Many love X-Pan and the prices have gone way up in recent years, but I only recently got into the format with the GFX100 since it provides plenty of extra megapixels to use. X-Pan is primarily seen as a Hasselblad format, but Fujifilm also released an X-Pan camera the TX-1. Amazon and B&H Photo carry used XPAN cameras if you’re looking for one. Above is a lengthy review of the TX-1 and below are excerpts from the review.
- Interchangeable lens
- 35mm format
- Fujifilm has a Titanium/aluminum body that is champagne colored
- There is a wood front grip that can be swapped for a ruber or custom one
- Range Finder camera
- Came with a 45mm f/4 and 90mm f/4
- There is also a rare 30mm wide-angle f/5.6 that requires an external viewfinder that is rare and expensive
- You can shoot regular 35mm 24x36mm or 24x65mm
- You can change the format size whenever you want
- Panoramic mode gets 20-21 images out of a 36 exposure roll
- Built-in OVF is very bright and it adjusts to the lens mounted and has auto parallaxing
- Focal Plain shutter that goes 1/1000 to 8 seconds and then an above move (bulb) and self-timer that goes off after 10-seconds
- TTL only covers a small area of the center and it’s a center-weighted averaging meter
- If you’re using something like slide film the TTL might not be accurate enough
- ISO can be set automatic with X encoded film or manually on the front
- There is an aperture priority mode/automatic mode/manual mode
- The light meter is displayed in the OVF via +/-/o
- The selected shutter speed is only displayed on the back on a tiny LCD
- You can half-press the shutter button to see what shutter speed is being used on the back when shooting automatic
- The rear LCD also shows settings and battery power
- There is an exposure compensation dial on the top right that goes +2/-2 EV in half stops
- You can shoot continuously at 3fps standard and 2fps in pano
- The film counter counts down
- The camera uses two CR2 batteries providing 6V of power and they last at least 20 rolls
- The lenses are great and obviously optimized for panoramic shooting
- The lenses have great corner sharpness and almost no vignetting on the 45mm, no vignetting on the 90mm and just some vignetting on the 30mm
- There is almost no distortion across the frame on any of the lenses and it only happens when the photographer doesn’t position the camera correctly
- All 3 lenses have beautiful color rendition
- Amazing for landscapes
- You need a lot of light when shooting with this camera because of the limited aperture of f/4
- The lenses are f/4 because they are medium format lenses so you will need faster film or a tripod
- Panoramic can give a very cinematic look
- It can be tricky to get a straight correct composition, which can lead to heavy distortions
- The frame is huge and it can be hard to get a nice composition
- You shoot completely differently with this camera and see the world very differently
- The film winds into the canister instead of out
- It’s frustrating to not have the shutter speed in the OVF
- The only downside is its price at this time is very high
- It is an electronic camera so it could just die on you and become a brick
Follow Fujiaddict on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
