{"id":18151,"date":"2025-07-28T17:22:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T17:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creatorkitdepot.com\/?p=18151"},"modified":"2025-07-28T17:23:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T17:23:31","slug":"reto-pano-film-point-and-shoot-review-c-i-n-e-m-a-t-i-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creatorkitdepot.com\/?p=18151","title":{"rendered":"Reto Pano Film Point-and-Shoot Review: C I N E M A T I C"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"A<\/p>\n

In May, vintage-inspired analog camera company Reto announced the Reto Pano, a reusable point-and-shoot camera with both an ultra-wide lens and the promise of being able to switch freely between standard 35mm film aspect ratio and panoramic mid-roll. It got my attention.<\/p>\n

The idea behind the Reto Pano is immediately enticing. I have been seeking an affordable and enjoyable way to capture ultra-wide panoramic film photos so that I can mimic the experience I\u2019ve seen from my friend David Imel. It\u2019s difficult to find a dedicated panoramic film camera in good condition, and when you do, it\u2019s usually extremely expensive. Given that the Reto Pano is just $35, I didn\u2019t expect it to blow me away with its build quality or even give me a fantastically sharp image, but I thought it might be an affordable way to scratch this itch.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

After my time with it, I have to say that it doesn\u2019t fully do that. However, what started out as deep disappointment eventually mellowed out, and I find myself mildly pleased with it in the end.<\/p>\n

Reto Pano 35mm Film Camera Review: Design and Build Quality<\/h2>\n

Based on the marketing, I assumed that the Reto Pano was going to use some kind of internal switch that would move around sliding masks to hide or reveal more of the film roll to give you either a standard 3:2 photo or an ultra wide 2.7:1 aspect ratio \u2014 or at least something similar. Essentially, I was hoping for a cheaper but similar mechanism to the one found in the Hasselblad X-Pan or Fujifilm TX-1.<\/p>\n

Sadly, that isn\u2019t what Reto did here. Yes, the camera uses masks, but in a far less impressive manner. Rather than revealing the lens to more or less of the whole film strip, the Reto Pano either allows light to hit a full 3:2 area of the roll or masks on the top and bottom of the frame can move down, blocking light from hitting that area and only showing the middle of the strip. So rather than making a panoramic photo show more, it actually exposes for a little more than half of the total space a typical photo would.<\/p>\n

\"A
When you scan the negatives taken with the Reto Pano in panoramic mode, you can really see exactly how much of the film you\u2019re throwing away.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To get the \u201ccinematic\u201d look, you have to be okay with purposely using less film, even though the film roll and developing costs the same amount regardless. When I first opened the box to take a look at the internals, my heart sank. Sure, it would have required a lot more tooling to give us true ultra-wide photos on 35mm film, but this solution feels pretty underwhelming.<\/p>\n

\"Open
This is what the backside of the lens looks like when you\u2019re in standard mode.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Close-up
And here you can see that flipping the panoramic switch brings in two little flags at the top and bottom that restrict the light to just the center third of the film strip.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The build quality is pretty much what you would expect for $35. The entire construction is a super lightweight plastic with a few exceptions, like a bit of metal in the hinge and, of course, in the screws holding it all together. The lens is plastic, which is to be expected, and none of it feels particularly robust. It scuffs easily, too: I haven\u2019t asked this camera to do much since I\u2019ve had it, and it has a few unsightly marks around the bottom.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The shutter mechanism is entirely mechanical, so while the Reto Pano does take a single AAA battery, that is specifically to power the flash (which can be toggled on and off). The shutter mechanism is laughably cheap-feeling, and the sound it makes when the shutter is fired is several stages less satisfying than clicking a pen. The ratcheting wheel used to advance to the next frame is right in line with classic disposable cameras, though I wish it were located in a different spot. Reto opted to put it in the lower left-hand corner of the camera body, which means the Reto Pano always requires two hands to operate it. I prefer being able to whip the camera out, fire a shot, and wind it with one hand, and that just isn\u2019t possible with this design.<\/p>\n

\"Top<\/p>\n

The flash is, gratefully, a classic electronic style and not an LED, so you do get that distinctive 1990s look to photos, which is absolutely a vibe, and I\u2019m here for it. It is enabled via a switch below the front element, which is either closed (which prevents the shutter from depressing by accident), open, or open and with a flash. You do have to wait a few seconds for it to charge, and you can hear it spooling up, which is just a wonderful hit of nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The only other switch on this camera is on the top of the body above the shutter button, and that is what you use to swap between standard and \u201cpanoramic.\u201d When you shift the switch to the right, it moves two fins on the inside above and below the center of the frame into position so that light from the lens only hits the center third of the film strip. At the same time, it pushes two black bars into the rangefinder to simulate what will be captured on film.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
I closed the panoramic switch halfway so you could see more clearly the black bars that slide into the rangefinder as you do so.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s extremely basic, but it works.<\/p>\n

