Horizon - Krasnogorsk in Moscow

That was a gift from co-workers. There is nothing written on this camera ! But the logo indicates that it was produced in Krasnogorsk plant in Moscow. The same logo appears on the lenses of Kiev cameras just because those were produced also in Krasnogorsk.

Well this is a rotating lens panoramic camera. The film is shaped to be curved around the rotation axis. It means no focus settings as the radio must be constant to get a circle right ? It covers 120° and makes 24 x 58 mm negatives. Very convenient for those having an 6x6 enlarger. The viewfinder shows a bubble lever because if you shoot with the rotating axe out of a perfect vertical position the horizon gets curved and it is kind of annoying most of the times. About the rotation while shooting, surprisingly, it is not hard to hold still. A set back is that the lowest speed is 1/30 and highest 1/125 because the scanning speed constant (or almost) and I believe it is the size of the slit riding the film that changes as we set one of these three speeds. This is limitative for night panoramic shots. But overall it is a camera very nice to have. If you want serious panoramic talk go to   International Association of Panoramic Photographers  

If you want to know more about history of Russian cameras and optical industry there is a very interesting site plenty of photos and original documents at   Novacon  




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