Exploring the XPan 65:24 format
XPan cameras were a joint collaboration between Fujifilm and Hasselblad back in the late 90’s. Hasselblad called their camera the XPan whilst Fuji called theirs the TX-1. The thing with this format camera was that apart from shooting a regular 35mm frame (36x24), they were really made for taking a wide panoramic 65x24mm negative. This size roughly equals the width of two standard 35mm frames side by side.
If you want to do a deep(er) dive into the legacy and technicalities of XPan, 65:24 and in particular the TX-1, then I suggest you pop over to Jonas Rask who is passionate about this format.
Anyway, legacy is one thing. Current application is another. How to get images in this format?
The most obvious maybe would be to go off and buy a second-hand XPan or TX-1. Pricy - and of course - analogue…
Next up - and one which Ritchie Roesch has used - is to buy a medium format (digital) camera like the Fuji GFX100S II. Apart from having a 100MP sensor, this camera (as well as the GFX50S II) has an in-built cropping mode of 65:24 (JPEG only - the RAW files still have the entire frame data). One of the advantages of this is to have a straight out of camera (SOOC) image without the need to post-process and crop to 2.7:1, as well of course as still having a large file without losing too many megabytes in the cropping process.
A third option is to stitch images together and then crop in post. This method retains a large file size suitable for large prints - but does mean some time in front of a computer screen.
Finally, to achieve the same equivalent field of view as with the standard 45mm lens on the XPan, shoot with a 16mm lens (APSC format) or a 24mm full-frame. I have a Fujifilm XT-3 and a 16-55mm F2.8 lens. The XT-3 also has gridlines in the EVF which are a pretty good framing guideline for what will ultimately be the cropped image in Lightroom. The downside to this method is that the file sizes are not huge (10mb for my JPEG) but, certainly, still good enough for medium size prints (A3+ on the long side). And prints really is what you’re after here to fully appreciate this format size.
I’m sharing six images below. Two of them were shot using the final option - i.e. 16mm lens on APSC and using the gridlines in the viewfinder to give you the area to focus on before doing an exact 2.7:1 crop in post. One of the six images was stitched and then cropped in post, whilst the remaining three were shot at a narrower field of view than 16mm but still cropped at the 2.7:1 (65:24) ratio.
16mm (APSC) using EVF gridlines to give approx area, and then cropping exactly 2.7:1 in Lightroom
Stitched multiple images and then cropped in post to 65:24 format
Shot with 55mm lens (APSC) and then cropped in post
Shot with 25mm lens (APSC) and then cropped in post
Shot with 55mm lens (APSC) and then cropped in post
The Dom tower in Utrecht
Vertically shot at 16mm (APSC) using EVF gridlines to give approx area, and then cropping exactly 2.7:1 in Lightroom
Whilst I think the vertical 24:65 format of the Dom in Utrecht shows its true size well in comparison to the houses in front of it, it’s the landscapes that really do it for me. Capturing the breath of the mountain panoramas, whilst at the same time reducing distraction, demonstrate to me the value of the XPan format.
The format won’t suit every shot in my library but, as a specialism, it’s one that I’m looking forward to exploring more.
