Questions before spending the big bucks on Technika

[Dean Jones]

Hi Frank....I bought a Master kit a few years back, it is a great camera. The later finder is streets ahead of the early model, even if a little more expensive. The rangefinder has rather small windows, makes it difficult to work fast if you`re wearing specs I find.
I purchased cams separately and had quite luck at matching them.
You can check the accuracy yourself with a GG at various distances, before shelling out $250 a time.

I have a spare 90mm cam if you plan on using an Angulon.
Condition of the bellows is usually the main problem with older Techs, as well as seized lockers on the rear standard caused by overtightening.

Linhof leatherette isn`t a problem to replace if you`re handy, you can buy sheets of Linhof style stuff from Micro-Tools (Fargo Enterprises in Vacaville CA)...just make patterns from paper first. I completely recovered mine as it looked slightly shabby.

The camera is difficult to hand hold without the grip, even go for twins, (left and right).
The Tech gets a bit unwieldy if you rack out the beds with a long lens, so best to keep it under 300mm for hand held use. My outfit is pictured here somewhere......
Cheers.

[stompyq]

This is outside the original posters question (sorry frank) but, DEAN JONES? in Australia? You didn't play cricket for Australia did you?

[Scott Whitford]

My Tech V closes up just fine with a 150 Symmar on a flat lensboard. Not a Prontor shutter, though. My shutter's labeled Linhof, but I suspect it's a Compur.

I use the left-hand grip and rangefinder to do hand-held portraits quite often, even without a viewfinder. Takes some guesswork initially, but you'll be able to frame quite accurately with some practice. Focusing with the rangefinder is amazingly accurate, even at f5.6.

I find it very liberating to use this camera hand held. I can get sharp negatives all the way down to 1/30 of a second. The mass of the machine makes it very steady.

I replaced the stock Linhof GG with a Satin Snow. It's significantly brighter.

Scott

[David A. Goldfarb]

Also, about the ergo grip--it works for me, and my left wrist is a bit weak from a fracture and subsequent surgery a few years ago. You have to adjust the angle so you can hold your wrist straight with the camera in the shooting position. I hold the camera with my left hand on the grip and my right palm face up under the bed with the heel of my hand partially supporting the base and my thumb and index fingers available for focusing. I carry the camera on a strap to take the weight off my wrist between shots.

It does make it harder to find a case that works with the grip attached. I have an old Perrin leather case made for press cameras that's perfect, but usually I use the Crumpler FuxDeluxe, which is more comfortable to carry, and I don't have to worry about messing up the leather.

I have yet to find a case that works with both the grip and the finder attached, so I sometimes just carry the camera over my shoulder from the strap with a fanny pack for an extra lens or two, cams and whatnot, and a couple of Grafmatics or rollfilm if I'm using a rollfilm back, and my Gossen Digisix meter in my pocket.

[Andrew O'Neill]

That reminds me. I have a technica 2000 sitting in a box that has never been used. Maybe I'll try it out as a hand hold camera...

[Neal Shields]

I have the old finder and have compaired it to the new style finder and the new finder is better. The old style finder basically crops the image when you change focal lengths and the new one appears to have some sort of zoom optics.

However, I do have an optical mask that fits my old finder to widen it to 75mm from the normal minimum 90

I also have two completely different 90mm lenses, both Linhof and both cammed. I have held the cams together and they are identical. I suspect that for all but the most critical shots (in which case you wouldn't be hand holding anyway) a cam is a cam is a cam.

I have both a 4 and a 5 and really like the geared rise. (I have the 70 mm Biogon and unless you overtighten the friction lock on the rise, it sinks slowly into the sunset with the Biogon. With the geared rise you can lock it in place. I suspect you aren't supposed to though.)

I also have the hand grip and like it for handling the camera, even if only to take it out of the case and place it on a tripod.

Last time I used my Technica hand held, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and it took about 3 months to heal.

I have lots of Graflex press cameras in my collection and don't see a noticable difference in the Graflex and Linhof range finders.

Having said all that, and actually having the choice, any hand held 4x5 I do in the future will be with a Crown Graphic, not a Linhof.

I re-leathered my 5 and in most cases the leather fits in a recess and is very easy to get in correctly.

[Oren Grad]

I carry the camera on a strap to take the weight off my wrist between shots.

David - What kind of strap are you using, and how do you have it attached to the camera with the grip on board as well? Are you just using what would otherwise be the anchors for the wrist strap?

[David A. Goldfarb]

David - What kind of strap are you using, and how do you have it attached to the camera with the grip on board as well? Are you just using what would otherwise be the anchors for the wrist strap?

I should have specified--that's a neck strap, and I use the neck strap lugs on top of the camera. I've used a few different kinds.

For about a year I used a Calumet strap--the big one (but not the luggage strap) with the air cushioned neckpad. It was very comfortable, but it actually failed when I was using it frequently last summer, so I'm not using that one again. The neoprene separated from the leather piece that is sewn onto the webbing that attaches to the camera, but fortunately the piping along the edges didn't separate, and I was holding the camera so it didn't come crashing to the pavement.

Lately I've been using a Tamrac strap with a suede pad. It had two little pockets for CF cards, which I just cut off. For safety's sake I'll probably replace this one after a year, too.

I'm thinking of just having one of the local leather shops make something of my own design at some point.

[Steve Hamley]

Actually I have experienced what Bob's speaking about with Maxwell screens and posted here and on APUG. I replaced an Ebony screen with the Maxwell, and while it is brighter and less grainy, it did not "pop" into focus as the Ebony screen does. I ended up selling the Maxwell.

Now that's not to say it was a bad screen or a bad product. Certainly it is far superior to a plain ground glass. I also believe that focusing screen opinions depend on the individual using them - grain bothers some people, others want the brightest image regardless of other attributes, and so on.

Steve

[Brian Ellis]

Actually I have experienced what Bob's speaking about with Maxwell screens and posted here and on APUG. I replaced an Ebony screen with the Maxwell, and while it is brighter and less grainy, it did not "pop" into focus as the Ebony screen does. I ended up selling the Maxwell.

Now that's not to say it was a bad screen or a bad product. Certainly it is far superior to a plain ground glass. I also believe that focusing screen opinions depend on the individual using them - grain bothers some people, others want the brightest image regardless of other attributes, and so on.

Steve

That's surprising. I thought the "grain" in the Maxwell that's on my Master Technika was a good bit less than in the Fresnels on the two Ebonys I owned. But then I didn't own all the cameras at the same time (fortunately for my bank account) so I couldn't make a direct comparison. I don't know exactly how Maxwell makes his screens but there certainly could be variations from one to the other, perhaps I've just been very fortunate with the one I ended up with.