Horizon 202 Panoramic

By Steve Graham

Format: 24x58mm on 35mm film
Lens: Revolving fixed focus 28mm F2.8
Angle of view: approximately 120 degrees
Shutter Speeds: 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250
Aperture Range: F2.8 - F22
Metering: No
Winder: Manual

The Russian built Horizon 202 camera is an all manual revolving lens model, taking 24x58mm exposures on 35mm film with it's fixed focus 28mm lens. The resulting negative can be printed using a masked off 6x6 negative carrier - I get mine done by a professional lab, Robert Lam in Hong Kong.

Build Quality:
The body is made of heavy plastic, and certainly gives the impression of solid build and reliability. The only reliability problem I've encountered so far has been inconsistent gaps between exposed frames - even the occasional slight overlap. I'm told this is due to leaving some film slack on loading the camera, so care must be taken. The viewfinder is perched on top of the body and is prone to a lot of distortion. It does however allow the viewing of the essential bubble level - if the camera is not absolutely level the results can be a bit weird.

Optical Quality:
The fixed 28mm lens seems to give good quality results, although due to the nature of the wide angle view and a natural tendency towards flare of the wide angle format care must be taken. Overall sharpness seems good - colour rendition I'm unable to comment on as I've restricted use to B&W so far.

Features: This is one thing that a camera like this is rather short on - no winder, no metering, no-AF etc, although you do get a reasonable range of shutter speeds and apertures, a dinky little handle for the bottom (holding normally would get your fingers in shot!) and a set of three filters. Filters are very specific to the camera, clipping in to a little recess at the front of the lens - the three supplied aren't all that useful but can be modified with some ingenuity and kodak gels.

Overall:
If you want proper panoramic images, with an extreme wide angle view, you have to be prepared to pay for it. I bought mine for the equivalent of $400 US - a quarter of the prime of its nearest competitor. For that alone, and for the good quality results it's capable of the Horizon 202 must rate as fine value.

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