Technika V Help

[venchka]

A rather disheveled Technika V followed me home last night.

The rangefinder is toast. No cams. No lens. A lensboard with a #0 hole. The viewing hood is toast. I can extract the front standard and snug it up against the infinity stops. My Speed Graphic trianing helped with that. Front shift and swing work. The back rotates and pivots as required.

I can not figure out how to make the front standard tilt or rise. Shift and swing work fine. The arm with the pull out end for rise doesn't seem to do anything. Twirling the knobs at the top of the standard don't make the lens tilt either. Is there an electronic copy of the instructions somewhere on the internet? The closest I came was a 2 1/4x3 1/4 Baby V. Can I remove the dead weight of the rangefinder?

The camera is a good size for hauling around on foot or bicycle. If I can strip away all the broken bits and mount my little Fujinon-W 125mm lens I would be a happy camper.

Thanks for your help.

[Len Middleton]

Wayne,

I sure Bob will be along in a moment and give you the difinitive answer, but I will give it a try anyways...

The two knobs at the top of the front standard countrol the tilt. The one tightens and releases the brace that locks the tilt. I think the other is to release it from the centre detent position. Once the one is loosened, then push the detent release and tilt the front board / standard by hand and lock it in the desired position with the one knob.

For the rise, the arm will raise it up or lower it depending upon the way the end is oriented. You operate it same as a jack handle to raise or lower the front standard. I think this was a less robust design than the previous knob turning a pinion on the rack, but it does have the advantage of being able to do a front rise with wide angle lenses that are almost inside the camera body when at infinity.

Hope that helps,

Len

[Bob Salomon]

To rise you pump the crank on the left front of the front standard. Gently pull out the end piece of the crank and rotate it to switch from rise to fall. To tilt you have two knobs at the top. One pushes in to release the tilt mechanism. Tilt to what you want and then turn the other to lock it in place.

Marflex can make you cams and supply infinity stops and focusing scales for your lenses. 252 652-4401. We have new Master Technika instruction books in stock. Except for the instructions for the lift-up top flap on the Master Technika the instructions are the same for your camera.

As for stripping it why? You gut a lot of the value and it should all be fixable. Just ask Marflex.

[Brian Ellis]

There's a Tech IV manual on this forum, go to http://www.largeformatphotography.info/linhof/technika.html. Tilts work the same way on the IV as they do on the V so the manual should show you how to do it better than I can explain it. Front rise is different on the IV than on the V so the manual won't help there. On the Tech V front rise is controlled by the arm you mention. The tip of the arm should rotate when it's pulled out and it should also have a dot on one side. Mine was green yours may be a different color. To operate front rise turn the tip so that the dot is facing up. Then raise and lower the lever. The front should rise. To lower it turn the tip so the dot is facing down. If nothing happens even with the dot in the correct position then you need a repair.

[venchka]

Thanks everyone!

Interesting. I have the plastic end lever. The end with opposing semi-circular sides pulls forward. Am I then supposed to rotate it 90 degrees before applying the up and down jacking motion?

Bob, this camera has seen better days. I've got my fingers crossed that the bellows are light tight. If so, I'll proceed. If not, I'll give up. As for cams, rangefinder bits & pieces, etc., I don't think that kind of major overhaul is in the budget. We'll see. The camera may grow on me.

[Bob Salomon]

Thanks everyone!

Interesting. I have the plastic end lever. The end with opposing semi-circular sides pulls forward. Am I then supposed to rotate it 90 degrees?

Bob, this camera has seen better days. I've got my fingers crossed that the bellows are light tight. If so, I'll proceed. If not, I'll give up. As for cams, rangefinder bits & pieces, etc., I don't think that kind of major overhaul is in the budget. We'll see. The camera may grow on me.

wayne,

A cam does not come with the camera. It is a package that requires a lens. The cam will be stamped with the serial number of the lens it is cammed for when it is cammed for the V or the Master. On the III and IV the cam is specific to both a body and a lens and has the camera's serial number on the bottom of the cam and the lens serial number on the top of the cam. A missing cam does not mean that the camera is incomplete or defective or in need of repair.

Some other cameras, for instance a Wista RF, comes with a factory installed cam for a 135, 150 and 180mm Nikon lenses. The Linhof accepts cams from 72mm to 360mm and can accepts lenses as wide as a 55mm. The 55 to 65mm lenses can not be cammed. So your camera's not having a cam installed is not unusual. As I mentioned earlier, the coupling package consists of a cam, a focusing scale for the lens by focal length and a pair of infinity stops. Each lens you cam will have those three things so, since your camera already has the infinity stops it is very possible that the lens was sold with the cam and possibly its focusing scale. If your camera has the focusing scale on the bed of the camera then you will know what focal length lens the camera had. And having a lens coupled is not any kind of overhaul.

Having the bellows replaced, buying a new Folding Focusing Hood, a CLA would be more in an overhaul even though the Folding Hood is an accessory for Linhof's other cameras.

[Bob Salomon]

Thanks everyone!

Interesting. I have the plastic end lever. The end with opposing semi-circular sides pulls forward. Am I then supposed to rotate it 90 degrees before applying the up and down jacking motion?

