The Sprocket Rocket is a 35mm panoramic toy camera made by Lomography. It features a fixed 35mm f/10.6 lens. It is capable of making a panoramic frame measuring 72mm long by 35mm tall. Yup! That means it can expose the entire height of the film, even over the sprocket holes themselves - hence, the camera's name. This panoramic exposure is even longer than that of the Hasselblad X-Pan. An additional mask is included that allows you to mask the negative down to a 72mm by 24mm frame as well, if you don't like having the sprocket holes in your shots.
The rest of the camera's controls are pretty basic. It has one shutter speed that is approximately 1/100, plus a Bulb mode. There are two aperture settings, f/10.6 and f/16. At f/10.6, the lens is very slow. Combined with that 1/100 shutter
speed, it is essentially an outdoor-only camera that should probably be used with ISO
400 film. The lens can be set to two distance zones, one is approximately .6-1m and the other is 1m-infinity.
True to Lomography's style, the Sprocket Rocket can be found in a variety of bright colors - adding a nice, colorful splash to any camera bag.
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Sprocket Rocket on Holiday
Giving the gift of a panoramic film camera is bound to brighten any photographer's holiday season. Generally panoramic cameras are harder to find and often pretty expensive. Not so with Lomography's Sprocket Rocket! This red beauty comes in at a very reasonable $75.
Let us tell you why the Sprocket Rocket is a fun and worthy toy camera...
For starters, it produces a 24x72mm panoramic frame. This is actually longer than the Horizont (56mm), Widelux (59mm), X-Pan (65mm) or Noblex (66mm). As if that weren't enough, the Sprocket Rocket allows you to remove the standard negative mask and create images that are 34mm tall, exposing over the sprocket holes of the film and giving this camera its name. The front end of the Sprocket Rocket features a wide angle 30mm plastic lens that is arguably sharper than it even has a right to be. Make no mistake, this camera still produces images that are closer to a Holga than a Hasselblad, but you might be impressed at the capabilities of this lens nonetheless.
The controls are pretty simple. There are two shutter speed settings: Instant (1/100) and Bulb; two aperture settings: f/10.8 and f/16; and two focus settings: near and far. Add in the fact that the shutter is not tied to the film advance, meaning it is ready for multiple exposures whenever the fancy strikes you and, like a lot of toy cameras, it's simple exterior hides a wealth of creative opportunities.
So if you are looking to broaden a photographer's field of view this holiday season, get them a Sprocket Rocket. It's a fun camera that makes an easy addition to the bag.