All Comments☝️ SearchDmitri May 26, ‘25RETO PANO is a new film camera featuring a switchable panoramic mask, an “ultra-wide” 22mm lens, and an integrated flash.
The line of seemingly straightforward plastic cameras from RETO is more ambitious than it appears. RETO PANO is no exception to this trend.
One of RETO’s initial products was RETO 3D, a 2019 Kickstarter initiative and a modern twist on the cult-classic Nishika N8000. In this blog, I reviewed the H35N, a half-frame plastic camera equipped with a glass and an aspherical lens element, which I believe makes it the sharpest in its category: analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektar-…
RETO PANO includes a switchable mask for full-frame exposures to create panoramic images, akin to the Minolta P’s method: analog.cafe/r/minolta-ps-r… — but in a slightly lighter design, weighing only 93g/3⅓oz.
The PANO operates on a single AAA battery for the flash, although it's generally unnecessary for most photos. Its shutter speed is fixed at 1/100s, and it features a fixed-focus acrylic 22mm 𝒇9.5 lens.
The camera is anticipated to retail for $34.99.
#editorial🔥 #gas Dmitri May 26, ‘25The difficulty with a compact panoramic film camera that has a 22mm lens lies in achieving sharp images, especially when the lens is constructed from plastic. The aforementioned Minolta P’s (Riva Panorama) had a glass lens, and its photos often appeared soft, particularly at the edges.
This softness occurs because a panoramic mask trims part of the image, effectively diminishing the overall resolution. Additionally, creating a lens this wide that can deliver sharpness is quite complex.
Previously, I reviewed another plastic panoramic camera, the Vivitar IC 101 (analog.cafe/r/vivitar-ic10…), which was enjoyable to use but also lacked sharpness.
Nonetheless, the samples that RETO provided in the press package look promising: Dmitri May 26, ‘25A horizontal pano example from RETO PANO: Dmitri May 26, ‘25A pano image captured in mixed light with RETO PANO: Dmitri May 26, ‘25Naturally, one cannot realistically expect corner-to-corner sharpness from a $35 camera. However, with the proper technique, the results can still be very appealing:
RETO's range of seemingly straightforward plastic cameras is more ambitious than it appears. The RETO PANO is no exception. #editorial.