Technikardan "bag" compendium shade

[tim atherton]

doesn anyone else use the funny little Technikardan compendium shade that uses a big instead of pleated bellows. It always seems rather fussy to me. Do you actually find it useful?

here's a view of it

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/largeimages/31038.jpg

[Bill McMannis]

Tim,

I use it quite a bit and it works great. I used a compendium with a "standard " type bellows on a previous camera and I find that the Technikardan works as good or better than my old one. There is an internal wire frame that keeps the shade in shape regardless of how long or short the extension. Also, the unit disassembles and folds into a very compact package for backpacking. As a bonus, the Lee polyester filters fit nicely on the Technikardan unit.

Bill

[tim atherton]

Bill

does yours have a bar as long as the one in the b&h picture? The bar on mine is a touch under 4" - it hasn't been shortened. But that's one of the reasons I find it fidly

(wonder where can get some 1/4" square bar?)

[Brian Ellis]

I used one for a while back when I had a Technikardan. I found it fussy and enough of a pain to fiddle with that I didn't use it very often. Mine had two bars of different lengths as I recall.

[Bill McMannis]

Tim,

Mine came with two bars; one about four inches and the other about eight inches.

Bill

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've sometimes used a bag bellows as a shade on a Sinar. It's handy for wide lenses, but it does stick out and get in the way of the lens controls and such.

[tim atherton]

ahh - I guess I only inherited the 4" bar

[Frank Petronio]

Duct Tape. You can get special black duct tape from Linhof for only $30 per roll.

[tim atherton]

yep - I don't want to think was the cost of a genuine Linhof replacement 8" bar is...

Now if I can find some nice black anodised or powder coated 1/4" bar :-)

[Bob Salomon]

You don't have the complete adapter set for the TK per your picture.

This compendium is used for the Master technika, the Kardan and the Technikardan. Each has its own specific rod set. Yours is missing rods.
and possibly, a joiner block.

Marflex should have the TK rod set for your version of the compendium for the TK.

Adapters for older versions of the compendiumare no longer available.

[Bob Salomon]

The adapter for the compendium for use on the TK should be 058129.

[Ernest Purdum]

You can find 1/4" square bars in several varieties of stainless steel and other metals at www.mcmaster.com. Squares are lumped in with the other "rectangle" shapes. If you are a gram counter, you could probably even find some 1/4" square tubing, but I didn't look.

[tim atherton]

stainless would be good - I did find some 1/4" titanium (which I thought would be more in the Linhof price range :-) ) - they would cut it up, but it came in 10' lengths I think...

Mine looks like it has the older fittings compared with the B&H one I think (non of my linhof brochures show anything in much detail) - which would made sense consdering I've had it for a good few years. All I'm missing is the longer bar though.

Actually now I got it out again and blew off the dust, I'm figuring out a way to use it on my Phillips 8x10... (as long as I don't receive any "cease and desist" orders!)

[John Hennessy]

My 2¢: bar changing is a pain; the piece that attaches to the shoe comes loose and falls off; the screws that hold it together are wood screws seated in plastic and fall out; (the first one I had had fallen apart in the box from B&H, the second one took a few weeks to fall apart); it holds one thin filter only. A Lee hood/filter holder is far better, faster and versatile. (Be sure to get the Lee pieces that allow for rise because the shade itself does not.)

[Bob Salomon]

John,

"it holds one thin filter only"

The compendium holds a gel only in a Linhof Folding Filter Holder. But the Linhof Filter Holder for the compendium holds both 95mm screw-in filters as well as additional gels in Folding Filter Holders. There is also a set of cropping masks for the compendium. Both the Filter Holder and the cropping masks are optional accessories for the compendium.

"wood screws seated in plastic"

I have not opened a recent compendium but the last ones we did check had 2 rods, a coupling piece for them and the accessory shoe mount to mouunt it to the camera. They were all metal last time we looked. I will check a new set tomorrow.

Or are you talking about the screws that mount the adater for the bar to the frame of the compendium?

[David A. Goldfarb]

I don't often use two filters at the same time, but on occasions that I've done so with the Technika compendium, I've used two small binder clips available at any office supply place to hold a second 4" square filter on the rear standard of the compendium. This is also handy for positioning 4x6" ND grads.

[Bill McMannis]

John,

My unit, less than two years old, does not have wood screws seated in plastic. The only plastic are the holders to slide the gel filters into.

Bill

[John Hennessy]

If you look at Tim's B&H photo you'll see four screws which hold the back of the frame together. There are the same screws in the front. On two of my hoods, several of these screws (including the sliding part on the front) worked loose and fell out. I replaced them with bolts and nuts, the way it should have been made in the first place.

Your milage may vary...

[Bill McMannis]

John,

You are certainly correct: there are wood screws that hold together the framework that holds the gel filters.

Mine has been pretty durable and the screws have not loosened even though I have logged about 5000 miles of travel with the unit.

Bill