Linhof Technika - How Practical is Hand Holding?

[Drew Wiley]

My brother did some pretty remarkable industrial shots in a stamping mill with a handheld Technika equipped with a gyro, where a tripod would have been useless due
to all the floor vibration. But he did more garden-variety work like portraiture with one handheld rather often, with flash of course.

[anglophone1]

Monopod........

[Oren Grad]

So would a cam for a 150mm lens be the same shape for any 150? I realize the stops may have to be moved but I'm thinking that once adjusted, the travel distance for focusing would be the same.

Not necessarily. The problem is that the marked focal lengths are nominal; the actual focal length of lenses marked "150" can vary quite a bit across brands, product generations and design types. You'd have to test to see whether any particular lens + cam combination is sufficiently close for your intended uses.

[jcc]

My brother did some pretty remarkable industrial shots in a stamping mill with a handheld Technika equipped with a gyro, where a tripod would have been useless due
to all the floor vibration. But he did more garden-variety work like portraiture with one handheld rather often, with flash of course.

Since you're using strobes: Unless the ground vibration frequency is greater than the flash duration, the strobe should be able to freeze the motion--so you can probably use a tripod. Only thing is that the parts that don't get "lit" might have camera shake.

[hoffner]

Since you're using strobes: Unless the ground vibration frequency is greater than the flash duration, the strobe should be able to freeze the motion--so you can probably use a tripod. Only thing is that the parts that don't get "lit" might have camera shake.

Theoretically yes, practically only rarely. Firsts you don't know the vibration frequency, secondly a lot depends on the focal length you use. The longer it is, the less it is immune against camera shake.

[Farside]

One of my old Linhofs, the immediate post-war Technika III (although it's really a pre-war body akin to Tech2) is the Press variant. Totally stripped as standard, with no RF, not much in the way of focusing aids and a simple focus scale for the original 135mm Schneider that would have been on it. It came to me with a Schneider 150mm mounted, which made it interesting. Anyway, it's a delight to use as a hand-held device, being a 9x12cm body, which does affect the overall weight, with lighter back, holders, etc.

[moto-uno]

I have a Busch Pressman D with a 150mm Ektar lens and a Kalart rangefinder (that I adjusted myself). I only use it handheld. My last 7 Provia 100F trannies are nice and sharp. So I'm thinking with any 400 film it's very doable. Although I must say that's a pretty steep price for a cam ,no? Regards,Peter

[doogie]

Hmm. I did have a few questions. Perhaps someone here could answer.

I just recently bought a Linhof Super Technika. It has one matched Cam set for the 150mm. But that is the only lens which came with a matched cam. My question is simply this. I can still utilize Bellows extension factors with the rest of the lenses to achieve accurate focus without the use of the Cams or Rangefinder can't I?

I'm hoping this is the case. I was tempted to go with a Wisner, but opted for this Linhof due to the amount of lenses that came with it. And quite the array of wonderful lenses might I add. When I get ready I think I may trade up to an 8x10 wooden field with reducing backs for 5x7, and 4x5. But that won't be for a while or at least until I start getting into Wet plate.

Thanks in advance for the help.

V/r,
Doogie

[Bob Salomon]

Not really. You need a cam cut to each lens, and, depending on which camera you have, maybe also to the body.

[doogie]

Sighs. I was slightly afraid that would be the answer. So the focus would be off a little without the use of the cams for the other lenses? Couldn't I just manually calculate bellows extension factors and focus off the ground glass?