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Comparing Horizon 202 vs Widelux F6/7/8 and Noblex 135

(Full specifications at the bottom of this page)
'+' means advantage of 202
'-' means disadvantage of 202

Horizon 202 vs Widelux F6/7/8: 

+ centered viewfinder
+ plastic cover (core 202 still metal; wouldn't dare to touch a metal 
  covered camera at -20C!)
+ more and longer shutter times
+ two gear trains & three slit widths (Widelux has three gear 
  trains; one for each speed)
+ cheaper (used Wideluxes go at twice the price of a new 202!)
+ infinity focus at f2.8, Widelux requires stopping down to get 
   infinity in focus

- 120 degree horizontal view vs 130

Horizon 202 vs Noblex 135: 

+ more compact
+ no batteries (Noblex uses AAA-size for rotating drum!)
++ significantly cheaper (you can buy 4-5 202's instead!) 
++ no time lag (the Noblex requires a 1/2 rotation to acellerate the drum) 
++ much easier mounting of filters, as well as fabricating custom-colors 
    (including rotating polarizers!)

- a tad less sharp
- 120 degree horizontal view vs 130 



		      Horizon	       Widelux		Noblex		Horizon
Specifications\Model	202		F6/7/8	       135Sport/N/S/U	 S3-Pro
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lens:			28mm/f2.8	26mm/f2.8	29mm/f4.5	28mm/f2.8

Focus:			fix 		fix		fix		  fix

DOF includes		yes		no [>f11(!)]	yes		  yes
infinity at all 
apertures

Shift:			 -		 - 		 4mm up (135S/U)

Filter:			clip-in		clip-in		magnetic	clip-in
(see For Sale section for additional colors of Horizon filters!)

Shutter speeds:		500 (special)			500		  500 (fast model)
			250		250		250		  250 (slow model)	
			125		125		125		  125	
			 60		 		 60 (135Sport/N)   60
			  				 30 (135S)	   30 (slow model)	
			 15 (special)	 15		 15 (135U)	   15 (fast model)	
			  8				  8   "		    8	
			  4				  4   "		    4	
			  2				  2   "		    2 (fast model)	
							  1   "		    1 (slow model)
							

Multi-Exposure:		 no[*]		 no		  yes 		   no[*]
						  (135Sport does not!)

Frame size:		24X58mm		24x59mm		24x66mm		  24x58mm

Angle of view
    horizontal:		119°		130°		130°		   119°	
      vertical:		 46°		 50°		 45°		    46°
      diagonal:				140°		136°

Number of exposures:	 22		 21		 19		    22

Length:			146mm		160mm		165mm
Width:			 73mm		 60mm		 65mm
Height:			117.5mm		 85mm		130mm

Weight:			900gr		900gr		790gr


[*] it is possible to press the rewind-button on the bottom of the camera, 
and recock the shutter/drum without transporting film, but this button will
have to be kept being pressed while it is mounted on a tripod (on very small 
tripod heads one can sometimes still access this button though)....100% 
accuracy (no shift of film) is not guaranteed; it might help to tighten the 
rewind-knob (pulling the film tight in the cartridge), so that the film is 
unlikely to move due to the slight pulling by the transport lever (it always 
pulls, all the rewind-button does it disengaging the sprocket-gear).
Note I: horizontal angle of view with pan cameras is calculated as follows:
- a full 360 degree swing would require a frame length of focal length X 2 X pi
- since you know the actual frame length (see table above), you can calculate what fraction of the full 360 degree frame length it is, and hence what fraction of 360 degree
Example Horizon:
- focal length = 28mm
- frame length = 58mm
- full 360 degree swing = 28mm X 2 X pi = 175.9mm
- actual fraction of this full swing = 58/175.9 = 0.3297
- 0.3297 x 360 degree = 119 degree

Note II: vertical angle of view can be calculated as follows:

(With thanks to Alan Kafton (alan_kafton@hp.com))

- angle of view = 2 x arctan(L/2/F)
- where
L = length = 24mm for 35mm film format
F = focal length
Example Horizon:
- F = 28
- L = 24
- angle of view = 2 x arctan (24/2/28) = 2 x arctan (0.4286) = 2 x 23 degree

For anyone who doesn't have a calculator with trig functions, try Rui Salgueiro's field-of-view calculator



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