Reto Pano 35mm Film Camera Review: In Use<\/h2>\n

Other than the extremely chintzy-sounding shutter mechanism and the awkward location of the film advance winder, the Reto Pano is pretty fun to shoot with. It\u2019s a nice and compact camera, so I was able to easily take it with me without needing a bag: it fits into a pants pocket. It ships with a wrist strap, which I dutifully attached to the body, but I don\u2019t really use it, since it\u2019s so light I am not really afraid of dropping it. That said, I bet it would immediately shatter if I did.<\/p>\n

For this review, I loaded it with the AAA battery and a roll of Kodak Gold 200. On that note, Reto Pano doesn\u2019t really say what film speed you should be using with this on its product page, but buried instructions say that you can put ISO 100, 200, or 400 in it depending on what lighting conditions you\u2019re expecting. Given this is locked at f\/9.5 and a 1\/100 second shutter speed, if you\u2019re using this anywhere other than in bright daylight, you probably want to have ISO 400 loaded and that flash perpetually on. I mainly shot without the flash, and my photos all were exposed pretty nicely, so ISO 200 seems to be the ticket.<\/p>\n

\"A
This is a pretty boring photo. I wonder if there is anything we can do to jazz it up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
Boom. There we go. Now it\u2019s art.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photos look pretty much exactly like what you would expect out of a classic disposable. The lens is not particularly sharp; it doesn\u2019t reject flare well at all, and thanks to that tight aperture, basically everything is always in focus. There is also some vignetting you\u2019ll likely notice on the sides of the frame, which is likely due to the fact that this lens is just so wide: it\u2019s 22mm.<\/p>\n

\"A
Keep direct light sources, especially the sun, out of the frame. The flare is bad<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"View<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s probably too wide if you plan to only use this in its full frame mode, but that width makes the \u201cpanoramic\u201d look pretty awesome. Like I mentioned, you will have to come to terms with the fact that you\u2019re literally throwing away film when you use this mode, but the results do in fact look like they were taken with a panoramic camera. Let\u2019s call it \u201cimitation panoramic,\u201d and that has its own charm that\u2019s worth praising.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Because let\u2019s be real: we\u2019re just cropping. You could absolutely achieve this same result by scanning the photos and cropping them in Photoshop or flagging your prints in the darkroom, and you wouldn\u2019t have to make the choice to throw away areas of the exposure at the time of capture.<\/p>\n

\"Wide<\/p>\n

With that said, it\u2019s not fair to judge a camera like this entirely this way. Cameras like this are meant to be fun, and so we have to give equal or perhaps greater opportunities to the experience of using the Reto Pano.<\/p>\n

\"A
When you get reasonably close to a subject, it can distort pretty wildly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

One thing I didn\u2019t like about the Reto Pano is that the little flags that restrict the light don\u2019t give a totally straight line across the top and bottom. The field of view curves slightly in the corners, meaning if you want a perfect panoramic with straight lines, you end up having to crop in just a little bit more, which means throwing away even more of the frame. This is an annoyance, but it doesn\u2019t make me feel like what the Reto Pano is doing isn\u2019t worth it. It\u2019s a cheap, plastic-y little camera; of course it\u2019s not going to get things perfectly straight.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

As I said, this is an enjoyable camera to use, and I really enjoyed the physical changes to the rangefinder point of view when you flip that panoramic switch. Literally seeing the world in widescreen and knowing that was what I was getting on film did change how I captured scenes. I chose to frame things differently, and I had fun with it. Conversely, if I just wanted a disposable camera experience, I could just flip that switch back and immediately transport myself back to 1995. For $35, it\u2019s a cute, effective little gimmick.<\/p>\n

The Reto Pano is Cinematic Fun<\/h2>\n

The Reto Pano is definitely not for everyone. It may physically pain someone to willingly throw away usable space on a roll of film, given the cost of film and developing, and I completely get that. However, if you\u2019re willing to load this little camera with some cheap film and just let yourself have some fun, the Reto Pano is what it advertises.<\/p>\n

About a month ago, my friend Becca Farsace published a video where she argued that a cheap, fixed-lens, reusable film camera is not only worth using, but it\u2019s her favorite camera of all time. They let you capture memories without taking you out of the moment and getting too caught up in the details.<\/p>\n

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