Matt Loves Panos 2020: plastic pano camera challenge competition entries

Listen to the judging of the Matt Loves Panos 2020 plastic pano camera challenge! Matthew Joseph and I discuss images listed on this page in order as they appear below – play along at home by clicking play above, or listen on your favourite podcast app!

Congratulations to all the entrants for a wide array of fantastic images taken with plastic, focus-free cameras that shoot in panoramic format. At the end of this episode, there are some brief details of the next challenge!

Anthony Chatain

Hello, Here are my entries for the Matt Loves Panos 2020 competition! (Sorry for
my procrastination in scanning this roll of film). The pictures were taken in Paris right before the quarantine started in France (between the 8th and 15th of March). I used my magnificent “2 WAY CAMERA” (a novelty camera from a TV programs magazine, pic included) coupled with some expired Fuji 200 for all this blotchy and fringing goodness.
I hope you’ll like them as much as I do ;-). Best regards, Anthony Chatain www.chatain.eu
@achatainfr (on Instagram and Twitter)

Dominick Chiuchiolo

“Hey there Matt,

Here are 4 of my pictures from a roll of Fuji Superior 400 that I shot with the Ansco PIX. I picked the camera up for a dollar at a yard sale. This was my first time using it. This was a fun project as it made me look at things differently. Thanks! I added a 5th of a cool car that I saw while getting coffee.

Dominick Chiuchiolo”

Michael Rosenbaum

“Hi Matt, these were all shot on Kodak Tri-X 400 with a used ($.99), Ansco Pix Panorama. Film was developed/scanned by Old School Photo Lab in New Hampshire (https://oldschoolphotolab.com/), highly recommended.

I just found a used, Epson V500 scanner so had them develop-only the last batch. I’ve previously done lots of darkroom work but no longer any equipment. I’m going to get some used, stainless tanks/reels, etc. and will eventually start doing my B&W film processing again.

Hope all is well with you and the family in our recently, dystopian present. A photo contest and podcast was just what I needed, thanks! -Mike”

Tommy Napier

“Hi Matt
So a bit of blurb about my experience shooting this plastic ……..thing. I found it in a washing basket full of old cameras down the shed covered in many layers of sawdust and dirt. Have no idea where it came from, I certainly don’t remember purchasing it. only that I remembered seeing something with Panorama written on the front while listening to the now infamous “I nearly dropped an Xpan” podcast.

I have never shot wide but have always wanted to have a go at it. It was hard to put down the OM10 and the QL17 I usually carry around with me but I went at it alone with the anonymous plastic camera for two weeks. First mistake was to load the film before I cleaned it up hence a bit of work in post to clean all the dust of the frames. Second mistake was thinking I loaded it with Kentmere 400, clearly marked on the plastic film canister by my own hand. I shot it as if it was 400 speed, throwing caution to the wind and shooting into the shadows knowing that 400 ISO would pick up some details despite not knowing the shutter speed.

Unfortunately this one lays squarely on my shoulders for not changing the little sticky label to 100 ISO when bulk rolling the film. Not wanting to put another roll through it I forged ahead and much to my surprise I managed to get more tham 4 keepers from the roll. A few of the shots were to dark to try and recover but in the end I am pretty happy with the results. So much that it was hard to pick four good ones to share. So here is my submission to the Pano project.I share on multiple media but I think the best place to see my work will be Instagram. tommy_napier should get you to my page. Cheers Old Mate.
Tom Napier / Instagram: @tommy_napier”

Ted Smout bridge, right and Houghton Highway, left. Shot from Brighton Beach, Queensland.
Unknown building next to River Link shopping Centre, Ipswich, Queensland.
Kedron Brook Wetlands off Toombul Rd roundabout, Brisbane, Queensland.
Governor Blackall Memorial, Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland.

Matt Evans

Matt took these fabulous images in New Zealand on a WidePic Panorama /Fomapan 100 +1

Joe Baker

“I was inspired by your competition to dust off my Widepic Panorama (weigh-in photo attached) and have had these photos ready to send for about a month. The film was Kentmere 400, developed at home in Rodinal. The photos were taken in the first week of March on my walk to and from work in Norwich, England. My Twitter / Instagram handle is @evil_chutney.

