Thoughts About Nikkor SW 75mm F4.5 on Linhof Master Technika?

[CHELLM]

Corran:
I agree 100 % with your words. I have an excell +++ Fujinon 75mm f. 8 and almost new Linhof MT. Unfortunately I discovered that Infinity focusing bring the 75mm right at the edge of inner rail, wrong movement of 1/8 in. and bellows comes off the rail. I joined the 2 rails as per instruction manual at pag. 17 but there is always a little gap and focusing is a little difficult.. From other posts I have understood that 75mm is a unfortunate focal lenght for Linhof MT - unless you buy more modern optically designed and on helycoid lenses *very* expensive..

Bye

[Bernice Loui]

Linhof Technika hassles with wide angle lenses.. One of the many reasons why after owning and using a good number of 4x5 and 5x7 Linhof Technika, they are all long gone. Nicely made, absolutely. Nice to used with wide angle lenses and camera movement demanding situations, Horrid. Given all that, the Technika has no significant advantages over far better folder cameras easily available today.


Bernice

Corran:
I agree 100 % with your words. I have an excell +++ Fujinon 75mm f. 8 and almost new Linhof MT. Unfortunately I discovered that Infinity focusing bring the 75mm right at the edge of inner rail, wrong movement of 1/8 in. and bellows comes off the rail. I joined the 2 rails as per instruction manual at pag. 17 but there is always a little gap and focusing is a little difficult.. From other posts I have understood that 75mm is a unfortunate focal lenght for Linhof MT - unless you buy more modern optically designed and on helycoid lenses *very* expensive..

Bye

[Maris Rusis]

When I had a Master Technika I would solve the "lens on the gap" problem by pulling the camera back rearwards a short distance on the four support rods and then locking them off equally. Now the lens can pushed back to be fully engaged on the inner rails.

[Bernice Loui]

Yes, this can be done. Then the problem of setting the position of the moved rear standard of the Technika becomes very real.
While this is a feature on the Technika, in real world use, it is not so simple and often a hassle in many ways.


Bernice

When I had a Master Technika I would solve the "lens on the gap" problem by pulling the camera back rearwards a short distance on the four support rods and then locking them off equally. Now the lens can pushed back to be fully engaged on the inner rails.

[Neal Chaves]

Where are you guys getting your information about 4X5 Linhof Super and Master Technikas? Both can be easily cam-coupled to most 75s and used on the movable tracks? I first had a Super Technika IV with a Linhof 75 4.5 Biogon, then I had a 75mm WA Dagor, for which I cut my own cam. Then, as I have reported, I even had a 58mm Grandagon mounted and cammed-up . Soon I'll be posting some hand-held architectural work I did with that on the MT45. For reasons which would not be politically correct to mention here, I purged my gear of all Linhof products in the 1990s. I also disposed of the last of probably ten Mercedes Benz cars I had owned, bought a new 1990 5.0 Mustang and never looked back.

[Corran]

Neal, I never said that one couldn't use a 75mm lens on the Linhof MT, only that it was rather fiddly.

In fact I have a (cam-coupled) 75mm Biogon myself. Most don't. The common, modern 75mm lenses all appear to have a FFD that roughly corresponds to the dead zone on a Linhof that makes it difficult to use. The workaround is, as mentioned by Maris, to use the rear bellows/movement of the Linhof Technikas to focus to infinity with the lens racked all the way back (and the bed dropped). I find this even more fiddly myself, but doable in a pinch. Either way, the truth is that most other cameras can use a ~75mm lens much easier than the Linhof Technikas due to their design. Whether or not that matters is another discussion. I have shot my 75mm Biogon handheld on my Linhof Tech IV successfully, but it wasn't a particularly fun experience, according to my wrist the next day...