Some years ago, I took a course locally in large format cameras and have used one, on and off, when I'm not traveling with my old Hasselblad. My father-in-law passed away a couple of years ago and I've just received his Linhof Technika camera, lenses and various filters, etc., which I think is a late-model III (although parts look like a model IV).

I bought this set in 1999 and had a lot of fun taking pictures with it.Bob, and others who are keeping in touch with this string, you may continue to receive odd questions like mine. Last but not least, it all fit in a nice alluminium case. To avoid including theВ drop bed in the picture, specially in portrait position, there is an extra stop for the bed, that opens it up enough for wide angle photography. For that you may use a special lens board with bellows and adjust focus on the big knob that is positioned right above the lens. Some lenses, like this Schneider 65 mm, are so short in focus that you canвЂ™t pull them out of the camera body. It replaces theВ ground glass and it is very easy to put and take it off. Nice accessory to have is a 120 film adapter. Simply turn the square back and there you are. Landscape or portrait can be switched without taking the camera out of tripod head. There is a white one on the upper left corner for a 90 mm lens. There are also sliding scales for focusing according to the distance. The other ones, more on the back, are lifted to stop the lens at the desired position. The ones showing a red mark will let the lens board pass over. For that, you can set pairs of stops for your different focal lengths directly on the rail. It is always a good start for a lens to be in the infinity position when you open up your camera. I assume any 150mm will do with good enough precision, lenses canвЂ™t be that different having the same foci, but I never tested. In this picture we seeВ a 150 mm with serial number L8491215. But also,В one could send, and that still can be done, lensesВ to Linhof and they will cut one tailored for a perfect match. There are blades for different lenses, the ones sold together by Linhof bear the lens serial number engraved on it. The generous distance between prism and viewerВ yields goodВ precision.Д¬oupling of telemeter and focusing knob is provided by blades (the one shown a bit belowВ center inВ the picture above) that actuate the telemeter according to the lens board position. Lens board can also be tilted vertical an horizontally.ДЇor focusing it has a telemeter on the right side for situations when ground glass focusing is impossible. Releasing 4 knobs in cameraвЂ™s body you can pull its back and adjust different angles for image plane in relation to lens axe. Body is in aluminium covered with leather. Rail allow double extension and remains very solid in this well used 40 years old Technika. The whole set weights 4 Kg (~9 pounds) and that helps very much in avoiding camera shake when the shutter fires. Multi focal viewer with paralaxe correction and masks for different film formats. Lens shade with adapters for different lens diameters and a slot for filters that slip in. Ready for handheld street photography? Here the Technika is equipped with some add-ons.

It is worthwhile visiting LinhofвЂ™s website and I recommendВ you to start from the History pages. Today it can take films, as ever, but and also digital backs, new and old lenses and the ones to come will fit in a Technika, and that is what TechkinaВ is all about, makingВ as diverse as possible the combination of a sensitive photographic surface with many, manyВ lenses. It is probably not senseless to say that theВ flexibility of its project, first prototype in 1939,В is the main reason for that longevity. What is also amazing is that the Technika is still in production today (at the time of this post, May/2016). Of course, there are limits forВ those movements,В but lenses have also theirВ range of usability, so we can say that the Technika V, in an incredible array or circumstances, is able to exploit the limits of a great many lenses.

Beyond be obviousness of varying the distanceВ in order to get focus, itВ allows the lens axe to be freely positioned in relation to imageВ plane in translations and angulations. Considering photographyВ as an affair between a light sensitive surfaceВ and a lens, that must be held in complete darkness, this camera is a superb darkness provider.

Linhof technika serial number camera