The first cameras allowed people to take limited views of the local landscape. The panoramic camera, with lenses that can rotate from 110 to 360 degrees, solved this problem in the 19th century. The panoramic camera appeared in Europe in the 1840s, and American companies started making panoramic cameras in the 1850s.
The First Patent
The first patent for a panoramic camera was filed in Austria in 1843. Users rotated the lens by turning a crank on the bottom of the camera. This camera, like other cameras of its day, used Daguerreotype plates ranging from 19 to 24 inches in size. The crank could rotate the camera lens 150 degrees.
The Megaskop Camera
In 1844, Friedrich von Martens of Germany made a camera similar to the one first patented. It relied on a crank and gear assembly to turn the swing lens. The Megaskop camera initially used Daguerrotype plates, but later models used the wet glass emulsion photography method. The lens of the Megaskop camera could rotate 150 degrees.
The American Scioptric
The Ross company of New York introduced the Scioptric panoramic camera in 1857. The camera worked in a very similar fashion to the later versions of the Megaksop camera. The Scioptric camera had a 120-degree field of view.
The First 360-degree Camera
M. Garella invented the first panoramic camera capable of taking 360-degree pictures. His camera appeared in England in 1865. It used fan-governed clockwork to rotate the lens. The Rochester Panoramic Camera Company used a similar design in 1904 in manufacturing the Cirkut Number 10 and Cirkut Number 16 cameras. These cameras automatically advanced the film inside the camera.
The First Digital Panoramic Camera
Many modern film panoramic cameras use electric motors to turn the camera and wind the film. Seitz Phototechnik claims to have make the first and only digital panoramic camera in the world in 2000.
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