douglas_antonio

<p>stephen, the linhof technika V works very well with the grafmatic. if you get some routine you can work really "fast". but be sure you get the right one. i can't recollect the difference but only one type has the right groove for the international backs.<br>

the technika is also fit to take a digital back such as hasselblad cfv's with linhofs adapter. i've done testshots using the rangefinder with cams. focus dead on!<br>

have fun!</p>

<p>kevin,<br>

lovely camera, almost the same as mine before i converted it with several IV and V parts to my requieries.<br>

especially the front centered tilt was an improvemet as well as the later model back that allowed for the super rollex.<br>

well, all of the models from the III onwards are very special and beautiful. now we only need to take pictures that meet their quality.<br>

best regards</p>

<p>kevin,</p>

<p>this is the name i have for you of a person who obviously repairs and handles old technikas:</p>

<p>Zgonjanin GmbH<br>

Langbürgener Strasse 2<br>

81549 München<br />Germany<br />Bundesrepublik Deutschland <br /> Telefonnummer: (089) 62899946 <br /> Telefaxnummer: (089) 62899947</p>

<p>the other idea: have you spoken to linhof-studio, image House, 204 Leigh Road<br>

Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 1BS, fon +44(0)1702 716116</p>

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<p>best of luck,</p>

<p>douglas</p>

<p>kevin,</p>

<p>i don't know for sure but maybe my suggestions are some help in deciding.<br>

1. i believe you will have to find somebody who can handle two issues: repairing the rangefinder and cutting cams for a III.<br>

i believe richard ritter in the u.s. does this. google for lg4mat/net. i know you said london or germany ...<br>

i have an address somewhere in munich that handles older technikas, but it will take some time to find it. if i do i will post it.</p>

<p>i could imagine the mirrors having come loose. aligning all the components will be the job to do.<br>

i have a III i have fitted with a later back (V) to be able to use the super rollex backs. but this means you would first have to find the camera rotating back, then get the rangefinder repaired, a cam cut for the individual lens and the infinity stop notched (no infinity stops on the III) this is quite a job and it is the question whether you love your camera so much to invest time, headache and money to get it done. i did quite a bit on it but later decided to get a V that works beautifully with cams cut at linhof munich.<br>

replacing a gg for a gridded one should not be too much of a problem yet depending on the model of your present back.<br>

probably the thickness needs adjustment to have the correct focus in the end.</p>

<p>hope this helps a bit?</p>

<p>barna,</p>

<p>i would give these two places a try:<br>

http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?ac.ui.pn=compinfo.CompStoreLoc<br>

or<br>

http://www.pentax.nl/</p>

<p>you will find contact adresses and phone# on these sites</p>

<p>hope they can help.</p>

<p>troy,</p>

<p>do you know microtools.com? they sell camera leather in different colors. worth a try.</p>

<p>best of luck!</p>

<p>andy,</p>

<p>it would be the polaroid 405 holder or an equivalent fuji.<br>

the 550 is for the 4x5 fuji-film packs.</p>

<p>douglas</p>

<p>hi andre,<br>

over and above that there is calumet.nl/Calumet Photographic bv·Keienbergweg 13-15·1101 EZ Amsterdam <br>

or http://www.nordfoto.de/<br /> </p>

<p>unfortunately not artur,<br>

fuji 45 is a pack film which will not go into the 545 holder. you need a 550.</p>

<p>hi ben,</p>

<p>i have frequently bought up outdated polaroid 79 and 50's series. but i have had the experience that anything older than a year going to creating trouble. i believe the developing emulsion starts getting hard and therefore is not any longer spread evenly. missing corners on the print, colour shifts etc. are a result of that.</p>

<p>so, imho, forget about the purchase you have in mind. think of switching to fuji FP-100 c and 45. better colours! they need different holders though. polaroid 405 and 550. </p>

<p>hope this helps!?</p>

<p>another thing: don't deepfreeze, only cool polaroid/fuji material!</p>

<p>sorry claude,</p>

<p>did not read thoroughly and see that you like the compressed image that comes with both the longer lenses. well, then i am the wrong person to comment because i do not like that effect for tight shots.</p>

