Call me and ask away. I will be in the office on Tuesday in the SF Bay area the rest of the week. 800 735-4373.Originally Posted by Darin Boville
O.K. now *I'm* confused...
--darin
And now I see why. End pulled out for down, pushed in for up. Sorry about that.
Frankly I see no problem, or for that matter a more intuitive approach to the front crank... easy enough I thought to figure out without a manual. If you crank the lever the wrong way all ya' gotta do is flip the end and it goes in the direction you desire. Well... perhaps small arrows might'a been nice instead of colored dots.....
The hardest parts of using the Linhof (at least it was for me) was trying to figure out how to fold up the beast after use (and at times have to think about it after using the MT for 2-years) and figuring out how to use a 75mm lens on it without including the front platform in the image.
As for the manual... it's really not that much of a help for anything... far too simplistic for such a rather complex device... at least for one learning how to use a camera of its type for the first time.
To answer the original question... in my personal opinion: There is no better camera made of its type. Built like a tank... everything locks up tight... controls not all that hard to figure out even without a manual. I would highly recommend a Linhof (V or Master) to anyone.
Update on my search...
An awful lot of Masters on E-bay, some selling not far north of $1600. The other good one I liked vanished early, all bids canceled.
Here I'm see a IV for $900 + overseas shipping, no viewfinder or grip in that price. Another IV is $1350 with grip but no finder--but with new bellows.
I think I'm still lookingNo particular hurry.
--Darin
FWIW, I appreciate Bob Salomon's advice and insight on all things Linhof on this forum. I doubt he sees any return from helping some cheapskate like me deal with a 50-year old used camera. It's a testament to Linhof's quality and a bit of a shame that they are their own toughest competitor.
It's not like worrying about the rise lever kept me up at night, I still loved the camera ;-)
As for used prices, just be patient. There are plenty of deaths, divorces, and layoffs coming, so sooner or later your perfect camera at a great price will arrive!
what's the biggest lens that can fold up into a technika?
Darin,
I have not read this whole thread, I am just killing some time in an airport,
so forgive if I am repeating what has been said, but...
I had a 1V, traded up for a V, later sold it and a TK45 for an Arca.
Big mistake selling the V. The V is a great camera.
Buy the V, don't sell the Cham, they are two different beasts.
150mm on the 001015 "Comfort" lensboard
I'm not sure what you mean by biggest: physically largest or longest focal length? If the latter, and while I dont know whether its the longest, please note that I can close my Tech IV with a Nikkor-M 200/f8 mounted on a flat panel complete with single front filter and caps - but no cable release. You do, however, have to "reverse mount" the lens/panel combo on the front standard (ie front element of the lens facing the ground glass). While it will fit, I'm not keen on doing it as the front cap is snug against the ground glass (its a better fit without the filter)...
On the other hand, my 135/f5.6 Apo-Sironar-S normally lives inside my Tech IV. Again mounted on a flat panel, single front filter, caps AND cable release all attached :-)
Cheers
O.K, I'm looking at another one. Two questions:
1) How old is it? The serial number is 82485 so clearly it was made in 1962
But is it a IV or a V?
2) It does have the front standard gizmo, which would suggest it is a V, but that gizmo is not working....is there a chance it is NOT stripped? If actually damaged, what sort of repair bill are we talking about? Can the front standard be used without the gizmo?
Thanks!
--Darin
Yes it is not a design flaw and it rarely is a problem, except that half the Vs you try are missing teeth from all those non-instruction-book-reading photographers.
You might be able to "help" it rise and fall with a little finger pressure. There is a locking knob so it should hold even toothless, it is just less precise and funky.
I don't know for sure, but when I had it done and I think it was ~$200. Very few individual Linhof repairs cost less than $200.
You have to call Martin at Marflex (252) 652-4401. The guy is great, old school, don't even bother emailing. He's in NC and semi-retired so don't call too late.
What Allen said if you can afford to have both... I was playing w a Cham at Eddies and it was a darn nice camera. Complicated and slower to set up though. I'd hate to be a beginner with it but it seems like a great backpacking camera.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks