How the Linhof Technika became Super…

[AeroTechnika]

Very interesting, thanks again.
I have two Rolleiflex 2.8D cameras, both with 80mm Xenotar f2.8 lenses. I have read that Franke& Heideke chose the Planar 3.5 and 2.8 lenses for these cameras, but Carl Zeiss was unable to keep up with the production demand of the popular TLRs, so Rollei turned to Schneider for a near-identical (albeit reversed) equivalent. Just a wild guess, for which I have zero substantiation, but could it be possible that Schneider reversed the Planar to avoid patent infringements on the Zeiss Planar? The Planars were always more expensive, and I believe even fetch higher prices on the used market today, but many users were equally or even more satidfied with the Xenotars.
I also have two 150mm 2,8 Xenotars - one is in the 4-million series and the other in the mid 7-million, so the production run must have been rather long. The two are slightly different, though I don't know whether it's just the machining or the actual optical formula that has changed. There is some documentary evidence of Xenotars in either five or six elements, however I have not seen claims of performance differences, unlike the Planar, which was substantially ameliorated in the 1968/69 version, according to Cröll's paper.

[David Lindquist]

Very interesting, thanks again.
I have two Rolleiflex 2.8D cameras, both with 80mm Xenotar f2.8 lenses. I have read that Franke& Heideke chose the Planar 3.5 and 2.8 lenses for these cameras, but Carl Zeiss was unable to keep up with the production demand of the popular TLRs, so Rollei turned to Schneider for a near-identical (albeit reversed) equivalent. Just a wild guess, for which I have zero substantiation, but could it be possible that Schneider reversed the Planar to avoid patent infringements on the Zeiss Planar? The Planars were always more expensive, and I believe even fetch higher prices on the used market today, but many users were equally or even more satidfied with the Xenotars.
I also have two 150mm 2,8 Xenotars - one is in the 4-million series and the other in the mid 7-million, so the production run must have been rather long. The two are slightly different, though I don't know whether it's just the machining or the actual optical formula that has changed. There is some documentary evidence of Xenotars in either five or six elements, however I have not seen claims of performance differences, unlike the Planar, which was substantially ameliorated in the 1968/69 version, according to Cröll's paper.

There's a 150 mm 2.8 Xenotar currently on ebay described as "Late version", s/n 10 801 870 (so made between January 1967 and November 1968). It's Linhof select, engraved "Technika" in red on the bezel, mounted in a an electronic No. 3 Compur. Anyone know when production of the 150 mm 2.8 Xenotar ceased?

On re-reading Embdude's post I see "about 1969".

David

[Tin Can]

Thank you for the catalog download

I specialize in the studio cameras

Learned a lot!

The 150mm Xenotar 2.8 actually proceeds the 1956 45 Technika IV (1956-1963) and was available on the 45 Technika III (1946-1956).
The first Xenotar lenses are in 80mm length and are found on the Rolleiflex 2.8C in Late 1952. The 105mm for 6x9 and 150mm for 4x5 came a year or two later, I don't have an exact date but the serial numbers begin in the 3 millions indicating around 1954, and they end in the 10 millions about 1969.

The 150mm Xenotar is prominent in Linhof marketing/ advertising from about 1955 appearing on the Technika III ads in the first volume of the Grossbild Technik magazine.
When the IV is introduced in Koln at Photokina in October 1956 it is shown with the 150mm Xenotar lens, and it is prevalent in the marketing of this camera throughout the rest of the 1950's.

In addition to the 1969 catalog David Lindquist notes Laflex also has a 1956 pricelist which lists the Xenotar 150mm.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B50...9fqioMrWueoqbw

The Zeiss lens set came out first for the Linhof 23 III about 1954 as well, but the 45 lenses only showed up in the last days of the III and the beginning of the IV in 1956.

1954 +/- 6 months seems to be the sweet spot for the Arrival of the Xenotar 150mm so any any announcement of the arrival should be looked for here. Linhof made a series of small informational booklets called Linhof Information that preceded the Grossbild Technik magazine of 1955. They were only in German and Laflex has the first 4, starting in 1951, on its site, however issues 5,6 & 7 are likely the ones that contain the info we need. I have tried but so far not been able to locate these issues...

Attachment 237246 Attachment 237247 Attachment 237248

[Embdude]

There are also some very odd Xenotars...

100mm f4
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...ort-lived-lens

105mm f3
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...=xenotar+105mm

210mm f2.8 - I have never even seen a photo of one of these unicorns...
https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/2...eider-xenotar/

Also Aero Xenotar and AV Xenotar lenses but I dont think the optical prescription for these is the same...

As far as I know only the 100 f4 above was sold as a "Linhof" select lens

[Embdude]

Three words: Graflex Speed Graphic. Huge swathes of industrial/ commercial/ military/ governmental/ institutional photography in the middle of the 20th century (and deep into the 1960s) was done with Speed Graphics, often with a monorail/ field camera as a backup. That the Speed Graphic was a popular press camera was only one aspect of its use - they were the ubiquitous professional camera in North America and a highly desired professional tool in the 1940s/50s within the US post-WWII sphere of cultural/ political influence/ persuasion. It's pretty obvious that the Linhof Super Technika was intended to be a one-camera solution that could do everything well in an extremely durable package - and with lenses that made E-1 Ektachrome more readily usable within markets that needed results in colour not just for pictorial, but analytical purposes. If you have too much time on your hands, there's quite a bit of old Industrial Photography materials (industry publications/ magazines) to be found that will give some important insights into the markets Linhof was after - and from the archives of those industries/ institutions, Sultan and Mandel's epochal work 'Evidence' sprung - which owes a great deal of its aesthetic impact to the fact that the original images were largely made on 4x5 negs.

Thanks for pointing out the work of Sultan and Mandel, I was unfamiliar, what a great project and quite an interesting story.

The Speed Graphic is certainly the workhorse camera of America. The amount of 4x5 cameras sold and volume of photography they produced is likely unrivaled! It for sure pioneered the 4x5 as a handhold camera and I am certain Linhof was inspired by this in the post war reconstruction.

By 1960 the Technika had become a sort of Swiss-Army system camera with a vast array of accessories available...

[Embdude]

There's a 150 mm 2.8 Xenotar currently on ebay described as "Late version", s/n 10 801 870 (so made between January 1967 and November 1968). It's Linhof select, engraved "Technika" in red on the bezel, mounted in a an electronic No. 3 Compur. Anyone know when production of the 150 mm 2.8 Xenotar ceased?

On re-reading Embdude's post I see "about 1969".

David

The TECHNIKA Xenotar in electronic compur shutters are the latest ones I have encountered with Linhof labels.

A non-Linhof Xenotar in barrel (front cell only) is on ebay now sn 12 275 766 - placing it in the early 1970's



I have not gotten my hands on the Linhof Report booklet yet but it sees it was published twice in English, first in 1972 and again in 1975, not sure if there were changes between pubs...
Maybe one of you could make a scan of this book?