<p>claude,<br>

i believe the 300mm is already on the limit of making a head shot look flat. i have a 300mm symmar-s and have done a few tight head shot portraits and compared them to a 210mm. to me the 210 gives me a more 3 dimensional feeling which i prefer. have you seen 4x5 shots that you like so that you are in favour of these focal lengths?<br>

have you looked at a 240?</p>

<p>hi bennie,</p>

<p>thanks for your mail. appreciate it very much. don't know how to answer using the same way;-)<br>

don't worry too much about apos, non-apos etc. try to follow a vision of photography rather than a vision of equipment. after all its just a box and some glass that takes the picture . it's the photographer that makes the picture. some people have captured the worlds best pictures with non-coated, non-shutter-mounted sort of bottle-bottom lenses and we all are still talking about equipment taking the worst of pictures nobody will ever talk about ;-)) i think the way you are intending to proceed is very wise. best of luck!</p>

<p>hi bennie,</p>

<p>supposing the calumet is a 4x5 model (googled the camera, since i did not know it), i would base the choice on your personal field of interest. in case you are more into landscape, starting with a 90mm lens would possibly be advisable. there you could choose a schneider super angulon 90/8, a rodenstock grandagon-n 90/6.8 or similar lenses from fuji. my recommendation is to choose a multicoated, more recent lens (mc states it on the lens). a fairly "normal" focal length would be a 150mm, and starting into the longer lenses would mean from 210mm onwards. depending on the bellows extension you could go up to about 360mm. there are telephoto lenses of this length that don't require extensive bellows such as the non-telephoto lenses. i personally would try to rent a lens for a couple of days and try it out. get a few 4x5 double dark slides (film holders), load them with either b/w or slide film and shoot a couple of sheets, get them developed and see how this meets your expectations and intention. you have some time left to check before actually buying a lens since your class only begins in spring. there are roll film holders for medium format as well which could be used on your camera. i myself have the linhof super rollex which is excellent concerning film flatness. i can't comment on other brands. a lot also depends on your personal budget. but a lot of stuff is coming down in price at present. socalled apo-lenses, that have been redesigned for deminishing color aberrations are a lot more expensive than the series before them.<br>

i personally have bought all non-apos - a rodenstock 90/6.8 grandagon-n, a schneider symmar-s 150/5.6 and a rodenstock sironar-n 210/5.6 over the years and have been very happy with this selection so far. incredible sharpness and contrast.<br>

they came ready mounted in modern compur or copal shutters that are propably the most common ones used today. self-cocking shutters like prontor professional are fairly rare and often more expensive.<br>

some of the folks on the forum have experience with really old lenses and can advise you there. there seem to be a lot of incredibly excellent ancient lenses. but i have no knowledge on these.<br>

you could also check whether there is any pro shop ( calumet?) where you live and have a talk with them. and why not buy a book on using large format cameras? leslie stroebel wrote a very informative one.<br>

hope this helps?<br>

welcome to the large format!</p>

<p>thread is fairly old, but in the meanwhile i had the opportunity to test a phase one 39 mp on the old rapid sliding back (1960's?) plus linhof adapter plate for hasselblad V on a technika V. works perfectly.<br>

i needed to know for a shoot with a horse which is moving all the time. so using film would be more of a waste of time and material and the chance of getting everything the way i want it is better with digital capturing.<br>

but the test shows even the old technikas are fit for a future without film. no need for any later sliding backs ... $$$;-)<br>

but i will keep on shooting film since i simply love it in this format.</p>

hi thomas,

there are a few options i believe. one would be to look out for socalled refurbished digitalbacks from the various companies. without saying they are the only ones and without knowing for sure i think phase one does offer these backs directly at significantly lower prices. they are supposed to be absolutely brought back to top-working condition. the scan-backs-series could also be an option. since there is no motion involved in your shooting, the scanning mode would offer really high resolution files.

kelly flanigan will possibly drop in and be able to share an experience.

maybe you could get in touch with say phase one and ask for advice on refurbished backs?

and a last option could be renting a digital back for a day or two/weekend rates seem lower than workdays.

another possibility is to shoot film (mf or lf) and send it away for processing and scanning. since there is no hint where you are located you may google for labs that could do it for you.

hope this helps a bit!

kenneth.

the model III you are watching is a very early one. there are a few drawbacks you should consider and check for your needs before bidding:

the back is different to the later international backs and you will propably have difficulty using modern 4x5 holders.

metal holders are included in the auction. but i don't know whether they allow for present 4x5 film.

there is no middle axis tilt on the lens standard. so focussing will be different than with later technika models. (refocussing has to be done)

the old rollex seems to have been constructed for thinner or thicker films of those times. this obviously leads to problems advancing modern film IIRC from previous threads.