Jr Wyatt

“So when this contest was announced, I knew I had to join in on the fun. I ended up picking up an Ansco Panorama camera for $1 on Ebay lol Anyways, recently I went to a small town nearby (Belvidere,IL) to get out and walk the streets. This camera definitely did better than I ever expected. I went with Fuji C200 for these photos I submitted. ”

Paul Wheeler

“Hey Matt;
Got the photos back from that crappy Rollei Disposable loaded with Rollei 400 speed color film that had expired in 2012. You’ve got photos of it.Turned out really nice once we got a few photos into the roll. The first couple were very badly influenced by age or light or both. I tried to shoot it in very well lit situations to compensate for the age.
Cheers Paul”

J.M.Golding

“I used a Vivitar PN2011 and (in one of my springtime departures from my usual black & white work) Fuji Superia X-Tra that had expired in March 2019. (I still wish I could have found the insert for my Ansco Panorama :-) I took all of the photos within a few miles of my home in northern California – the pink flowers (Gum rock-rose, according to the Seek app) in a city park and the other three images in an open space area.”

Matt Jones

“These 4 images were taken on the Ansco Pix Panorama (as recommended by Mr Matthew Joseph), and were shot on Lomo 400 colour film processed at home. Shot around my village in Thailand whilst on my push bike. This camera fits in my shorts pocked which is quite handy. And I never need to worry about a battery or metering :)”

Antony Hands

Antony took these images on his Wide Pic Panorama with a roll of Kodak Portra 400 in New South Wales, Australia.

Andrew Bartram

“As a long time lover of the panoramic format, be it a 6×17 back on a LF camera, a 6×12 pinhole camera or the Lomography Belair camera with the 35mm back I saw some pictures made with I think the Ansco panorama which is also branded as the Halina at least here in the UK. “Not bad for hopefully a small investment” I thought and a load of fun to boot.

What I love about these cameras apart from an affordable way to treat the GAS affliction, is, like my Holga and Belair, the fact there are no distractions over camera settings or lens choice. It’s been said many times before but it is a real liberation to “point and shoot”.

The colour pictures were shot on the Wide Pic (the sought after red version :-)) with 30 year old York film developed in Cinestill C41 chemistry whilst the mono ones were from the Halina which is supposed to be a “better” camera but I actually prefer the Wide Pic. TriX probably didn’t help much (developed in stock Microphen). I like the garden table shot with evening light raking across the image. all the rest were shot on walks from the house on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fenlands.”

Andrew Spencer

“I just noticed your Panos 2020 competition last night, and it reminded me I have the exact camera for the job. I have no idea where the camera came from; I must have picked it up with an arm full of other treasures at some time. Anyway, in the eye of an approaching storm, I shot off a roll of film as I went about my jobs this morning.

I live in a little coastal town called Kaikoura, on the East Coast of the South Island, New Zealand. We’re a tourist town, and folks visit to view sperm whales, swim with dolphins and seals and to enjoy the outrageous scenery with mountains towering close to the ocean.

The camera is a Panorama CL-168, film is Ektar which I developed in a Lab-Box using Cinestill Cs41. Thanks for the cool inspiration.” Andrew Spencer Instagram @asphotonz

Ken Bertram

“Hi Matt, here are my images. All were taken on the Ansco Pix Panorama, HP5 was the film, and taken within York Younty in Pennsylvania, USA. IG handle is kenbertramphoto. By the way the Ansco has far better image quality compared to the Vivitar PN2011. Again thanks, I had a lot of fun using these cameras.”

Nigel Middleton

“Great to see the plastic fantastics getting some exposure and here are four shots from a Halina Panorama. I’ve picked up several of these and other similar models from car boot sales over the past couple of years, I very much doubt I paid more than 50p for it!.

The camera I used has been slightly modified by flipping the lens and taping on some yellow acetate as a makeshift filter. I used the last remaining frames from a roll of Fomapan 100 (expired April 2018), developed in Ilfosol 3 .

The photos were taken in East Northamptonshire, UK: (1) In an ASDA supermarket car park. (2) Travelling back from the same supermarket (I wasn’t driving!) (3 & 4) In the beautiful village of Lowick, which is a couple of miles from where I live.”

Casey Hall

“Greetings Matt, Casey here from Tacoma, Washington. So I smoked two rolls of film for this stupid ass competition, but then again, they were all very much expired.

Should of brought a way better camera for one of my training flights because it was a low level flight all around the Pacific Northwest and the sunset was epic, I couldn’t document it how I would’ve liked with this plastic p.o.s, but in the name of competition here’s my entries. Well, I’ll get right to it. I used the Jazz 206 27mm f7 or 8 idk. I’m @ Instagram.com/thejunkbookjournal
Love the podcast! Stay safe! Casey Hall”

Dave Mihaly

“Hi Matt, I couldn’t pass up the chance to participate in a crappy camera challenge – You’ve given me an excuse to revive my own cheap plastic camera challenge video series on YouTube.

