love the horizon, one of my favorites. i've found that when loading, putting a hard bend in the lead helps quite a bit. also, once you have the leader in the takeup spool, press the film release as you wind on to help tight the film on the spool without the sprockets getting in the way. also, if you enjoy shooting subjects that are closer than the default minimum focus, which is quite far at f2.8, you can use the film plane hack to push the film plane farther away from the lens. this will cause you to lose focus at infinity, but you can bring the minimum focus to a much more reasonable distance. your light leak is either from the sun reflecting off the metal of the outer slit (which you can paint matte black to prevent) or the seals around the rotating drum are failing, which is common. fortunately, the foam is easy to replace, the instructions for replacing the foam on the horizont should be helpful if you can't find details specific to the horizon 202.
Your video is very informative and made with photo examples and quite revealing composition on horizon 202. Also I am quite surprised by the sharpness of the rendering of the lens. Thank you for the quality of your work on this one. Sincerely M.L. Sandav
Many thanks Marc, I appreciate your feedback! And yes, actually I was also surprised at how sharp the Horizon lens is. But on the other hand, you're basically using the sweet spot of the lens throughout the whole width of the frame. The concept of this camera is really brilliant!
5:17 The factory is located in Krasnogorsk and already discontinued all their film cameras around 2005 when digital cameras became widespread and film cameras' popularity became history. They just couldn't switch to producing digital ones after the '90s crisis. They tried it some time later with Leica but the new camera was too expensive. They still produce lens for Zenit cameras. You can find the Horizon cameras sold because most people switched to digital cameras and get rid of film cameras. And it's still possible to find and buy other Soviet cameras almost unused.
@@tomscameras I don't remember the exact year when they stopped making any cameras. But after 2005 most people would consider buying only digital ones.
@@fasol1998 these two models were introduced new in 2005. And you could get them brand new for many years after that: microsites.lomography.com/horizon/history/
So cool! And I thought my Kodak Medalist I was hard to load! That lens is quite crisp. The Delta really works for those pictures. Beautiful. Lovely video. Happy New Year. You’ve given me a lot of enjoyment in 2022!
Darn that's a super neat camera, great photos too! I like how portable this is though I suppose making sure it is perfectly level is a pain. If you want a panorama camera without the rotating bulge and the exorbitant price tag of the X-Pan, there are some neat small company products out there. I got the CubePan from Chroma Camera and I have only put 1 roll through but it is super neat (and super pano at 24x72!). The only problem is it costs a good chunk more than this Horizon and you need your own Mamiya Press/Large Format lens but hey.
Thanks for telling me about the CubePan! Actually I didn’t know this camera before! If you keep the bubble level perfectly aligned, the Horizon shots get very straight. It’s a bit of a challenge but I got the hang quickly and didn’t have any bigger problem overall with my horizon and straight lines. I also love the projection that the rotating lens creates. But yes, often a standard rectangular camera is just easier to use! Now I’ll have a close look at the Chrome CubeCam. A friend of mine just bought the new Noble Design 6x17 which is also an awesome and well designed camera. But 6x17 is huge …
A friend who has a mechanical workshop has succeeded in getting the rest of the screw out of the thread and make a new one and now the 202 is fine again. 🙂
The horizon s3 pro is superior in every way, including longer shutter speeds of up to 1sec, the 202 version is the old version I believe, still one of the best analog panoramic cameras. The swing lens effect is superior to Xpan’s flatness in my opinion.. looking at the photographs Josef Sudek took with an old swing lens Kodak panoramic camera it’s just the best rendering for panoramic shots I believe, and the horizon series were somewhat affordable, although I know they are now very hard to find and can cost a pretty penny these days, glad I bought my horizon s3 pro a couple of years ago, I only shot 2 rolls with it so far but I want to try again because there is just something magical about panoramas
Yes the 202 is not the latest model of that range. Thanks for hinting at the S3 Pro. I think the most recent models are called Horizon Perfekt and Horizon Kompakt. For many situations, I also prefer the look that the swinging lenses give. There might be situations where a flat image plane such as with the Hasselblad X-Pan might be better. But most of the time, I also prefer the Horizon's rendering. A friend of mine just recently got a new 6x17 camera and he's blown away by the image results he gets ... but he also doesn't use it very often :)
Thanks for this video, it's wonderful. I just pulled my Horizon 202 out of long term storage and was playing around with it to make sure it still works. During my test shoot, I somehow I forgot that it doesn't warn you when it's at the end of a roll and I managed to pull the end of the film out of the canister! So can you remind me -- how many exposures should I expect to get out of a 24 exposure roll -- 18 or 12? And how many out of a 36? Thank you.
love the horizon, one of my favorites. i've found that when loading, putting a hard bend in the lead helps quite a bit. also, once you have the leader in the takeup spool, press the film release as you wind on to help tight the film on the spool without the sprockets getting in the way. also, if you enjoy shooting subjects that are closer than the default minimum focus, which is quite far at f2.8, you can use the film plane hack to push the film plane farther away from the lens. this will cause you to lose focus at infinity, but you can bring the minimum focus to a much more reasonable distance. your light leak is either from the sun reflecting off the metal of the outer slit (which you can paint matte black to prevent) or the seals around the rotating drum are failing, which is common. fortunately, the foam is easy to replace, the instructions for replacing the foam on the horizont should be helpful if you can't find details specific to the horizon 202.
