I've just gotten into LF photography and wondered if I can use new lenses on my Linhof Super Technika lV . I realize that only ground glass focusing will be valid without proper camming of rangefinder. Now, if it is a normal lens, do I merely set my infinity stop onto the color coded normal focal length lens stop? Thanks for any help.
Before using a new lens, an infinity stop should be re-set at the actual infinity focusing position of the new lens. This will vary even between lenses of the same nominal focal length.
OK. Would I do that by extending the bellows to a normal length and focus with the new lens and focus to infinity and at that spot on the rail, mark my spot?
You would have to check the focus on the GG at infinity and then reset or install the infinity stops on the camera bed.Originally Posted by Ernest Purdum
Additionally, for the Super Technika IV, each lens would need to have a cam prepared for the particular lens used if the camera RF is to be used. This was changed in either the Super Technika V or the Master Technika which as far as I know can use any cam for a given focal length with that focal length lens. Bob Salomon can clarify this.
Rich
This is not quite right. Lenses still need to be cammed individually for the MT and the Tech V, but unlike with the Tech IV, it is not necessary to match the lens to a particular body. Tech IV cams have the serial number of the lens on top and the serial number of the body on the bottom. Tech V and MT cams have only the serial number of the lens on top, because the groundglass on these cameras can be zeroed so that they are the same from one body to the next.
That said, if you've got an old Tech V or MT, it's still worth sending it in anyway for calibration when you have a new lens cammed, and Martin will also set your infinity stops and focusing scale precisely and when I last sent mine in, he also checked my other cams.
Don't go rushing to move the Infinity Stops. The set screws that hold the stops on the rail have small sharp points on their ends. When they are tightened the points dig into the chrome rails. When you move the stops you will leave small pockmarks in the rails. They will not come out.
You camera was made no later then Oct. 1956. So it is at least 50 years old (plus 2 months for nit pickers).
When was it last serviced? It is very likely that it is well overdue for a good CLA and the service center could easily reset the stops for you and, if desired, grind a new cam.
if your current cam does not have the lens serial number stamped on the top of the cam and the body serial number stambed on the back of the cam that cam will not work properly at all distances with your camera lens combination. On a V or later the cam only needs the lens serial number not the body's.
You don't really need infinity stops, especially if you're using the ground glass. When you set up the camera just slide the lens to the approximate infinity position and adjust from there using the ground glass. If you like you could mark an approximate position with a pencil but there's no need for infinity stops when using the ground glass. I used to have them on my Tech V and I never bothered raising the little gizmos that stop the lens movement, I just used them as an approximate guide to the infinity position. A pencil mark would have worked as well.
If you're in the U.S. Marflex won't cam lenses for you unless you send in the camera with the lens. Even though this isn't supposed to be necessary with the V and later Technikas, they will want the camera to properly calibrate everything as David mentioned. So the camming advantage that Vs and Masters possess vis a vis the IV and earlier cameras is more theoretical than real, with any of them you'll need to send in the camera even though in theory only the lens is needed with the V and later. The camming price is fairly steep, it was $250 when I talked with Marflex about five years ago, probably gone up since then, but as David mentions they do more than just cut a cam.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
Brian- Thanks for answering my question directly aimed at the Tech lV. That was what was confusing me, if, by focusing on ground glass since not having a dedicated cam for a new lens, why mark infinity on the rail? So, as I see it, after mounting the new lens on my lens board, pull out my bellows to an approx. distance of where infinity might be and focus naturally on g g and trip the shutter............. Thanks!
Hi Randy,
By marking the rail with an infity mark or an infinity stop for any lens allows for faster set up and taking of an image. This is a feature that may be valuable to some.
Rich
Indeed, for groundglass focusing infinity stops aren't necessary, but if you've got them, they are handy, particularly when you want to shoot a simple landscape quickly in changing light.
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