Rangerfinder with 90mm on a Technika

[Ed Richards]

I have a manual for my Technika IV that shows the 90mm (F8 SA) with the cam being mounted with the bed dropped. Is this the usual position for using 90mm lenses with the rangefinder? (The lens travel for focus will be a little shorter for a given bed movement when the bed is dropped.)

[Jeffrey Scott]

I am pretty sure you do not drop the bed. To avoid vignetting from the bed of the camera you must have the ground glass in the horizontal position only.

[Bill_1856]

The cam for my 90mm Angulon (NOT super) works with the bed dropped, the front standard raised, and tilted back to vertical. Otherwise, the end of the bed is just visible in portrait mode. PITA!

[Ed Richards]

Thanks Bill! Makes sense given the way the camera was meant to be used as a press camera. It is a special pain because my 90 has a little shorter flange distance than the SA.

[David A. Goldfarb]

With the 90/8.0 Super-Angulon, you don't need to drop the bed, even in the vertical position. With the 90/6.8 Angulon, you do need to drop the bed.

[francisco_5406]

You need to focus the 90? It always seemed to use such little throw that I always verified the focus on the GG or at worst zone focused like a Leica, so I never got it cammed.

The 6.8 Angulon doesn't require a dropped bed for horizontals. Mine is a late one and is as sharp as my recent Grandagon, but I can close the camera with it mounted and I don't have waste time with movements, as there are none.

[Ed Richards]

The question is not whether you need to drop the bed to keep it out of the picture. (With my 90mm Grandagon, you get the bed in the picture on vertical shots if you do not drop it.) What I am interested in is when you use a cam, is the cam cut for a dropped bed? My old instructions are consistent with Bill's, that it is cut for a drop bed. I use the rangerfinder with my 150 and want to be able to use it with the 90mm, but I do not have a cam. I am going to try some different 90mm cams that are available and see if any are close enough. Looking at the focal lengths of the various 90mm lenses that might have been cammed to an old Technika, I should be within .7mm of the right focal length, and could be right on. Even 1mm difference in focal length between my lens and cam should only make a 1/90 error in lens position for focusing, which ought to be insignificant on a 90mm. The fact that the Technika IVs did not have a consistent back distance should not matter because that is corrected by the position of the infinity stops.

[David A. Goldfarb]

My 90/8.0 S-A is cammed for my Tech V, and is accurate with the bed in the flat position.

It's in a recessed board and seems to be shimmed, so that it uses the same infinity stops as my 150/4.5 Xenar (also cammed), but with the 90, the focusing rail is in the retracted position.

[Ed Richards]

David,

Do you have to drop the bed for vertical shots? If so, does it throw the rangerfinder off?

[David A. Goldfarb]

With the 90/8.0 S-A I don't need to drop the bed for verticals, but dropping the bed would definitely throw the rangefinder off if it weren't set up to work with the bed dropped.

My 75mm lens is not cammed, but I believe that these are usually cammed to work with the bed in the normal position and the lens raised about 1 cm. If you had a lens like a 90/6.8 Angulon that requires that the bed be dropped for verticals, the solution might be either to turn the whole camera sideways with the back in the horizontal position or to raise the lensboard so that the bed isn't in the frame.