Many thanks for your detailed feedback, this helps a lot! I'm gonna pin your comment, I hope you don't mind!
How you achieve the push film plane further hack?
The pics have a remarkable quality. I think the Horizon 202 is really good value for money
Yes, it is a very unique camera and that wide panoramic format is also great!
Your video is very informative and made with photo examples and quite revealing composition on horizon 202. Also I am quite surprised by the sharpness of the rendering of the lens. Thank you for the quality of your work on this one. Sincerely M.L. Sandav
Many thanks Marc, I appreciate your feedback! And yes, actually I was also surprised at how sharp the Horizon lens is. But on the other hand, you're basically using the sweet spot of the lens throughout the whole width of the frame. The concept of this camera is really brilliant!
Thanks!!!
You’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video!
I have one and I love it, though I don't use it very often. You inspire me me to dig it out and use it again!
I agree with you: I also should use this one more often, as long as I have it with me!
5:17 The factory is located in Krasnogorsk and already discontinued all their film cameras around 2005 when digital cameras became widespread and film cameras' popularity became history. They just couldn't switch to producing digital ones after the '90s crisis. They tried it some time later with Leica but the new camera was too expensive. They still produce lens for Zenit cameras. You can find the Horizon cameras sold because most people switched to digital cameras and get rid of film cameras. And it's still possible to find and buy other Soviet cameras almost unused.
Thanks for the information!
There are the Horizon Perfekt and Kompakt models that were introduced in 2005, so these are made somewhere else then?
@@tomscameras I don't remember the exact year when they stopped making any cameras. But after 2005 most people would consider buying only digital ones.
@@fasol1998 these two models were introduced new in 2005. And you could get them brand new for many years after that:
microsites.lomography.com/horizon/history/
Great tutorial and video, Tomas, thank you. Cool little affordable camera of this type.
Many thanks Jason for your kind feedback!
So cool! And I thought my Kodak Medalist I was hard to load! That lens is quite crisp. The Delta really works for those pictures. Beautiful. Lovely video. Happy New Year. You’ve given me a lot of enjoyment in 2022!
Many many thanks Donald for your feedback, I really appreciate it! Happy New Year to you too, have a great 2023!
Darn that's a super neat camera, great photos too! I like how portable this is though I suppose making sure it is perfectly level is a pain. If you want a panorama camera without the rotating bulge and the exorbitant price tag of the X-Pan, there are some neat small company products out there. I got the CubePan from Chroma Camera and I have only put 1 roll through but it is super neat (and super pano at 24x72!). The only problem is it costs a good chunk more than this Horizon and you need your own Mamiya Press/Large Format lens but hey.
Thanks for telling me about the CubePan! Actually I didn’t know this camera before!
If you keep the bubble level perfectly aligned, the Horizon shots get very straight. It’s a bit of a challenge but I got the hang quickly and didn’t have any bigger problem overall with my horizon and straight lines.
I also love the projection that the rotating lens creates. But yes, often a standard rectangular camera is just easier to use!
Now I’ll have a close look at the Chrome CubeCam. A friend of mine just bought the new Noble Design 6x17 which is also an awesome and well designed camera. But 6x17 is huge …
Thanks for the video. I've used mine for many years until the screw holding the film advance lever gave up. Just decided to have it repaired.
Sounds like it should be reasonably easy to fix. I wish you good luck with the repair! :)
@@tomscameras Well, the head of the screw has broken off and the rest still sits inside the threaded hole. Not easy to get out.
A friend who has a mechanical workshop has succeeded in getting the rest of the screw out of the thread and make a new one and now the 202 is fine again. 🙂
Nice review. I just got one and I confirm loading it is a pain !!!
Oh yes, it is :)
Levelling the Horizon is a lot easier if you're using the hand grip supplied with it. Also helps keeping your fingers out of the frame.
Many thanks for your hint!! So it might be worth to look for that grip if it's missing, like in my case!
Nice camera
Yes, I agree! :)
The horizon s3 pro is superior in every way, including longer shutter speeds of up to 1sec, the 202 version is the old version I believe, still one of the best analog panoramic cameras.
The swing lens effect is superior to Xpan’s flatness in my opinion.. looking at the photographs Josef Sudek took with an old swing lens Kodak panoramic camera it’s just the best rendering for panoramic shots I believe, and the horizon series were somewhat affordable, although I know they are now very hard to find and can cost a pretty penny these days, glad I bought my horizon s3 pro a couple of years ago, I only shot 2 rolls with it so far but I want to try again because there is just something magical about panoramas
Yes the 202 is not the latest model of that range. Thanks for hinting at the S3 Pro. I think the most recent models are called Horizon Perfekt and Horizon Kompakt.
For many situations, I also prefer the look that the swinging lenses give. There might be situations where a flat image plane such as with the Hasselblad X-Pan might be better. But most of the time, I also prefer the Horizon's rendering.
A friend of mine just recently got a new 6x17 camera and he's blown away by the image results he gets ... but he also doesn't use it very often :)
Thanks for this video, it's wonderful. I just pulled my Horizon 202 out of long term storage and was playing around with it to make sure it still works. During my test shoot, I somehow I forgot that it doesn't warn you when it's at the end of a roll and I managed to pull the end of the film out of the canister! So can you remind me -- how many exposures should I expect to get out of a 24 exposure roll -- 18 or 12? And how many out of a 36? Thank you.
I got 22 exposures on a 36 roll. I've read elsewhere that 23 should also be possible!