newbie linhof help

[e. a. smith]

I just acquired my first LF and need some help getting started.

The previous owner described the camera as a Linhof-Karden Color-S 45.
The camera has identical front and backs with full movements and a geared rail drive. According to what I have read the monorail should be should be either 15 or 18 inches but mine is 28 inches long and lacks the adjustable tripod thread. I would like to acquire a proper used monorail and tripod mount.
Any suggestions where to look. (nothing on e-bay) but barring that, could I have the larger rail cut down and to what length?. I have a custom steel collar sweated to the end of the rail now. Do I need to have movement along the rail for tripod mounting or could I have this collar sweated on in the middle of the rail?

There was no glass in the Linhof back back so I installed a grid ground glass labelled "Swiss Made". Will it work on the Linhof?

I have an unmarked lens board 6 3/8" square with a slightly recessed 3
3/8" hole which is offset on the board by 3/8". There's a plate mounted
above the holes and two small silver buttons bellow that I assume are some sort of quick release for lenses mounted on smaller boards. Should I try and use this or just by a full size board? Do Technica boards or other makes fit on the Karden?

The lens I acquired is a Zeiss Tessar 3.5 100mm . The front elements easily unthreads from a large unit with a chrome front labelled Synchro-Compur. This contains the shutter/diaphragm but also has at least one element. The lens is in a custom mount which I don't think will fit on a lens board. I assumed lenses mounted like an enlarger lens through the boad and held on with a jam nut but I read about taking lenses apart with spanners and sandwiching the board between front and back sections. Whats the normal way to mount lens?

When I remove the lens from the custom mount the circular ring
that works the diaphragm is exposed and looks a little vulnerable.
Will I damage this when I mount a board and then thread a jam nut.

I live in Canada.and have been told the Canadian Linhof distributer is Blazes Photographic but that WEB page is under construction. Anyone know Canadian sources for used Linhof gear?

I apologize for the long post but I'm stumpied. Rather than tie up group space please feel free to email me at magnum_bear@hotmail.com.

Thanks to all.

EA Smith

[Oren Grad]

A few points that may be helpful:


There was no glass in the Linhof back back so I installed a grid ground glass labelled "Swiss Made". Will it work on the Linhof?

Any ground glass that will fit the frame can be used. The only potential problem is if the original ground glass needed shims to bring it into proper register with the film plane of an inserted film holder. If there were shims, and if they were lost when the original glass was removed, then any new glass you install may be slightly out of register with the film.


I have an unmarked lens board 6 3/8" square with a slightly recessed 3 3/8" hole which is offset on the board by 3/8". There's a plate mounted above the holes and two small silver buttons bellow that I assume are some sort of quick release for lenses mounted on smaller boards. Should I try and use this or just by a full size board? Do Technica boards or other makes fit on the Karden?

Sounds as though it may be a Technika adapter board. If so, there's no reason not to use it - many users find it more convenient to keep lenses, especially smaller ones, on small Technika boards rather than large Kardan boards.


The lens I acquired is a Zeiss Tessar 3.5 100mm . The front elements easily unthreads from a large unit with a chrome front labelled Synchro-Compur. This contains the shutter/diaphragm but also has at least one element. The lens is in a custom mount which I don't think will fit on a lens board. I assumed lenses mounted like an enlarger lens through the boad and held on with a jam nut but I read about taking lenses apart with spanners and sandwiching the board between front and back sections. Whats the normal way to mount lens?

Most modern lenses have a front optical cell and a rear optical cell screwed into the respective sides of a shutter. In between the rear optical cell and the shutter there is a retaining ring - like a jam nut. You mount the lens on a lens board by unscrewing the rear cell and the retaining ring, using the retaining ring to secure the shutter on the lensboard, and then replacing the rear cell. A few lenses, like my 100mm Apo-Sironar-N, are so compact that they don't have a separate rear cell. However, they still have a retaining ring, and mounting still involves using the retaining ring to secure the shutter to the lensboard.


When I remove the lens from the custom mount the circular ring that works the diaphragm is exposed and looks a little vulnerable.
Will I damage this when I mount a board and then thread a jam nut.

There's usually no reason to remove the front cell from the shutter; there's actually good reason not to, because some lenses come with an easily-lost shim between the front cell and the shutter.

[Oren Grad]

One other point - a 100mm Tessar is very unlikely to project an image circle large enough to cover a 4x5" sheet of film at typical focusing distances. If you're planning to use 4x5" film, you will need a different lens. There are many good, affordable lenses in the 135mm and 150mm focal lengths that will cover 4x5 and would make fine wide-normal or normal lenses for the format.

[e. a. smith]

Thanks for the information. I'm still confused by the lens.

You say the 100 Tessar may not cover 4x5 yet I see lenses as short as 55mm listed for sell. The Tessar is very short ... I don't think it has a rear element that can be detached ... Is it the Tessar design that may limit coverage? I want this camera primarily for lanscape and in 35 and MF usually work with wide angle.

Thanks for the info

EA Smith

[Oren Grad]

You say the 100 Tessar may not cover 4x5 yet I see lenses as short as 55mm listed for sell. ... Is it the Tessar design that may limit coverage? I want this camera primarily for lanscape and in 35 and MF usually work with wide angle.

Yes. Tessar designs project a fairly narrow "cone" of sharp image. A 100mm Tessar is generally intended as a normal lens for the 6x7 or 6x9 cm formats.

Depending on how wide a lens you're used to on smaller formats, something in the range between 90mm and 135mm might be a good starting point for exploring 4x5. This article (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses-primer/) may be useful as orientation.

Another issue if you want to make wide angle pictures: what is the minimum bellows draw of your camera? The standard bellows on many 4x5" monorail cameras is not well suited to use with short focal lengths because it cannot be compressed far enough to focus the lenses to infinity, or can be compressed that far but will be so stiff that it's not flexible enough to allow for lens movements. So that's something else you might check. Most monorail cameras do have a bag bellows option available for use with wide angle lenses. Here's another article (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/matos-begin.html) that may help.