Yes, gently pull it out and rotate it 90°.

[venchka]

Thank you Bob! You are a real help.

The bed of the camera has scales & infinity stops for 90mm & 150mm lenses. Nothing else. No hardware of any kind between the rangefinder and the folding bed where the cam would go. So far, I have nothing invested in the camera. If I can make it work after a fashion and maintain my current level of investment, that's good enough for me.

[Frank Petronio]

The teeth are often stripped on the front rise, at least the first few, so a gentle "lift" with a finger will help the it engage up to the teeth.

If it is a beater and you don't care about resale value, you can take the RF off and be left with a couple of holes that can be patched with auto body filler or shim stock epoxied on or left open. Then you don't need cams. The guy at cameraleather.com will sell you replacement coverings that really will help look decent. You can steal the viewing hood and bellows from a Graphic to replace the $$$ Linhof versions (the bellows will be short) (the metal Graflex hood is better than Linhof's leather-sided one IMHO) (It is not a press fit -- you need to do some file work).

The other thing to check for is whether the ground glass is in the right location - those Linhofs had shims to get it perfectly positioned, but a lot of yahoos ignored or messed up when replacing their ground glass.

It would be a huge repair bill at Marflex to do everything but it sound like all your really need is an alignment check and a new bellows to start shooting.

[Bob Salomon]

Thank you Bob! You are a real help.

The bed of the camera has scales & infinity stops for 90mm & 150mm lenses. Nothing else. No hardware of any kind between the rangefinder and the folding bed where the cam would go. So far, I have nothing invested in the camera. If I can make it work after a fashion and maintain my current level of investment, that's good enough for me.

When you move the tracks on the bed all the way out with the focusing knob you will find a cam holder under where the tracks were. It is grooved and the cam just pushes into place in the holder. The cam follower is also under the tracks but without a cam in place it doesn't do anything.

As to stripping the rangefinder, you gut the value then have holes to fill. After filling or covering the holes you end up at almost the same weight as you had with the RF in place. Leave the camera the way it was designed and put any investments into fixing what may need fixing. That way you will increase the value, not reduce it.

And Wayne, I will be at the RIT show in a couple of weeks if you want to debate the virtues. Will even bring the Master Technika 3000 which does not have a rangefinder system but does have extreme wide angle focusing built-in.

[venchka]

Sage council. Thank you so much.

I'll look for the cam follower tonight. I do have a fully functioning Speed Graphic for any rangefinder and focal plane shutter needs I may have.

So this is how one ends up with so many LF cameras. It seems like only yesterday when someone asked, "Are you interested in a Speed Graphic?"

[Brian Ellis]

[QUOTE=venchka;503224]Thanks everyone!

Interesting. I have the plastic end lever. The end with opposing semi-circular sides pulls forward. Am I then supposed to rotate it 90 degrees before applying the up and down jacking motion?

/QUOTE]

As I mentioned in my previous message, there should be a colored dot on one side of the lever tip. Pull the tip out, rotate it until the dot faces up. Then gently crank the lever up and down. Hopefully the front will rise with a few cranks up and down. If not you need a repair.

[venchka]

There were arrows on one side. Hopefully the dot was on the other side. It was late. I'll look again tonight.

Thanks Brian.

[Scott Sharp]

Rising the Front:
Your lift lever is probably the earllier design with the arrows not the dots. The end of the lift lever pushes in or pulls out, it does not turn. To rachet the lift lever up, for front rise you pull the end of grip handle out and rachet gently up and down. As Frank mentioned, you may need to put your finger under the front lens standard to help lift it up to get it started. For lowering the lens to zero position the grip handle of the lift lever is pushed back, then you rachet it back down.

Tilt through the Horizontal Axis:
Fisrt loosen the locking screw (knob on the left as you face the lens standard), then press the knurled knolocking knob (knob on the right side) against the lens standard,. Now the lens can be tilted 15 deg. forward and backward through its horizontal axis. This lens adjustment moves the zone of sharp focus in the direction of the tilt.

I can send you a couple of scans from the Tehcnika V instruction manual that will make this clearer. PM sent.

Scott

[venchka]

Scott is on target. I have the push-pull rise lever arm. Frank & Scott are also correct. It took a bit of a nudge to engage the gears. I also figured out the tilt. So. The front standard moves as designed. Locks down snug. I managed to get my little Fujinon-W 125mm lens moved from the Zone VI board to the Technika board. Thanks for the loan of the wrench Kevin.

I'm all set. I'm going to put a holder in tonight and check for light leaks. The ragged leather focusing "hood" is the only real detraction now. I wish the hood from Speed would snap right in place. Or Linhof had copied the Graphic design. The rangefinder lever moves the focus patch in the rangefinder. Those parts are present.

No beauty queen but the camera should function as a camera.

Thanks for all of your help!

[venchka]

Thanks to the continued generosity of this forum's membership, I was able to move the 127mm Ektar lens from the Speed Graphic to the Technika V.

That's the good news. The bad news: the Speed Grapphic is now blind. I guess I need another lens.