The Noblex 135U
One of the most interesting and intoxicating aspects of film photography is the sheer variety in the camera designs that have been produced over the years. Whilst most digital cameras look fundamentally similar, film cameras vary wildly. TLR’s, large format view cameras, folding cameras, point & shoots…it seems the variety is almost endless.
Enter the swing lens panoramic cameras; Widelux, Horizon and Noblex being the biggest name brands in the field.
The Noblex 135U is the top of the Noblex 35mm range, although it does have a bigger brother in the Noblex 150 range which shoots 120 film. Sold from around 1997 to 2012, the 135U features a 140 degree field of view with a wonderfully sharp 28mm Tessar lens, and apertures from f4.5 to f16. Shutter speeds range from 1 second to 1/500th, including a bulb mode and tilt lens feature.
The Noblex differs from the Widelux and Horizon cameras in that the swing action is achieved with an electric motor, not a mechanical spring action of the other brands. This means the camera requires batteries (4 x AAAs), but is a lot more reliable and consistent in the swing action across the width of the negative.
It’s a fairly chunky camera, approximately the same size and weight as a modern DSLR body, and is made of an aluminium internal frame with a plastic outer shell.
Being a panoramic camera, it’s easy to think it would be well suited to landscape photography, and of course it is. However I find that where it really shines is in “situational” images. Photos of pleasant landscapes are nice, but this camera can really put the viewer into the image. Snapshots, road trips, parties - any shot which requires you to be immersed into the situation will work well. A 28mm lens generally means you’ve need be close to your subject to fill the frame - a subject can easily get lost in the sheer width of the image if you don’t get close enough to make it prominent.
Whilst often being compared with a Hasselblad X-Pan, they are two dramatically different styles of cameras. With the swing lens panoramic cameras if you don’t get the horizon near the centre of the image, it will curve, and dramatically if you place a straight line to the top or bottom of the image. The X-Pan however can’t get anywhere near the Noblex’s field of view - 136 degrees vs 75 degrees on the Hassy.
One thing you need to watch out when shooting with the Noblex is to try and keep your fingers and feet out of the shots - it takes a bit of concentration and reminding to do, and even after shooting with swing lens cameras on and off for 8 years I still don’t think I’ve developed a roll of film where I haven’t got at least 1 shot with a blurry finger on the extreme edge of a frame.
18 to 19 shots per roll of film, producing a negative 66mm x 24mm
