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View Full Version : Linhof Technika III with lenses. Worth buying?



Tiziano
4-Dec-2009, 13:20
I have a chance to buy a Linhof Technika which is III series, I believe, as serial is 47030.
It is in very good conditions, and it comes with 3 lenses:
65 f/6.8
105 f/3.5
180 f/5.5
Seller is asking 1000 Euros. is it worth?
Thanks!

Bob Salomon
4-Dec-2009, 13:28
I think the seller misread the serial number and it is really 42030. That would make it an early 1954 Standard Press. 47030 does not appear in the serial number list.
In any case, that is too much money, especially if it is the Standard Press which is missing most movement.

Tiziano
4-Dec-2009, 13:45
Thank you Bob. Tomorrow I'll check again the serial number, which is engraved in the hot shoe. Anyway the same seller a few weeks ago had a stardard press, and this one looks much nicer and seems to me it has more movements. It's a rangefinder, if that helps identifying it.

Bob Salomon
4-Dec-2009, 13:48
Thank you Bob. Tomorrow I'll check again the serial number, which is engraved in the hot shoe. Anyway the same seller a few weeks ago had a stardard press, and this one looks much nicer and seems to me it has more movements. It's a rangefinder, if that helps identifying it.

A Standard Press had a rangefinder and was a camera made for the US market.
If you are looking for a user camera that you can grow with look for a IV or later, not a III.

Peter K
4-Dec-2009, 13:52
Seen from the lenses it's either a Technika 2x3"/6,5 x 9cm or a Standard Press(?) 4x5"/9x12cm only usable with RF. The lenses in any case aren't usable with 4x5" sheet film.

rknewcomb
4-Dec-2009, 14:00
I saw a really nice Baby Tech IV on the auction site a couple of weeks ago. It had three nice matching lenses with proper cams and I think a roll back. It went for a little over $2k

Tiziano
4-Dec-2009, 14:32
Thanks to All! Tomorrow I'll check the serial and I'll take a shot of that camera with my mobile phone.
Thanks!
Tiziano

Tiziano
5-Dec-2009, 05:43
ok. Now I know more.
The serial is correct, but the camera is not 4x5. A close inspection showed that is a 6x9 camera. Here it is:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/tiziano_bruno/temp/IMG_3860s.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/tiziano_bruno/temp/IMG_3862s.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/tiziano_bruno/temp/IMG_3867s.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/tiziano_bruno/temp/IMG_3865s.jpg

For sure it's a nice kit, and I, as every child, always fall in love for nice kits, but it's a medium format camera.
The question still remain: is it worth?
Thanks!

Brian Ellis
5-Dec-2009, 07:14
At an exchange rate of 1 Euro = 1.50 U.S. dollars you'd be paying $1,500 for this outfit. Obviously it's a personal decision and I'm not familiar with U.K. prices but I wouldn't pay anything like that for what is essentially a usable (I assume) antique. For that price in the U.S. you could get a new 4x5 Shen Hao, Tachihara, or Chamonix and have roughly $700 - $900 left over for lenses (at U.S. prices). Or you could buy a used 4x5 say in the $500 range, a 6x9 back if 6x9 really appeals to you, and still have money left over for lenses. But some people like old classic cameras and if you're that kind of person then go for it.

Bob Salomon
5-Dec-2009, 07:52
There is still a problem with that serial number. Take the cam off the camera. What is the serial number on the bottom of the cam?

Tiziano
5-Dec-2009, 08:32
Thanks Brian and Bob.
Bob, I am sorry. What is the cam? Is it the lens?

Here below there is another serial number engraved in the camera: 3655999. Is that the serial of the 65 mm lens?

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/tiziano_bruno/temp/IMG_3864s1.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/tiziano_bruno/temp/IMG_3864s2.jpg

Is it not possible to understand which model is that, even if the serials are unknown?

Thanks!

Tiziano

Peter K
5-Dec-2009, 08:46
It's a Technika III 2 1/4 x 3 1/4".

The serial number and the focal-lenght of the lenses are marked on the top of the cam, but the serial-number of the camera on the bottom side of the cam.

Removing the cam works as followed:
1. Push the standard completely back in the camera body
2. Bring the camera bed rail up to the end by turning foussing-screws in normal position.
3. Fold up the handle for the cam and turn it 3 complete turns in the direction marked by an arrow and than remove it by pulling up.
4. Remove the cam, turn it and look for the serial number of the camera.

Peter

Tiziano
5-Dec-2009, 09:08
Thanks Peter. I guess I cannot go again there and dismantle the entire camera. Given that the model is identified, I probably I don't need to know that number. Anyway, the hot shoe doesn't look like it has been replaced.
Is that price too high?
Thanks!

Peter K
5-Dec-2009, 09:32
Thanks Peter. I guess I cannot go again there and dismantle the entire camera.
It's not dismanteling but operating the camera and necessary if one uses more than three cammed lenses.

Tiziano
5-Dec-2009, 09:40
Thanks Peter. I'll collect my courage and I'll give it a try. :)

Peter K
5-Dec-2009, 09:56
Tiziano, some thoughts about the value, not the price. The lenses, Angulon, Xenar and Tele-Xenar are more as usable, if the shutters will work. But after more than fifty years a CLA should be a good idea in any case.

With the "Rollex" RF-back and modern films you will get problems because the back paper is different. So overlapping pictures are possible the result.

Sheetfilms 6,5x9cm are only aviable in b&w today, so color pictures are only possible with RF but... see before.

If you will find a "Super-Rollex" RF back for 6,5x9cm cameras, not for 4x5" (!), you will have a really usable camera.

Peter

Tiziano
5-Dec-2009, 10:13
Thanks Peter.
I was doing similar considerations. The lenses are ok, as the entire set has been going through check up in 2003. There is certification together with the camera. But, that 6x9back is probably cumbersome to use. I guess I'll not buy that camera, unless someone tells me it's a great price, so that I can resell it for the same if I don't use it.

Tiziano
10-Dec-2009, 10:59
There is still a problem with that serial number. Take the cam off the camera. What is the serial number on the bottom of the cam?
Hello Bob,

I was able to check the number on the bottom of the cam, and it matches the one on flash shoe: 47030. Does it tell you anything about this camera?
Thanks
Tiziano

Bob Salomon
10-Dec-2009, 12:00
Hello Bob,

I was able to check the number on the bottom of the cam, and it matches the one on flash shoe: 47030. Does it tell you anything about this camera?
Thanks
Tiziano

That tells you that the camera and the cam are matched. The last piece of the puzzle then is the lens the same serial number as the one stamped on the cam? If so you have a properly cam coupled camera and then the question is, does the rangefinder assembly function properly? This is a quite old outfit and the camera could need servicing after all of these years.

Tiziano
10-Dec-2009, 12:20
Thanks Bob. Yes, the lenses numbers match those on the cam, and I know that the camera was reviosed in 2003. But, I am not able to evaluate if the camera works fine, and the seller knows no more then me, it seems. I will not buy it. I became curious because the serial number was unknown to you!
Thanks again.
Tiziano