Panon

Widelux F6B (~1970s)

Widelux F7 (1979–1988)

Widelux F8 (1988–2000)

Medium format model 1500

The medium format Widelux model 1500 makes 50x122 mm frames on 120 film, and covers a 150-degree horizontal angle across the long side. It was introduced in 1988 and cost "about US$4,500".

Differences

The core difference between the F models is improvements in the gearing. The only other notable difference is, up to the F6 model, the camera's three shutter speeds were 1/5, 1/200 and 1/50, whilst from the F6B model onwards, the cameras used the more modern speeds of 1/15, 1/125 and 1/250.

There are important differences between the F and 1500 series cameras. The 35mm cameras have a set focus (5 ft to infinity), whereas the 1500 Widelux can focus from a bit less than 1m to infinity with seven markers. The 1500 Widelux also used different shutter speeds of 1/8, 1/60 and 1/250 of a second. The F series covers a 140 degree view, whereas the 1500 series covers a slightly wider area (150 degree view-diagonally-140 degr.horizontally). The 1500 Widelux, like most manual film cameras, has a shutter that must be cocked before the camera will fire. When setting focus below 5m on Widelux 1500, the resolution will be reduced due to optical limitations.