Hi all,
I just wanted to get some opinions on a panoramic camera that was given to me recently. It says to use 200 speed film ONLY, and I realize this is because it has a fixed shutter speed(?) and aperture (it's fixed-focus).... I'm not expecting amazing results, but it should be fun to play with.

Now, it doesn't have a flash. I want to be able to do some low light / indoors stuff with it as well (I'll make sure there's plenty of electrical light available when I do this). I'm assuming that the 'consumer' films these days (eg. Fuji Superia, Kodak Gold etc.) at around the ISO 400 speed range have a pretty wide exposure latitude, based on past experience and what I've read. Do you think it'd be worth it to try a roll of 400 and see how it goes, just for the extra speed? (I don't want to pay to get them developed and have a stack of white & grey postcards). Or even ISO 800?

Also, should I ask them to pull the film? It's going to be overexposed obviously, but will one stop of overexposure make much difference with these films?

Thanks in advance

One stop of overexposure won't hurt you at all with negative films. I usually set my cameras to overexpose 2/3 of a stop with these films (set camera at ISO250 for ISO400 film) for more shadow detail and to be sure I wasn't underexposed, which is much less forgiving. I'd even try Ilford Delta 3200 black & white in it, but make find a good b&w lab to take it to first.

Thanks. With black and white film, you'd pretty much need to play around with the development though, right? (I think the Delta is real B&W, not chromogenic stuff, correct)? Or would it still turn out ok if I just got it developed as if it was exposed correctly for the speed?
Also, do you get them to pull your colour films?

I'm not even sure if this camera has a variable shutter speed... so putting a faster film in it might not have any effect in terms of capturing moving objects :) Oh well, I guess the backgrounds might look better in lower light.

Delta is good ol' fashioned B&W film. Well, not exactly like Tri-X - it's probably a little more like Tmax. The best scenario for this would be to do it yourself and it's not hard. The equipment isn't expensive and you don't need a darkroom to develop film. You would need one and an enlarger to make traditional prints, but the negs can be scanned for digital prints too - with very good results.

Actually everything will have more exposure with faster film, but if you're using a flash or strobes, then you're right about the backgrounds looking better (more exposure in them because the flash won't affect something at a distance).