What model is this Linhof camera? Two lenses...

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<p>That is the Linhof Police ID camera for mug shots with a Linhof Glass Plate/Sheet Film Holder.</p>

 

<p>Its' prper name was the Linhof Quadrophot cat. # 000061 and it took 4 shots on one piece of film. A frontal portrait, a left side view, a right side view and a full length shot. This camera was current in the mid 70's/</p>

<p>Bob; is it 4x5; 5x7? </p>

 

<p>It was 4x5.</p>

<p>I'm sure you're right about the origins of the camera Bob, but since the right hand lens has no shutter, and the camera has twin separate bellows, it looks to me as if someone has converted it into an oversized twin-lens "reflex" - except of course there's no mirror arrangement.</p>

<p>It appears that the right hand twin is meant to be used for focusing and viewing while the left hand section is loaded with film, the shutter cocked and ready to shoot when the moment is right. If you look hard enough you can just catch a glimpse of the neck strap in the background too. ;-)</p>

<p>There is an internal mirror.<br>

Linhof described it as:<br>

"Camera type: Twin lens 9x12cm(4x5" monorail identity camera for police mug shots. Built-in beam splitter permits up to 4 seperate images on one sheet or instant picture film.<br>

Special features: two Schneider 150mm Xenar lenses, one in self-cocking Prontor shutter, the other serving as a finder lens. Rotating back.<br>

Models built after 1989 had a movable front panel."</p>

<p>So no, you don't cock it. The shutter recocks itself when it is fired and this is not a camera that you could hang on your neck. Among the recommended accessories for it was a Linhof studio camera stand. The camera measured 21 x 27 x 48 cm and weighed 4.6 kg and the only viewing was ground glass viewing with the included Linhof Right Angle Reflex Attachment.</p>

 

<p>Rodeo; Bob shot my mug shot with this rig; but we got talking about cameras and thus I slipped/switched the film holders and thus I am still at large! :)</p>

The Quadrophot camera was supplied by Linhof in Munich only on request in very small numbers in the late 1960ies to app. 1982, almost exclusively to the national German police and judicial authorities, as well as to the secret service and some military authorities in Germany. It was made to take mug shots semi-automatically.

 

On the left was a complete camera that was used to focus on a special focusing screen with markings for each position of the back on right side. Distances from 1.2m to approx. 4m could be focused. The f/4.5 150mm Schneider Xenar lens on the left side has no shutter.

 

On the right side, on the same level, was a second camera, in which a 4x5 "cassette was inserted, on which four pictures were then successively shot on a single sheet of film. The lens on the right was also a Schneider Xenar f/4.5 150mm in a synchronized Compur Press shutter.

 

The right back was rotatable. This made it possible to take a full body shot on one half of the film when the back was placed vertically and three portrait shots on the other half of the film in the horizontal position. For this purpose, the rear part of the camera was positioned on a rail in three locking positions. The third (middle) position was for both, the front portrait and the full body image.

The procedure is shown symbolically on the lid of the back of the camera (see pictures).

 

Probably no more than 50 of these cameras were made.

 

My own version has an additional holder for a flashgun.

 

I still think it would make a great twin-lens reflex for the hipster that doesn't think a 35mm SLR or Rolleiflex makes enough of a statement.