Reviews

Horizon Kompakt

Horizon

For many months I waited, bugged LSI folks asking them when the return of the “Cream colored Knock out” would be. I was steadily stacking up piggy points as on my own, I couldn’t really afford to get the Kompakt without hearing the end of it from my conscience. In would literally check the Shop at least twice a day everyday for four months. Then one fated day the Black Kompakt was launched. Sadly The price was too steep even if you account for my piggy points. Fortunately my diligence paid off; Around November ‘08 a few Cream Kompakts were being sold for the old price of 250USD. I jumped at the chance as I was told that the babies were going fast.

At last, the panoramic queen came a knocking. I left the office early to meet her. She was bigger than I anticipated but no less gorgeous than I had imagined. I loaded up a Provia 100 and never looked back. I could confidently say that next to the LC-A, it’s my favorite camera. I was told by a friend that Zenit has stopped the production of cream colored ones and in it’s stead issued the sexy black Kompakt. This knowledge, pleased me all the more, not only was I able to get the Kompakt with a heavily discounted price thanks to my piggies, in my hand I held what maybe a collector’s item and one of the last Creams to be produced.

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What’s so special about the Kompakt? Well aside of course from the capability to produce stunning 120 degree images, it has an uncoupled shutter so double exposures are not only easy, they’re damn near addictive as a technique. While it might not have the same range as the Perfekt, I find the fixed f/8 aperture to be quite sufficient for most shots that I take. Oh and honestly for knee-jerk shooters like me, I just love not having to think and just keep shooting. The day and night settings have been quite nifty, although I’ve occasionally produced night shots that leave more to be wanted but that’s more of my fault than the camera’s. There are some techniques that will allow you to compensate for night shots so the reality is it’s more about how you maximize it’s capabilities than being tied down to it’s limitations. I absolutely love using red scaled film as well as black and white rolls on it. I’ve found that using Provia’s on my Kompakt produce red scale like shots so in the interest of preserving my slides I’ve opted to use cheap red scaled films instead.

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