Minolta Riva Panorama (1991)

The Minolta Riva Panorama - sold as the Minolta P's in Japan and the Freedom Vista in North America - is a panoramic point-and-shoot 35mm compact introduced in 1991. It's a tiny camera. It gets its wide 2.7:1 or 3:1 aspect ratio without a special lens, by masking the top and bottom of the frame in-camera and leaving a thin black border on the negative. The viewfinder is what sets it apart from most cropped-frame panoramics. Minolta made it wide and bright instead of a squinty sliver. One reviewer said it "feels as wide and as bright as the legendary XPan finder."

The lens is a 24mm f/4.5 coated optic with a minimum focus distance of 0.9m. The shutter fires between 1/4 and 1/200 second. The camera accepts DX-coded films from ISO 100-400 and runs on a single CR123 battery. It's fully automatic, with autofocus, autoexposure, motorized film transport and a built-in flash. It was offered in gold, blue, green, or red finishes. 35mmc called using it "a simple joy," and noted that while the specs limit it quite drastically, the close focus distance wasn't an issue in practice. The same review praised the body as tiny yet comfortable to hold.

Surviving documentation is thin. No dimensions, weight, original retail price, or production end date have surfaced. Sources disagree on the aspect ratio, variously stating 2.7:1 and 3:1, and the discrepancy remains unresolved. One Reddit thread title mentions a "flash cancel doesn't work" issue, but no details are available. A boxed unit currently lists at €119.99 from a European dealer.

Known specs:

- Lens: 24mm f/4.5 coated

- Focus: Autofocus, 0.9m minimum

- Shutter: 1/4 – 1/200s

- Film: 35mm, DX-coded ISO 100–400

- Battery: CR123

- Format: Panoramic, in-camera cropped

- Colors: Gold, blue, green, red

- Introduced: 1991