Alternatives to my Technika

[Ed Richards]

I have a Technika IV, which I use both as a hand held camera and a view camera on a tripod. The plusses are that it is 1) very ridgid, 2) easy to be sure the settings are at zero, 3) quite wind resistant, 4) I could probably whack a mugger with the camera on the tripod and do the mugger more damage than the camera.

Disadvantates are mostly about wide angle use - while I can focus a 90mm fine, I have limited rise, no lateral shift because the front standard has no clearance with the side braces that hold the bed open, and no real front drop. (You can drop the bed and reposition the lens, but this is pretty limited and a pain.) Rear movements are possible with a 90mm, but really hard because you run out of focus room. Shorter lenses are worse.

Is a Master Technika better at this? Would I be better to buy a second (cheap) camera that takes technika lenses to solve the problem? I do not hike much, so weight is not a real issue, and when it is, I can always just use the Technika.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Which 90mm do you have? I use a 90/8 Super-Angulon on a recessed board on my Tech V, and I've got an inch of front rise, and I can mount the camera upside down using the tripod thread under the accessory shoe for front drop. I have the same problem with front shift (about 5-7mm shift with the lens focused at infinity), but one option, if you have a strong tripod head, is to turn the camera sideways and use the rise as shift.

A MT has the flap on the top of the body, so you get more front rise, but it's only meaningful with a limited range of lenses that have this specific issue and that have enough coverage to take advantage of the additional rise.

[Brian Ellis]

A Master would help alleviate your front rise problem because of the flap David mentions. I don't think it would do anything else for you. Wide angle lenses aren't the forte of Technikas before the 2000 but I used a 90mm F5.6 Super Angulon on the Tech V I formerly owned and IIRC I had room for some movements. That was with a flat board. I also used an 80mm lens on the Master that I presently own, in a recessed board, and had room for movements.