Low Tech 120 Degree Panorama Camera – The Beige Cyclops from Russia

In light of the fact that we’ve previously featured a cool, panoramic digital camera concept from Hye-Jeong Yang that blew us away, we really couldn’t resist posting about this rather low tech solution for capturing panoramic imagery in the form of this Horizon 35mm Panoramic Camera which has the distinction of being one of, if not the most visually unappealing gadgets we’ve ever featured here on TFTS – unless, of course, you have a particular penchant for all things beige.

The Horizon Kompakt Panoramic Camera, manufactured by Russian company Lomography, is the sort of camera we’d expect to find talking to us in a David Lynch movie, with its prominent, Cyclops-like lens, but, in actuality, its curious shape is very much defined by its function – so we can forgive its freakish looks.

What we cannot forgive, however, is the colour. I mean, if you know you’re producing the sort of camera that’s hardly going to make Miss Slinky SLR faint at the next camera singles party then the least you could do is produce it in a colour other than beige.

Still, if you’re looking for a cheap camera capable of taking panoramic pictures the Horizon Kompakt could be the answer – at least until the aforementioned concept from Hye-Jeong Yang sees the light of day (assuming it ever does) – but, herein we have a slight problem: the price.

The truth is that, at 275,000 South Korean Won, the Horizon Kompakt may not be breathtakingly expensive, but its not especially cheap either – we’re talking £147 / $303 / €210.

HP R937 & Hye-Jeong Yang’s Concept Camera

I don’t know about you, but given that digital cameras such as the previously featured Hewlett Packard’s R937 come complete with on board photo-stitching capabilities (as well as an inbuilt slimming feature for flattering your subject’s figures) and retails for a mere £82 / $169 more I think I know which of the two I’d settle for (unless I had a gun to my head).