Lomopedia: Fujifilm TX-1

In 1998, Fujifilm introduced the TX-1, an interchangeable lens 35 mm panoramic rangefinder camera which was the product of its partnership with Swedish camera maker Hasselblad. That's right, people; not only is this a quirky shooter that lets you take legit panoramas (20-21 images with a 36-exposure roll, 13 images with a 24-exposure roll, and 6 images with a 12-exposure roll) with a flick of a switch; it's also what Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter called "the secret Hasselblad" at half the price! It's an unlikely pairing since Hasselblad typically worked with Zeiss, but the collaboration nevertheless produced a robust and unique camera coveted by collectors and photographers to this day.

Hasselblad also marketed this camera under the name XPan. While the Fujifilm TX-1 came in classy silver, the Hasselblad XPan came in elegant black. The camera makers equipped the titanium and aluminum body with hefty features like aperture priority and manual exposure modes, focal plane shutter with speeds from 8 seconds to 1/1000 sec., TTL center-weighted averaging light meter, automatic parallax compensation, and LCD screen that displays various camera settings. Three lenses were released from its introduction: a 45 mm f/4, a 90 mm f/4, and a 30 mm f/5.6 (which requires an external viewfinder).

In 2003, Fujifilm introduced a slightly altered version which is called the TX-2, and named XPan II by Hasselblad. In the TX-2, the ISO dial (located at the front of the camera in the TX-1) and the exposure compensation dial were moved to the LCD screen at the back of the camera. It also had added features such as shutter speed exposure information in the viewfinder, 2-sec self-timer, leader-out film rewinding, and multiple exposure control. Also, Fujifilm and Hasselblad manufactured the updated version only in black.

Photos Taken by Our Community Members

Technical Specifications

Camera type: Coupled rangefinder with interchangeable lenses
Design: Aluminum and titanium body
Viewfinder: Bright frame viewfinder (ambient light), automatic parallax compensation, automatic standard/panoramic switch over via format selector dial, automatic bright frame switch-over according to lens fitted, integral LED exposure metering indications. Field of view 85% or more
Focusing: Lens helicoid interlocked to coupled rangefinder
Film transport: Pre-wind type, automatic positioning according to format, automatic wind-on, automatic rewind. Single-frame and continuous.
Film type: 35 mm
Format: 24 × 36 mm and 24 × 65 mm
Frames per film: 36, 24, and 12 frames in standard format, or 21, 13, and 6 frames in panorama format from 36 exp, 24 exp, and 12 exp cassettes respectively
Exposure counter: LCD. Automatic, shows number of frames remaining. Illuminated. Panorama format indication.
Shutter: Focal plane shutter, B (max 270s) - 1/1000 sec, flash synchro from B - 1/125 sec. Activated by button or cable release socket. 1 EV step control on manual, 1/12 EV step control on automatic, self-timer with 10 sec. delay
Exposure control: TTL measured at shutter plane, center weighted averaging system, aperture priority automatic/manual switch over, ± 1.3 EV accuracy, 4 EV (f4) - EV 19 (f 22) (ISO 100)
Exposure compensation: ± 2 EV at 1/2 EV step intervals
Auto bracket: 0.5 EV or 1.0 EV step intervals. Order: standard, under, over
Film speed: Auto DX setting and manual setting. ISO 25 - 3200 sensitivity
LCD information: Illuminated. ISO, Tv, Auto bracket, self-timer, battery check, total exposure counter
Batteries: CR2 x 2 (6v total)
External dimensions: Camera body only: 51 mm L × 166 mm W × 82 mm H. (2.04 × 6.64 × 3.28"); 45 mm lens: 47 mm (1.88"), Ø 60 mm. 90 mm lens: 73 mm L (2.92"), Ø 60 mm.
Weight: Body only: 720 g (25.2 oz) without batteries. 30 mm lens: 310 g (10.85 oz). 45 mm lens: 235 g (8.23 oz). 90 mm lens: 365 g (12.78 oz).

All information for this article was sourced from Camera Wiki , Butkus, and Japan Camera Hunter.

written by plasticpopsicle on 2013-11-05 #gear #lomopedia #review #panorama #hasselblad #fujifilm #panoramic-camera #xpan #lomopedia #tx-1 #tx-2 #xpan-ii