thrid Posted April 28 Share #1  Posted April 28 Advertisement (gone after registration) How about a digital Xpan panoramic camera from Leica? The original Hasselblad / Fuji Xpan had a double width 65:24 film gate. Leica could stitch together two full frame sensors, as a single sensor of that size would be very expensive. Alternatively maybe Leica could use two APS-C size sensors stitched together (47.2x15.8). Using APS-C as the basis would also cut down on the camera size. The original xPan had an optical rangefinder, but I have my doubts that Leica would go that route and instead use an EVF. One advantage of the EVF is the ability to show different aspect rations like 2:1, 2:35 and 3:2. Anyone? Leica? Leica? Anyone? https://www.hasselblad.com/about/history/xpan/   Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 28 Posted April 28 Hi thrid, Take a look here Leica Xpan?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Pieter12 Posted April 29 Share #2 Â Posted April 29 Or you could use an S and crop the top and bottom of image. Like the S Leica made for Koudelka. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrid Posted April 29 Author Share #3 Â Posted April 29 (edited) true, but... The S is a lot bigger than an Xpan, that could look like a wide body M The S lenses are pretty big No 65x24 masking or markings in viewfinder Is the S even still in production? You can get a fuji GFX with a 65x24 crop mode complete with masking etc in the viewfinder, but still not quite the same as an Xpan. For the record I've had an Xpan II since the early 2000's. I just wish I had a digital incarnation complete with the optical rangefinder... Edited April 29 by thrid Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pieter12 Posted April 29 Share #4 Â Posted April 29 28 minutes ago, thrid said: true, but... The S is a lot bigger than an Xpan, that could look like a wide body M The S lenses are pretty big No 65x24 masking or markings in viewfinder Is the S even still in production? You can get a fuji GFX with a 65x24 crop mode complete with masking etc in the viewfinder, but still not quite the same as an Xpan. For the record I've had an Xpan II since the early 2000's. I just wish I had a digital incarnation complete with the optical rangefinder... You could probably get a qualified technician to mask the sensor and the viewfinder. The S is no longer in production, yet I don't see that as a barrier. Your proposed camera isn't either, but there are S bodies and sense to be had today. Yes, the S lenses are large and heavy, and far better than the XPan's. I will concede the S is probably twice as tall as an XPan, but the width and depth are about the same. Though the S does weigh 500g more, the ergonomics are excellent, it is a joy to use. Lastly, if Leica were to embark on such an endeavor, you better believe the body and lens would cost about the price of a car. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted April 29 Share #5 Â Posted April 29 I have ha an XPan since they came out, bought for a specific assignment. Its ergonomics are OK and its operation is fast and farly silent, better than many Leicas. I find it forces you to 'see' in a different way which produces some interesting images. You might think it would be great for landscapes, but the fact is I prefer the square format for all my images, including landscape, so it doesn't get a lot of use. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandokan Posted April 29 Share #6  Posted April 29 For a start, the sensors will have to be redesigned as the microlenses towards the edges are designed to minimize the distortion of light entering obliquely. Secondly, the lenses will be huge to cover that much area. And a set will have to be produced, which with low number of sales will be expensive. Thirdly, much easier and cheaper to setup your camera to pivot on the nodal point and stitch multiple images together. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_P Posted April 29 Share #7  Posted April 29 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) vor 6 Stunden schrieb Pieter12: Or you could use an S and crop the top and bottom of image. Like the S Leica made for Koudelka. Feasible and affordable solution: Used Leica S (mechanically these bodies are heavy duty top-notch), pre-owned Leica S 3.5/24 (an outstanding lens) and appropiate cropping in your preferred RAW developer… De facto my most-used combo these days… And if you want it wider (17mm equivalent or less): stitch. Lower cost variant: High-resolution Canon body with the RF 10-20mm zoom. Crop… Edited April 29 by Doc_P Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted April 29 Share #8  Posted April 29 The world isn't short of ways to make a digital panoramic photograph already, and even the simplest most basic tool can do it https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/using/tool-techniques/crop-tool.html  Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted April 29 Share #9 Â Posted April 29 The Hasselblad X series has an Xpan mode. The X1D2 and X2D are pretty ergonomic and quite good as an every day camera. I owned an Xpan when it first came out. Very difficult to use. Hard to find a situation where everything in such a wide frame means something and you don't just end up with dead space. A set up landscape shot is the answer I guess. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankap Posted April 29 Share #10 Â Posted April 29 (edited) I am experimenting with lenticular prints. It is a kind of stitching, taking 5 pictures after one other on a horizontal baseline. That is possible for static objects only. Â So pictures of persons/animals or of nature in the case of wind are almost impossible. By the way, the (Windows) app StereoPhotoMaker SPM is a great help (thanks to Werner Bloos) here too. Edited April 29 by jankap Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrid Posted April 29 Author Share #11  Posted April 29 10 hours ago, Sandokan said: For a start, the sensors will have to be redesigned as the microlenses towards the edges are designed to minimize the distortion of light entering obliquely. Secondly, the lenses will be huge to cover that much area. And a set will have to be produced, which with low number of sales will be expensive. Thirdly, much easier and cheaper to setup your camera to pivot on the nodal point and stitch multiple images together. 