Linhof Standard Press - weird film back - help!

[munz6869]

Call me curious, call me crazy, but I just procured an early 1950's Linhof 'Standard Press' - I believe it's a stripped down Technika III, with the only movement being front rise. I don't mind this - I have my Wista for serious work - I just wanted to play with a solid press 5x4" camera with a rangefinder... and it's solid!!

However - the back is really strange. It's not a spring back, and the height is about a centimetre more than a standard film holder (or double dark slide for those of us in the non-US world).

Here are some pictures:


So my questions to the LF world are:
What IS this back? Is it some pre-standardisation format? The camera came with two 5x4" holders that fit - but they look like pre-war glass plate holders...

Is it replaceable? Can one simply clip on a back from a Technika III (or later)?

Thanks heaps, Marc!

[Bill_1856]

Interesting. Could be a back for GRAFLEX film holders?

[Jim C.]

I think Bill is onto something, the Graflex SLR camera film holders have a shorter plate so the holers aperture
looks more centered on the holdr, and has a groove along the long sides, the locks are straight bars unlike
the Graflock bars which have two tongues separated by a space.
Graflex film holders also have a groove on the dark slide side where regular film holders have raised strip,
the metal edge on right of your Linhof looks like it's raised, your Linhof back does look a lot like it will take the Graflex style holders.

[Bob Salomon]

What ir the seria number of the camera? Or do the letters RBP appear on the camera?

[Sevo]

Interesting. Could be a back for GRAFLEX film holders?

If so, it would be a very, very odd one - Graflex holders were slide-in (i.e. holder slides under the static right/under rail and is fixed with the left/top rail, which slides in parallel to the holder), while this appears to be a lock-down frame with something that looks like angled Graflok rails (that clamp down on the holder by sliding in at a maybe 15-20° angle from both sides). And as far as sizes go, Graflex holders are 7mm wider, but 10mm shorter than international ones - unless Marc measured the height on the short site, that is wrong too...

If there are "5x4 pre war glass plate holders that fit", it might be a back for 13x18cm (5x7") sheet metal holders (it can't be 4x5" or 10x15cm sheet metal, as these would be smaller in all dimensions than international) - that was a common German size in Technika III days. Do the holders contain reducing metal film sheaths?

[munz6869]

What ir the seria number of the camera? Or do the letters RBP appear on the camera?

Hi Bob - I hoped you'd spot this thread!

There's a faint serial on the drop bed (below 'Linhof') - it looks like 41318

Nowhere can I see 'RBP' - I was looking at another technika at a camera market yesterday, and where it said 'RBP', this one only says 'Made in Germany'.

Marc!

[munz6869]

If there are "5x4 pre war glass plate holders that fit", it might be a back for 13x18cm (5x7") sheet metal holders (it can't be 4x5" or 10x15cm sheet metal, as these would be smaller in all dimensions than international) - that was a common German size in Technika III days. Do the holders contain reducing metal film sheaths?

The two wooden holders that came with it clearly say 'Folmer Graflex 4x5" film holder' on them, and the back looks in no way large enough for 5x7", so I'd say it's a 4x5" camera (it's only as big as my Wista).

Marc!

[Sevo]

The two wooden holders that came with it clearly say 'Folmer Graflex 4x5" film holder' on them,

Then it will be Graflex. I've never seen a Graflex frame with such a modern Graflok like rail arrangement, but that might be due to this one being very late and third party.

[Bob Salomon]

Hi Bob - I hoped you'd spot this thread!

There's a faint serial on the drop bed (below 'Linhof') - it looks like 41318

Nowhere can I see 'RBP' - I was looking at another technika at a camera market yesterday, and where it said 'RBP', this one only says 'Made in Germany'.

Marc!

41318 was the Standard Press made in 1951. If it was complete it would have come with the 127mm Press Xenar 3.5 lens. This camera was designed for the U.S. press camera market. It has no swing/tilt frame and a rigid lens standard so it was a true prss camera. Since it was a simplified III the backs that fit a III would fit this camera. It sounds like your camera may have a back from the earlier Technika since most cameras made after the war and up to re-unification would have usually have been marked West Germany rather then Germany.

[munz6869]

41318 was the Standard Press made in 1951. If it was complete it would have come with the 127mm Press Xenar 3.5 lens. This camera was designed for the U.S. press camera market. It has no swing/tilt frame and a rigid lens standard so it was a true prss camera. Since it was a simplified III the backs that fit a III would fit this camera. It sounds like your camera may have a back from the earlier Technika since most cameras made after the war and up to re-unification would have usually have been marked West Germany rather then Germany.

That's excellent info - it does appear to have the original 127mm Press Xenar f/3.5 lens and matching cam. I'll keep my eyes open for a 'reasonably priced' (ha!) Technika III back - are there substantial differences with the IV & V backs?

Thanks heaps, Marc!