Linhof wide angle device - what's the scoop?

[LabRat]

Good that you are using a dedicated custom camera!!! Will make it MUCH easier to use...

But if you consider adding a completely drop bed feature on the Linhof in the future, what worked on my old style Tech III was on the top of the bed support struts is the tip that prevents the bed from falling completely, but with my model, it only required siight re-rounding the front of the tip (about a mm) with a file, where it would just slip through the rivet & pin assy if you pushed the strut inwards (against the outward spring pressure), and it slides out, but for normal bed opening, the outward spring pressure would still stop the bed from falling as there is still most all of the stop intact... The bit that is filed was the tiny little corner tip point very slightly rounded, top forward end of stop... I don't know if this will work with later models, but drop the bed all the way down, and see what is stopping it, and see if there is just a little tip there in the way... Fairly easy mod... (Remove RF cam before use, or get an old, short 90mm cam and move focusing track forward out of the way so the cam is free of it before dropping bed completely to avoid damage...)

If you try this, only remove one strut at a time, to maintain alignment of the bed while doing this...

Steve K

[Jac@stafford.net]

Nice looking Veriwide adaptation! I was considering doing such a thing with spare Sinar parts, but this situation with the 47 S-A XL and the helical fell into place sooner, so the Sinar odds n ends are still in the drawer.

I do have a Sinar Alpina that appears capable of using the 47mm S-A XL to make a 'handy cam', but I not like monorails.

[Neal Chaves]

Wow! I am not smart enough to even imagine how one would properly modify a focusing cam. Any more tips for us? Is it something as simple as following an other cam as a template? IOW, linear?

If you search my old posts, I have discussed cutting cams for Linhofs and TRF Graphics. My advice now, is to stay away from Linhof and save your money for lenses, film, travel, models, etc.

.

[Cor]

Just throw in this, although it's about a 65mm SA..I once had a 65 SA (well still have it actually) on a "Schneckengang (sp?)" or a helical focussing mount on a Linhof board. I used it on my Tech III by placing it on the inner rail, drop the bed to max, and extend this weird technical back about 1 cm backwards (I had a piece of plastic, 1cm square with me which I used as a spacer). I could than focus with the helical quite easily (have long thin fingers though)..it was a bit cumbersome to set up, but it worked..

The 65 SA now lives on a recessed lens board on my Linhof Color..

Best,

Cor

[Corran]

Jac,

I have a wide-angle focus device (thingy, board, whatever you want to call it). It works pretty well with my 58mm XL. However, because of where the focus adapter needs to be placed on the bed, the 47mm XL doesn't work. I have used the 47mm XL on my Linhof MT simply on a flat, offset board and found a good hyperfocal point inside the box and the bed dropped all the way. It's a pain but it does work...kind of.

I will note here as well that if I use a center filter on the 58mm XL, it restricts the extension due to impacting the focus knob.

Also, it's a pain in the butt to find the proper mini Linhof boards to fit the lens. A lot of the Copal 0 boards I found were not properly offset. They seem to have made a lot of variants for different lens types over the years.

The Linhof is definitely not a good ultra wide angle platform (wider than 72-90mm). I've also ran into issues with large 100mm GND filters even on normal wide angles due to impacting the focus rails.

The 47mm XL is definitely going to live on my new Mercury camera going forward. I hadn't used it in a long time due to so many problems with camera compatibility. It only really worked well on my Toyo GII but I'm not lugging that thing around.

[Mark Sampson]

One has to give Linhof credit for trying to make such a device, and for it being as successful as it is. The Technika design goes back to what, the early 1960s? And even in the late 1980s the widest lens, available new, that covered 4x5 was a 65mm. So if it doesn't work with a much shorter lens, oh well, nice try anyway. No surprise that photographers have found solutions that work better.
Kind of reminds me of my Visoflex II that turns a Leica rangefinder into an SLR- I call that 'an elegant kludge'. Beautifully made, and it works, sort of, for a few purposes, but has significant drawbacks too.

[Jac@stafford.net]

One has to give Linhof credit for trying to make such a device, and for it being as successful as it is. The Technika design goes back to what, the early 1960s?

If we concentrate on the origins of the Super Technika, it is more likely 1946 when the rangefinder became an option.

[Bob Salomon]

One has to give Linhof credit for trying to make such a device, and for it being as successful as it is. The Technika design goes back to what, the early 1960s? And even in the late 1980s the widest lens, available new, that covered 4x5 was a 65mm. So if it doesn't work with a much shorter lens, oh well, nice try anyway. No surprise that photographers have found solutions that work better.
Kind of reminds me of my Visoflex II that turns a Leica rangefinder into an SLR- I call that 'an elegant kludge'. Beautifully made, and it works, sort of, for a few purposes, but has significant drawbacks too.

The Technica goes back to prior to WW II. The war time Technica Medzin was the direct descendant of the post WW II models.

And your Visoflex was actually made by Novoflex. They also made the prism finders for Rollei and Hasselblad as well as the bellows for most European 35mm and 21/4 SLR cameras.

[Drew Bedo]

Least expensive, but useful.. . .

I was having a problem rounding up my things when shooting outdoors. Lens caps , loup etc. Lost one or two not-cheap-to-replace items in the tall grass through inattention when packing up.

Finally fixed that by gwetting a vbatch of Crown Royal bags off of The-Bay for <$1.00 each. If there was an empty bag left over whenever I thought it was time to close the bag, I knew that something was still out and had to be looked for.

I still use the CR bags, but the lenses now get packed into Photobackpacker boxers. In practice the principle is the same.

[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.