1) It wouldn't necessarily use Leica M lenses. Most of them wouldn't cover the 65x24 format anyways. 2) The Xpan lenses were no bigger than Leica M lenses. I have the 45 and 90mm. 3) True, you can stitch, but that doesn't work if you are trying to shoot subjects that are in motion. For that you need a camera that can take a pano shot in a single exposure 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrid Posted April 29 Author Share #12  Posted April 29 (edited) 8 hours ago, Chris W said: The Hasselblad X series has an Xpan mode. The X1D2 and X2D are pretty ergonomic and quite good as an every day camera. I owned an Xpan when it first came out. Very difficult to use. Hard to find a situation where everything in such a wide frame means something and you don't just end up with dead space. A set up landscape shot is the answer I guess. I've had mine for about 20 years. It took a moment to get accustomed to the 2:1 aspect ratio, but once you figure it out it's not an issue or at least wasn't for me. Personally I thought that 2:1 was a little too wide. I would have preferred something closer to 2:35 as used in cinema. The camera itself handles and operates essentially like a slightly wider Leica M, so for me it really wasn't an issue Edited April 29 by thrid 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrid Posted April 29 Author Share #13  Posted April 29 8 hours ago, Chris W said: The Hasselblad X series has an Xpan mode. The X1D2 and X2D are pretty ergonomic and quite good as an every day camera. I owned an Xpan when it first came out. Very difficult to use. Hard to find a situation where everything in such a wide frame means something and you don't just end up with dead space. A set up landscape shot is the answer I guess. I have considered either the Hasselblad X or Fuji GFX series. Both have a 2:1 crop mode to emulate the aspect ratio of the 65x24 format of the Xpan. Unlike the Leica S system both will show an appropriate overlay / makings in the viewfinder for composition. Rumor has it that Fuji may be working on a dedicated digital incarnation of the Xpan with a true wide format sensor. If they use two APS-C sensors it could make for a very compact camera. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenInTime Posted April 29 Share #14 Â Posted April 29 I had an XpanII back in the day - the negatives were a pain to scan: would flatbed, even LS-9000, effective resolutions be bettered with today's 60Mpixel M11 and APO lenses ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted April 29 Share #15 Â Posted April 29 7 hours ago, FrozenInTime said: I had an XpanII back in the day - the negatives were a pain to scan: would flatbed, even LS-9000, effective resolutions be bettered with today's 60Mpixel M11 and APO lenses ? Flatbed scanning is a pain anyway, and a compromise. I scan my XPan negs in a Nikon 8000ED using a modified Nikon film holder - FH 869M using old enlarger mask and glass holders. Works really well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Albertson Posted May 9 Share #16 Â Posted May 9 Leica made a pano S for Koudelka, but it was a one-off. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrid Posted May 10 Author Share #17  Posted May 10 (edited) On 4/29/2025 at 8:57 AM, FrozenInTime said: I had an XpanII back in the day - the negatives were a pain to scan: would flatbed, even LS-9000, effective resolutions be bettered with today's 60Mpixel M11 and APO lenses ? I scanned xpan negs on my Epson 9000ED and the results were pretty good in terms of resolution. But I agree that they were a pain to scan. In an attempt to keep the negs flat I was using the glass holder intended for MF negs. Talks about light spill problems... Recently I rescanned them on my Hasselblad X5 and the results looked pretty darn look. But the days of scanners are probably over. For one thing I don't believe anyone is making a truly pro level scanner anymore. If I needed to scan film these days I would use a good film scanning rig and an M11 or similar high resolution digital camera. If you really wanted to get creative you could use a mono M11 and make three exposures with R, G, B filters and recombine them into a color image for maximum resolution. You'd have to compensate for the impurity of the glass filters, but that's not too difficult to do. The Leica R APO 2.8 / 100mm would probably still be a good choice. Ironically people are using the lens that was in the Nikon 8000/9000ED scanner for this purpose... Edited May 10 by thrid 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenInTime Posted May 10 Share #18  Posted May 10 5 hours ago, thrid said: I scanned xpan negs on my Epson 9000ED and the results were pretty good in terms of resolution. But I agree that they were a pain to scan. In an attempt to keep the negs flat I was using the glass holder intended for MF negs. Talks about light spill problems... Recently I rescanned them on my Hasselblad X5 and the results looked pretty darn look. But the days of scanners are probably over. For one thing I don't believe anyone is making a truly pro level scanner anymore. If I needed to scan film these days I would use a good film scanning rig and an M11 or similar high resolution digital camera. If you really wanted to get creative you could use a mono M11 and make three exposures with R, G, B filters and recombine them into a color image for maximum resolution. You'd have to compensate for the impurity of the glass filters, but that's not too difficult to do. The Leica R APO 2.8 / 100mm would probably still be a good choice. Ironically people are using the lens that was in the Nikon 8000/9000ED scanner for this purpose... This is why I feely a digital Xpan with a specialized large sensor is not needed in today’s world. A 35mm film rangefinder, designed by someone other than Leica, that had a variable film gate like the Xpan, but mounts for both M-Mount lenses and also for a new range of larger image circle lenses, would be interesting ( I feel the lack of a single fast lens was the greatest flaw in the Xpan range ). It will be interesting to see how well the Widelux re-release sells https://wideluxx.com/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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