That's haunting processing, alright!

here's a 24mm vxpan test from earlier, for the halibut
http://www.tmphillips.com/pg/picture.php?/5087/category/20&metadata

i take it back.. i am now noticing that a lot of the wide shots that are catching my eye are with the 30mm (17mm equiv)

so sure enough.. the fov for the xpan with the 45mm lens is something like 24mm or 74 degrees across. xpan seems much wider to me much of the time from my swim through the flickr pool.. go figure... there is a 30mm lens for the xpan and the fov for that is about 17mm or 94 degree across. that lens is probably a lot more rarely used though... i tried my 24mm for one indoor shot just now and it doesn't seem to have that same visual impact of xpan with the same crop... more experimentation is needed.

Interesting info/suggestion savoche. I hadn't figured out the field of view. So far had just guessed that it's three times 45mm for the width but it sounds like I am wrong.. I have a 24mm S-Tak so maybe I will to try VXPan with that lens next.

Not what I'd consider a classic Helios 44-2 scene!! However, the f2/fast speed has delivered some very tasty in-and-out of focus combinations, and the shadows on the walls are indeed rather haunted looking.

Savoche has said it so well. You certainly haven't overdone the film emulation. I especially like the way the brightness on the left has been rendered - a sort of double-creamy colour. Good enough to eat!

Very cool with the shadows.

I think cropping the Laowa to 65x24 format is the closest you will ever get to a "less expensive" XPan... Although, to get the same field of view as the 45 on XPan you'd need about 24mm, wouldn't you? Anyway, I like the image beyond the format - lots of lovely geometry and light/shadows. The two picture frames "communicate" nicely.

Its got that haunted house look.