I dusted off my Ansco Pix Panorama and Vivitar IC 101 and let them duke it out for an upcoming video. Spoiler Alert – the winner, at least to my eye, was the Ansco Pix Panorama, and all the pictures I have attached are from the Pix. “ALUM CREEK” was taken, oddly enough, at Alum Creek in Delaware, Ohio, U.S. “FLORA” was taken at the Scioto Audubon Park in Columbus, Ohio. “SO INCLINED” is another image from Alum Creek and “SOUTHSIDE” was taken on the southside of Columbus, Ohio. All images were taken at box speed on Ilford HP5+, processed in Ilfosol 3, water stop bath, and Ilford Rapid Fixer and scanned with my Epson V550.

Obligatory social media info:@theoldcameraguy on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Flickr
I’ve enjoyed checking out all the cool entries so far – Thanks for helping revive these plastic craptastic fake panoramic cameras. Cheers, Dave Mihaly”

François Laverdure

“Bonjour Matt! Voici ma participation au concours.

Sometimes in life you need something to get you to try new things. This is definitely the case. For years I’ve been going around local charity shops and church rummage sales looking for fun stuff. Occasionally I find a cheap camera that I clean-up only to put it in a box full of other cameras to try out. When I saw the contest, I went through the boxes looking for the few cheap panorama cameras I knew I had. It’s only at that time that I realized that I actually owned two Ultronic Panoramic cameras! So, this had to be a sign of some sorts.

I elected to use the champagne colored one. I always thought that these crop panoramic cameras were something to sneeze at. Crappy plastic, small negative area, no adjustments. But in the end I must admit that I surprisingly enjoyed using it! Since the shutter on those is said to be at around 1/200th of a second (I measured it and it was closer to 1/175th) I elected to use some Arista.EDU 400 that I pulled processed to EI 200 using some Rodinal at 1:50. I had never used Rodinal (my go-to developer is usually HC-110). In the end, I quite like the results. The grain is massive, contrast is good. I couldn’t be happier with the results considering how low-tech the camera is.

The satellite dish was taken at the Canadian Space Agency at Saint-Hubert Airport near Montreal (Canada). The dish is super useful as it is part of the ground support for the International Space Station.The black building with the reflective glass is in an industrial park in the city of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville near Montreal (Canada).The small tower with the curving path is near the Saint-Lawrence river in Longueuil. Just across the river is Montreal.And the tree that’s perfectly framed by the parking lines is just at the end of the runway at Saint-Hubert Airport near Montreal (Canada).
All pictures taken on a gloriously cheap Ultronic Panoramic using Arista.EDU 400 ISO film exposed at EI 200 and developed in Rodinal (1:50). My Flickr user name: Flaver-D
Cheers! François Laverdure”

Phil Watt

“Hi Matt!
The following shots where taken with a sh*tty plastic ‘Panoramic Wide Pic’ camera I found for $2 at the op shop. All images where taken at Lake Eildon where I’ve been living during lockdown.

The photos are shot on expired Ilford P4 Surveillance film. The neighbour up here saw me shooting an old folding camera one day and asked “Are you shooting film?” He went on to explain he worked in security installing surveillance cameras at ATM’s and that he had an old bulk roll of film leftover from when they went digital. Score!

So I took my sh*tty camera and sh*tty film and took these shitty photos! Enjoy :) Phil Watt”

Meredith Wilson

“Hi Matt, Hope you’re having a good Saturday. Here are my entries for the Pano competition.
I’m using a sh*tty Panorama Wide Pic camera that I bought on eBay for £1.99 to keep myself amused during lock down and take part in the sh*tty camera challenge on Twitter.
The shed was shot in my garden on some expired HP5+ that I had knocking around in my stash. The Horse and Daisies were shot on similarly expired Delta 400 Pro during a walk around my neighbourhood (Pinner/Northwood Hills). Despite the general crappiness, I really love using this little camera. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for setting fun challenges.
Cheers, Meredith (My IG/Twitter handle is @merrimayhem)”

Dale Willetts

“Hi Matt, Here are my four entries for the plastic pano competition.

The two colour pics were taken on Fujifilm C200 and the two mono pics were on Kentmere 400.

Of the colour pics the first was taken on the M6 just outside Birmingham and the second was near my house while waiting for a bus.

Both mono pics were taken at my place of work on a gloomy Sunday afternoon.

The camera is one of those unbranded panorama cameras that were often used as promo material and are therefore everywhere.

I have noticed that the viewfinder doesn’t show exactly what you are going to get the image on the negative is slightly longer. Also in this camera at least the left side of the image is much softer and out of focus than the right side for that extra little something extra.

