Robert Catto, Photographer - Superb, Professional Photography for Business and the Arts in Sydney, Australia

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Lost & Found #48: Mt. Victoria Summit and Breaker Bay, Wellington 2007

Visitors walk back from the summit of Mount Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand. [Click to embiggen]

Just a quick entry in the Lost & Found files today - this one was captured on film (yes, film!) a few years ago when I owned a wonderful camera, the Hasselblad X-Pan, which I've written a bit about before.

The great thing about those was that they were compact rangefinders, like a Leica - but also that they took double-frame panoramic images right in the camera. None of this digital sweep-panorama iPhone stuff, you actually saw the frame the way it was going to be, breathtaking and cinematic.

But gradually, I was absorbed into the digital world, and when I found a digital rangefinder - at that time, the Epson R-D1s - I sold the X-Pan; and I haven't had a film camera since.

Hasselblad X-Pan II

I do still miss it from time to time; but the reality was, I didn't use it as much as I used the Epson. I like low light, and the combination of film and f/4 lenses didn't really work in those situations; so, for me, a rangefinder with a digital sensor and fast Leica Summilux lenses was a better solution.

Of course, then the Epson X100 came along, and then the X-Pro 1, and then...oh wait, actually I've still got that one!

Here's another bonus X-Pan image, from Breaker Bay, at the entrance to Wellington harbour: 

Grasses in Breaker Bay, Wellington New Zealand. [Click to embiggen]