Myself and 99.99% of pano photographers, use what I would call normal cameras. Point and Shoot, DSLR, rangefinder, are the more common types of cameras.

For the professional and serious pano enthusiasts, there is another very different type of camera that comes into play: panoramic cameras.

These are highly specialized cameras, most of them expensive, that are designed from the ground up to do one thing and one thing only: shoot panoramas.

I have never owned any of these cameras, but have played with a couple. After doing a quick search to see what is available, I came across the Panoscan used by the department of defense and NASA.
Price: a healthy 36 thousand dollars!

If you are curious to see what else is "out there" with somewhat more sedate pricing, go to ephotozine.com where they have a very complete list of cameras.

In case you are thinking that the idea of a dedicated panoramic camera is something new, take a look at panoramicphoto.com for an interesting history of panoramic cameras.

If you are somewhat more adventurous and would like to build one, go to funsci.com for complete instructions, including technical drawings.