Also thanks for the zine. On first read through I rather enjoyed it and will let you have a more in depth critical assessment once I’ve given it another go through. Don’t worry I won’t be too mean to you…… probably

Cheers, Dale Willetts @delusions_of_competence”

Sely Friday

“Dear Matt,
Here are my four entries for the plastic pano camera challenge.I’ve been using one of those “Wide Pic, focus free Panorama” 118 gram camera’s. I dubbed it “Panchee” as, well, short for cheap panorama”. It got accidentally dropped a bunch of times and miraculously still works. The films used the past months was various expired cheap 400 iso colour film that I home developed using Caffenol (Delta STD recipe), which gives it the large amount of grain. Images from the Netherlands. Cheers, SF Twitter/Instagram @selyfriday”

Jack Johnson

“Hello Matts!

All shot with a new-in-box Vivitar IC 101, Ilford HP5+, developed in HC-110 dilution D.
-Jack (@the_real_knapjack on Instagram)”

Jodi Benaroch

“Hi Matt,

Here are my entries for the Plastic Pano Camera Challenge. I used an Ultronic Panoramic that I bought at an estate sale for $2. Film was some Kodak 200 film; I don’t remember exactly. All of the photos were taken in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

I forgot about the light leak in this camera; by the end of the second roll, some of my photos looked like they were on fire!

Thanks for a fun challenge!

Jodi Benaroch”

Michael Newman

“Hello Matt, Please find attached my entries for the 2020 Matt Loves Panos Plastic Pano Camera Challenge! All photos were taken during the month of May in the State of Maine, USA. The 1^st image is a statue of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wearing a mask. The next two images were taken at Flanagan Farm. The last photo is a snapshot of Portland Head Light lighthouse. The camera used was an Ansco Pix Panorama picked up for $4.95 + shipping on a popular auction site. The film used was Konica Minolta Centuria 400 (expired 03/2008). Film was developed and scanned by The Darkroom photo lab in California. Thank you, Michael Newman”

Jeremy Wong

“Hi Matt, I had fun with this challenge. All shot with the same roll of Kodak Ultramax, with a Wide Pic Panoramic camera, out and about in Darwin. – Jeremy”

Adrian Doyle

Colour images: Ansco Pix Panorama / FujiFilm FujiColor Superia X-TRA 400 / Chapel Hill, NC
B&W image: Ansco Pix Panorama, ️Ilford HP5 Plus 400, Carrboro, North Carolina
https://www.instagram.com/doyleadrian/

Kenny Tuomi

“Hi Matt, here are four fantastically plastic images shot with the Jazz “Jelly” 207 Panoramic 35mm camera on Lomography 400 film. Authentically home-developed in ECN-2 supplied by Conspiracy of Cartographers and scanned replete with dust specs. ‘Cause why not mash together multiple variables for a photography competition…

This series of four images tells the dark tale of walking through a closed park playground, which is adjacent to a cemetery, a fittingly dark juxtaposition during these viral times. The ECN-2 process (at least this round of developing) gave each frame a nuclear fallout, speckled look-icing on the Grimm cake.

I did not find the Jazz 207 a pleasure to use. The tiny 118 gm chassis in my crude mitts yielded a 50% rate of “finger in the image” shots. Certainly not much thought is required to use this camera; with its fixed focus 27mm lens, f/9.5 aperture and 1/100th shutter speed, all I had to do with the 400 speed film was wait for light within a few stops of proper exposure- or just shoot regardless. Sort of a spray and pray camera as the field of view is forgivingly narrower than the actual exposed frame. Focus was Lomo-soft, getting softer at the margins. They are really sharp as contact prints; maybe I’ll try a matchbook zine.

This did not alleviate my lust for the Hasselblad Xpan but I did get to pretend I’m a Master of the Panoramic Format while shooting. Ken Tuomi.”

Paul Howell

“Hi Matt
I recently noticed your Pano Challenge on a saved Podcast.
I purchased the camera from eBay for the grand total of £8, (a gold Vivitar IC101 no less)!
The photos were all taken in Tideswell, Derbyshire, England on an overcast day. The film used was Fomapan ISO 200.
Kind regards
Paul Howell
ps: If you know anyone who would like to purchase a small gold plastic pano camera, please let me know, (used only once)!”

Graham Young

“Matt, Here they are! I understand if I’m past the deadline. Anyway, it was a fun project even if I only got one roll out of my camera before the rewind lever sheered off and produced a light leak.”

John Yau

“When I first heard about the cheap pano challenge, I went all in. First step was to grab a cheap pano, second to work out what i was doing and third submit. Four frames presented from a roll of Kodak Gold 200 and a frame from Kodak Trix 400. Loved the challenge, loved the care free take of just using cheap tools to create. Loved this Matt, thanks mate. John. Instagram @john_yau_artifexfoto”