Horizon 205 PC (Panoramic Camera)

Horizon 205 PC (Medium Format Panoramic Camera)
Film: 60mm Paper-backed roll film (120 film size / Frame format: 50mm x 110mm
Lens: Rotating, vertical- shift, non-interchangeable lens: MC / PC-1 - 50mm f.3.5 - f.22
Optical panoramic viewfinder covering 120 x 70 degrees, with bubble level.
Body-Lens serial No. 010033 ..... year : 2001
factory : KMZ / Krasnogorsk, Russian Federation
Production: 24 cameras made between 2000 - 2005 (KMZ website) / uncertain.

Notes: The Horizon 205 PC was conceived by P.A. Tikhomirov and produced in very limited quantities in a special production workshop at KMZ dedicated to making the new models of panoramic film cameras, including the Horizon 202 and Horizon 205 PC. The prototype of this medium format model was made circa 1992 and a pre-production model shown at Photokina in 1994. Very few of these cameras have been produced, possibly as few as 24 (as stated on the KMZ website production page), or maybe a few more than that.

The body is matte black finished aluminum alloy with a high level of finish. There is no rangefinder ... the lens is focused by hand ... 1 meter to infinity. A bubble level is visible in the bottom of the viewfinder. The film plane is perfectly curved to match the rotating lens and produce no distortion in the finished panoramic photograph. Shutter speeds are: 1 sec., 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/30, and 1/60. Comes with four filters as shown. This camera is very large and heavy, weighing 101 oz. (6.31 lbs.) and measuring 8.5" wide x 9" tall x 4.75" deep.

The serial number of this example is No. 010033, probably indicating that it was made in 2001. The brochure that came with the camera is dated 2000.

I would like to update this entry, with my two Horizon-205 cameras:

1) No. 010038, complete with Pasport indicating its production in May 2011 and re-checked in November, 2015 (both data, with "OTK" stamp); purchased in Moscow, December 2015. The instruction manual (in Russian), bears the order's data and code no. "2001.03-555".

2) No. 010024, from a number of cameras imported in Italy by Manfrotto Trading. Purchased from the original owner, early in 2019.

(Enzo, a.k.a. Elmar Lang)