Last week’s photo-making began with a much wider aspect ratio that I am used to. I’ve been seeing more people sharing panoramas lately and I thought it would be fun to participate. The easiest way to do that was to use my much-mailgned (by me) Pentax Espio 90MC, a simple mid-90s compact that I received for free as a toss-in when a local second-hand camera shop decided to wind down.

As is the case with many of these cameras, it has a sort of faux panorama¹ mode that I had never used, and instead of allowing myself to build up an itch that only $7,000 to $18,000 cameras can scratch², I took the inexpensive route of trying the faux panorama mode.

I’m sorry to report that I kinda-sorta-maybe get it. There’s something about that aspect ratio that can make some mundane and over-photographed-by-me scenes rather compelling to look at. I can only imagine what new and interesting scenes would look like!

While an X-Pan/TX-1 or Widelux are out of the question³, perhaps a $60 converter-and-mask kit for my Fuji G690BL would be a good compromise, giving me a much wider frame and a much more authentic-to-me result.

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1. Why “faux”? It’s the same width of a standard 35mm frame (36mm), but it adds a little mask that reduces the top and bottom by 5.5mm each for a 13mm x 36mm frame. It’s a way to achieve the look, but in context, it’s more like an assisted crop. ↩︎
2. Or at least a $60 kit for my G690BL. ↩︎
3. Transition care isn’t inexpensive. ↩︎