Xpanning with Voigtlander

For the longest time I had an X-Pan and enjoyed shooting with it on a regular basis. Walking downtown Portland or a hike in the cascades was always an occasion to bring along the X-Pan. But like with most things in life, it got old and I decided to sell it not knowing it would be a mistake many years later. fast forward over a decade and now I wish I had it back. But, I can't justify the cost of a used one.

Having said that, my next best option is to crop my images to a 1:2.7 ratio which mimics the X-Pan format. Lucky for us these days, the newer higher resolution cameras are much more forgiving when it comes to tight crops. And the images below show the results and why I miss the X-Pan so much.

The majority of these were captured on an M11 with the Voigtlander Apo Lanthar VM series lenses which I believe are spectacular optics.

Here, a combination of shallow depth of field combined with the wide format, empasis is once again placed on the main subject. I paricularly love the 3D look you get in some cases.

Looking at this scene in X pan format shows what I would consider a balanced image. Normally, in full frame with the pipe running down the middle of the image deviding the frame into two just wouldn't work. However, By extending the frame and shortening it using the 1:2.7 ratio, the image becomes much more acceptable.

By now, you will see I like photographing people and street scenes more than anyother subject matter and once again, X pan formatting works very well here especially for subject isolation.

These two shots are in the Peak District in Castleton. One of my favorite places in England. Beautiful scenery and wonderful hikes. If you are a Game of thrones/ House of Dragon fan you will recognize these views as they are used in the show.

Another one from Castleton.

I can't decide if I prefer the color or B&W version. Let me know what you think.

X-pans are not only great for landscape. But, emphasis on perspective is a game changer with the X-Pan or X-Pan format. For example, the two women in the foreground with the train in the background disappearing into the end is a perfect  use of this format. 

This is where the Xpan shines!