Linhof wide angle device - what's the scoop?

[Jac@stafford.net]

I have a few cameras including MF and 4x5 using 47mm Super-Angulons f/8 & f/5.6.
The 47mm XL is new to me and particularly promising.

There are focus adapters for Linhof 4x5, but I do not know what-fits-what, and how to tell the differences.
I'd like to try one on a Super Technika V not using the rangefinder.

Any help please?

[Leigh]

What's a "focus adapter" ?
Never heard of such.

- Leigh

[Jac@stafford.net]

What's a "focus adapter" ?
Never heard of such.

- Leigh

Leigh, I have probably used the wrong term. For the Linhof it is an auxiliary lens board which is seated close to the back. It is placed on the back tracks of the rack and has its own short bellows and a dial to focus. To use it with a Technika we must drop the front bed down as far as possible.

I hope these pictures do not violate terms.



I do not know if it will work with a 47mm S-A XL. Another picture but for a 65mm S-A.



It is not beyond me to consider modifying the lock-down limiter for the bed to drop it almost 90° down.

[Bob Salomon]

Leigh, I have probably used the wrong term. For the Linhof it is an auxiliary lens board which is seated close to the back. It is placed on the back tracks of the rack and has its own short bellows and a dial to focus.

I hope this picture does not violate terms here. This unfortunately is view from the film side not showing the focus knob.
Photo from keh.com

Attachment 169620

No, it is not a lensboard. It is a wide angle focusing adapter that takes lenses, 65mm and shorter, on special Technica 23 lens boards. Both this device and the special lens boards have been out of production for several years. To use this device it is mounted onto the 45 Technica and the front standard is left inside the body housing. Focusing is done by the knurled knob on the top front of the adapter.
It worked with lenses down to the 55mm but I am not sure if it could focus the 45 or 47 at infinity.
Today Linhof uses these wide lenses in special, dedicated helical focusing mounts.

[Jac@stafford.net]

No, it is not a lensboard. It is a wide angle focusing adapter that takes lenses, 65mm and shorter, on special Technica 23 lens boards. Both this device and the special lens boards have been out of production for several years. To use this device it is mounted onto the 45 Technica and the front standard is left inside the body housing. Focusing is done by the knurled knob on the top front of the adapter.
It worked with lenses down to the 55mm but I am not sure if it could focus the 45 or 47 at infinity.
Today Linhof uses these wide lenses in special, dedicated helical focusing mounts.

Oh, Bob, lighten up. So it is not a lens board, but in effect it is, and thank you not for your frequent reminders that certain items are no longer in stock. The used market is rich without Linhof. Your frequent reminders just tell us that Linhof is dying.

So, can you answer the original question - which model will work an a Super Technika V? ...and learn up via your inexhaustible resources whether it will work with a 47mm SA XL. I have built 4x5 cameras with helix focusing. No mystery there.

[Bob Salomon]

Oh, Bob, lighten up. So it is not a lens board, but in effect it is, and thank you not for your frequent reminders that certain items are no longer in stock. The used market is rich without Linhof. Your frequent reminders just tell us that Linhof is dying.

So, can you answer the original question - which model will work an a Super Technika V? ...and learn up via your inexhaustible resources whether it will work with a 47mm SA XL. I have built 4x5 cameras with helix focusing. No mystery there.

No, it is not a lensboard and can not function as a lensboard. It is basically the front standard of a Technica 23.
There were two versions. One that fit the Technica III 45 cameras and the other fit the Technica IV, V and Master Technica. The original version fir the IV and later was tan. The later version was black. So was the version that only fit the III.

No, it does not work with lenses shorter then 55mm.

[Honkytonky]

An old thread, but still a big topic for many users of a Technika with an ultra-wide-angle lens.
There is always confusing information on this topic.

There were several versions. Just for the 4x5" versions of the Technika there were already at least four.
For Technika II I am not sure if there existed something like that.

For Technika III I'm sure. It had on the rear the connection for rectangular boards without recesses and with smooth edges:
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtD
It DOES (!) take recessed boards, if you use the right type.

From Technika IV to today (the boards with recesses and sloping corners), the rear connection was always identical.
There were three versions.
The older version takes on the front only the flat smooth rectangular boards (81x74mm) of the old Technika 6.5 x 9 cm:
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtE
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtF
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtG
It also DOES (!) take recessed boards, if you use the right type.

The newer and latest version also accepts the modern boards (also 81x74mm) of the 6.5 x 9 cm Technika but with sloping corners and recesses:
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtH
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtI
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtJ
As the others it also DOES (!) take recessed boards, if you use the right type.

There was another version without the ability to attach boards to it.
It only had a bore for Compur #00 shutters.
The wide-angle lens was fixed directly to it with the retaining ring:
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtK
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtL

A very similar version existed for the Super Technika IV - Baby Technika - for the format 6.5 x 9 cm. But on the rear it had the connection for small boards (81x74mm).
(sorry, no picture)

For 5x7" also existed several versions.
This one is the last version for standard 4x5" Technika IV V Master boards (96x98mm):
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtM
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtN
http://www.picfront.org/d/9OtO
Of course, this 5x7" device accepts recessed boards.

There might be a version for the old 4x5" Technika flat boards (sorry, no picture).
In the last version of the 5x7" Super Technika V, the wide-angle focusing device was already integrated in the camera body.

So what? What do you need something like that for?

Anyone who ever wanted to use a super wide-angle lens on a Technika, will not ask this question.
Such lenses (these are no retrofocus designs!) have to be pushed very close to the film plane if they are to be focused on infinity. Almost right up into the camera body.

In this position, however, the bottom must be folded down so that it does not appear on the picture.
So you can not focus the lens with the built-in bottom distance adjustment, anymore.

To focus these lenses, the front standard is pushed almost to the parking position, down to the parking rail. Now, instead of the lens, the wide-angle focusing device is used. In front of it comes the super wide-angle lens. However, the lens has yet to be installed in a correspondingly smaller board, which connects it with the wide-angle focusing device.

Hmm... sounds complicating, but with the help of the large adjusting screw you can now focus very comfortably.
However, only on the ground glass. There is no possibility for coupling with the optical rangefinder of the camera.

These devices were very expensive, so at the end the design was changed and helicoids were used instead - until today.
This has the disadvantage that if one fiddles around the lens for focusing, often accidentally triggers the shutter or disadjusts the aperture or shutter speed.

[Tin Can]

I heard of it. Expensive, rare and necessary for short lenses.

I skipped Technika class and went Horseman.

I am back. LOL

[LabRat]

I heard of it. Expensive, rare and necessary for short lenses.

I skipped Technika class and went Horseman.

I am back. LOL

Hi Randy!!!

Good to see you were not abducted by aliens... (Or were you!?!!!)

Hope you have gotten settled and happy again...

Keep on truckin'!!!

Steve K

[LabRat]

Jac, I think you are better off making another dedicated camera for the 47MM...

Me using my very old Technika III with a SA 65MM is tough enough, as the standard sits deep inside the body shell, making it difficult to access the controls, but with a custom WA camera, all of the controls would be right on the deck in front of you, and something simple like screwing in a cable release does not require a plan...

You can probably make a helical out of an old 35MM or 6X_ lens or some threaded plumbing fitting, or make some device not unlike that Linhof assy... You know the rest... ;-)

Steve K