to be honest i would not recommend bidding. if you are not familiar with the technika models you could get some good advice on cameraquest.com. steve gandy sums up a lot of important details that help to understand the main differences and make a wise choice. i know it sometimes is a matter of budget but IMHO you should try to get a model III/version 4 or 5 at least or see whether you can afford a model IV or V. with the IV or V you can use most of the present lens boards, film holders, roll film backs etc. the V also allows you to still get lenses adapted to the rangefinder by the socalled cams. this is a great thing for hand held shooting. expensive but worth the money if you are into street hand held photography.

i once jumped into a model III standard press and found ot the drawbacks later (no rotating back, no tilts and swings etc). too late ;-)) so i advise you to first get more information on the model your are inclined to bid on to see whether it meets your demands and needs.

cheers

kenneth,

i am really getting puzzled.

what camera are you actually looking at? can you upload a picture?

i have the impression names of linhof cameras are still not used correctly.

there are no linhof dropbed/field cameras 2x3 available new anymore. maybe some new old stock.

but linhof stopped manufacturing the linhof super technika V 2x3 a year or two ago. so you would not run into the danger of buying a new 2x3 linhof technika V. sometimes a used one pops up on the auction site.

the linhof press (2x3) was built until 1963. the 4x5 standard press (stripped technika III) was produced for a short while in the late 1940's. both cameras - although having similar names - have almost nothing in common.

i believe the only 2x3 cameras available new from linhof are the monorail m 679cs and the monorail technikardan 6x9.

just run through the new linhof.de-site.

my recommendation is to illustrate your prospective camera to us uploading an image so we all know what we are actually talking about and could probably comment on that.

maybe there are better alternatives to a linhof for your purpose (portraits) and budget?

chauncey,

you are absolutely right. the press is a 2x3 model. and yes, it can be seen on the auction site right now.

since kenneth was mentioning being interested in a 2x3 camera, but bringing in the term "linhof 4x5 press cameras versus other models of the same brand." at the same time i thought he might be interested in the differences between the models as well as film sizes.

the linhof technika series, starting with the III and the present masters classic and 3000 are regarded as field cameras AFAIK, not press cameras.

i own a 4x5 standard press and converted it to a regular III/IV. but i agree i wouldn't have bought it if i had known about the backdraws then.

well, i think kenneth should now drop in and comment on our responses and guide us to answer his questions to his satisfaction ;-)

maybe i am absolutely off topic already ...

chauncey,

you are mixing up the technika press and the technika III standard press.

the press is an entirely different camera. the standard press was a "stripped" technika III with no back movements and limited front standard movements. it was introduced to compete with the graflex press cameras.

the technika press is a helical focussing camera and very compact.

just another thought:

if you are looking for actual press cameras, there is a model called linhof technika press (1956-63).

no bellows, but helical lens mount, rear swing and tilt frame.

google it, pictures should show up.

kenneth,

a very short answer to the second part of your question would be:

i would link the term linhof press camera to the linhof technika series. this is a compact clamshell-like construction that allows you to use lenses from 300mm (tele-designs even longer) right down to 72mm without any extra devices. extreme movements are limited due to the constrution. the other cameras based on the optical bench do offer a wider range of possibilities. so depending on the field in which you are interested you would have to make a decision whether you want a foldable, quick camera or one with a lot of movements. (yes bob, i know that other models are also easy to set up ;-))

check the linhof-website - linhof.de - for a glimpse on the model range and the explanations and details.

this is just a fast answer. there are so many different other aspects to consider before deciding.

for my purposes my super technika V is almost perfect. but in architecture it comes to certain limitations where a 679 or technikardan would be a better choice.

maybe you should try to contact hp marketing, bob salomon and try to get a brochure on the present model range.

gehu,

have a look at this fleebay-item no: 140276233741. this would probably fit. the back plate is flat and has no grooves or ridges. unfortunately i have read about problems about advancing the film correctly. this seems to be linked to different film thickness over the decades.

to me your camera looks like like a pre-worldwar II technika II 4x5.

the back doesn't look encouraging for the recent roll film holders. if you can get hold of one without buying it and check i believe that would be the best thing to do. if at all i would imagine the older rollex holders could fit. all the grooves for it to sit properly seem to miss here. (not to mention the gg alignment versus film plane on rollex or super rollex with this camera)

and for regular 4x5 film i would imagine you would have to look out for the really old metal holders. none of the present dds should fit. i even doubt a rotating back of later technikas would fit. this would give you the chance of using modern super rollex and regular dds. this retrofitting was possible from model III onwards.

sorry for the obviously bad news.

maybe someone else has better and more precise information on possibilities i do not know of.

bob salomon may have it.