The Horizon is a mechanical swing-lens panoramic camera. It is manufactured by Krasnogorsky Mechanicheskiy Zavod (KMZ) in Krasnogorsk, Russia, better-known for their range of Zenit cameras. The main characteristic of this camera is its rotating lens that takes in a 120° panorama as the shutter button is pressed. The current (2015) models are designated Horizon Perfekt and Horizon Kompakt.
History
The history of this camera dates back to the Soviet Union in the year 1948 when KMZ manufactured a very limited series of prototypes called FT-1, a small, boxy panoramic camera for 35 mm film. The first public edition was presented years later on the Brussels World Fair in 1958 under the name FT-2. Off the chronological order, an additional number of cameras labeled FT-3 with prototype characteristics had already been produced in 1952 and 1953. FT stood for Fotoapparat Tokareva (Фотоаппарат Токарева), meaning Tokarev's camera.[1] Tokarev is said to have come up with the initial design. The film had to be loaded into special cassettes that then would be inserted into the camera. Until 1968 16,662 FT-2 were made and sold also abroad under the names Spiratone, Panorama and Spaceview. In 1967 it was succeeded by the Horizont. This camera already shared the basic looks with the present models and had similar technical specs: it had a f2.8/28 mm Industar lens and four