the British photographic distribution company SPS Logistics. Older cameras of Haking are marked as "Empire made"
Makes sense that the camera is the ANSCO Pix Panorama, as Haking has rights to the Ansco name. But the patent? I could see nothing in the Pix Panorama that makes it appreciably different from all the other simple 35mm plastic cameras with a lens cover that locks the shutter when its closed. The Pix Panorama came out in 1986-87, and Haking also sold the same camera branded as the Halina Panorama. It was also sold as the Hanimex Panorama 35, Suntone MM350, Arico Panorama CL-168 and Revue Panorama. Without fully investigating all of the claims in the patent, I can only assume that it's just novel enough to be accepted. But, for such a simple camera it raises questions. Do other makers of cheap plastic cameras (including Kodak) have a different mechanism or did they pay royalties to Haking for using the patent features?
Okay, enough of the arcane world of patents and copyrights. The Ansco Pix Panorama still remains one of my favorite 35mm toy cameras for three reasons:
- Viewfinder shows the panoramic field of view
- 27mm 2-element lens
- removable pano mask
The 13x36 pano mask inside the camera can be removed to give a really nice 24x36 mm wide-angle negative. You can remove the front of the camera and mess with the viewfinder to give the full-frame view, but I never did that. As a pocket pano camera, I think it's the best of the bunch, mostly because of the lens. The shutter is supposed to be 1/125 sec and an f/11 aperture. On a sunny day, ISO 100 film will be fine. Much has been said about the "faux pano" 13x36 cropped frame. While no, it's not as good as say, a 24x72 pano frame, with the right film and lighting, your cropped pano images can be pretty good. These cameras can be slipped easily into a pocket, and will surprise you with their results. I've had an ANSCO Pix Panorama since at least 2005, and in searching for older images to be included in my forthcoming 35mm toy camera issue of Monochrome Mania, I found a lot of images that I'd forgotten about. I'm all about cheap panos, and this camera will get more use this year, I promise.
Here are a few images from years past:
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| 2006, Ilford Delta 400 |
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| 2006, Ilford Delta 400 |
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| 2006, Ilford Delta 400 |
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| 2007, Ilford HP-5+ |
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| 2007, Ilford HP-5+ |
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| 2007, Ilford HP-5+ |
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| 2007, Ilford HP-5+ |
OMG. This is great pots. thanks you for share. Tu chong am
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