Linhof Lens Board compatibility

[Jim Tanton]

I have a linhof technika IV and am finding it increasingly difficult to focus accurately with my 90mm because I have to have it so close to the end of the rail. I am looking into getting a recessed lens board and don't want to spend the a ridiculous amount of money on one. Which lens boards are compatible with the tech IV? Thanks! -Jim (www.jimtanton.com)

[Bob Salomon]

The current Linhof boaards for a Technika IV, V and Master for a Copal or Compur 0 shutter are the 001015 9with operating elements for the aperture and flexible cable release cable or the 001016 without the aperature elements but with the flexible cable release adapter.

For older lensboards from Linhof if you have either of the above shutters you can use the recently discontinued 001016 board. This can be distinguished from the very latest version as it does not have a red dot on the face of the board.

Otherwise you can use the older 001015 if you have a Compur and a 001016 if you have a Copal. These will not have the flexible connection and will have a raised ring that the shutter mounts to in the center of the board.

[Juergen Sattler]

Jim, I would look on the famous auction site - they do come up, both the original Linhof recessed boards and the knock-offs. The latest Linhof boards that Bob described sound great, but I am sure they cost a small fortune - and I am not sure they are worth the expense for a 90mm lens.

[Ted Harris]

Wista, Nikon and Horseman all make boards that fit the Linhof. AFAIK they all make or have made at one time or another a recessed lens board. Additionally there rae a slew of generic 'no name boards' available. Badger, for example, sells one for $125. You can find them on the used market for 75-100 sometimes a bit less.

[Brian Ellis]

You don't need a recessed board with a 90mm lens on a Tech IV. The problem you're encountering is solved just by pushing the top rail all the way into the back of the camera, then put the lens into position and focus it. By pushing the top rail all the way to the back you elminate the gap that you're presently seeing between the end of the rail and the interior of the camera housing and so the "edge" that you're now so close to disappears .

[J. A. Berwocky]

Second what Brian says, I use a 90 on my IV all the time.

But a recessed Linhof board helps because it allows you to pull abit more bellows out, which allows some movement. Get a flexible Gepe cable release adapter for the cable release and go.

[Larry Gebhardt]

I don't know if it will work on the technika IV, but I got a Shen Hao recessed board from Badger for $75. Jeff steared me towards this over the $125 generic they also sell. It works fine and has a shutter release wire that was easy to install. Works great on my Shen Hao with the 6x17 back and the 90mm lens.

[Ole Tjugen]

With Brian Ellis' "push it in" method, I have used a 90mm Super-Angulon on a Technika 5x7" camera, admittedly with a recessed lensboard mounted on an adapter. It really works.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for the credit Ole but I didn't come up with this method of keeping wide angle lenses from falling off the back edge of the rail on my own, I read it somewhere, perphaps in the camera manual or maybe some other Linhof literature.

[Ole Tjugen]

Brian, since I haven't read this anywhere before now I had to come up with it myself. So I figured that crediting myslf was a bit too "ambitious"...