Technika V Questions Re Lens Calibration

[sperdynamite]

I have my Zeiss 135/3.5 Planar, the recessed board for it, the multi focal viewfinder, a 135 distance scale, and a non-matched cam. I'm trying to get these things in sync to some extent. One thing that's driving me a bit crazy is that with everything in the zero position, and the VF adjusted to distance, the ground-glass image and VF frame is pretty off. It seems to show much more above the lens than the GG actually sees.

Am I meant to operate the 135 with the bed in the middle-drop position? If I do that I can line up the images but of course my focus calibration is off. And it's not quite as fast to operate as I have to drop the bed, extend the lens, then tilt the lens, and there is no zero indent to tell me when things are square.

Any advice for me on this?

[sharktooth]

It could be you have a lens board with a centered hole. The Technika cameras need the hole in the lens board to be "off center" towards the bottom. This is because the dual focusing racks cause the front standard to sit high even at the lowest position.

Technika style boards are also used by other camera makers, but they often require the hole to be centered. It all depends on the actual camera design. The board itself may be the same, but the hole position may be different.

[sperdynamite]

It's a Linhof board and on inspection it does appear to be offset downward.

[Neal Chaves]

A 135mm normal focus lens does not require a recessed board. Mount on a flat Technika board with off-center hole. That said, you still have to set the stops and match the cam to the lens. I have described how an amateur can do this in a number of previous posts. It's not easy if done accurately.

[Neal Chaves]

Now seeing your photo. Someone must have put that lens into a recessed board so that it would fold up in a Tecknika. This causes all kinds of difficulties you don't need. Mount on a flat board and you won't have to retract the slide. You will have greater flange to film distance and matching the cam will be much easier.

[sharktooth]

Another possibility is that the parallax adjustment of the viewfinder is out of whack. You adjust the knob on the back to tilt the viewfinder downward as your subject gets close. Your description indicates the viewfinder is tilted up, which shouldn't really happen.

[sperdynamite]

Another possibility is that the parallax adjustment of the viewfinder is out of whack. You adjust the knob on the back to tilt the viewfinder downward as your subject gets close. Your description indicates the viewfinder is tilted up, which shouldn't really happen.

Hmm no it definitely tilts down as I get closer. I'll take a look at the mechanism however and see if there is anything I'm missing.

[MartyNL]

The newer/latest Linhof multi focus viewfinders have a tilting mechanism corresponding to the lens focal length and compensates for parallax.

So indeed, focus with the rangefinder and compose with the viewfinder.

[Bob Salomon]

The newer/latest Linhof multi focus viewfinders have a tilting mechanism corresponding to the lens focal length and compensates for parallax.

So indeed, focus with the rangefinder and compose with the viewfinder.

They also compensate for field coverage as it changes with distance.