Hi,
I just bought the Linhof Techika III V5, this is my first LF camera.it comes with the 90mm lens, however, I like to shoot 135mm or longer. I don't know which lenses will fit the Technika III. I tried to search Ebay but I don't see anything. I am out of luck?
I hope to learn a lot from all of you here.
Thank you
Anh
Hey, I've got one of those...
as far as lenses go you can use pretty much anything so long as it's mounted on the correct lens board...
you should have enough bellows draw to use up to about a 300mm lens so long as you don't want to focus very close and there may be some inconvenience with using lenses shorter than your 90mm [but it doesn't sound like that'll be a problem for you]
the beauty of this type of camera is that you can mount virtually any lens you like so long as you can get a lens board with the correct diameter hole for that lens' shutter
your main problem will be finding lens boards because this camera uses a different design to the current Linhof board
you might get lucky if you put a request in the for sale/ wanted area of the forum
or there's the dreaded ePay
Many of the smaller lenses out there will allow you to keep the lens on the front standard when the front is closed eg I have a 150mm Symmar on mine
but even if you had a larger lens that won't let you close the camera front with the lens attached it shouldn't be a problem, not really
Good Luck !
The old boards are flat. You can use the more recent type boards just by filing down the lump on the edge of the board.
They are also a different size so filing won't help.Originally Posted by Christopher Broadbent
Indeed.... I've just checked my cameras and the new style boards are a couple of mm wider than the old ones and won't fit into the recess of the front standard of the Technika-III/5
ALSO
the old boards have a circular channel routed into the back of the board that mates to a slightly raised circular felt in the front standard of the III/5
the new ones are the reverse: the board has a circular raised ridge that fits into a groove in the front standard of the newer cameras and that ridge would stop the boards seating in an old camera, even if the board was shaved down to be narrower
if you really can't find an original old style board I'd try making one from a flat sheet of aluminium from the local hardware store. I wouldn't worry about trying to rout a channel... it'd compress the felting on the standard but that probably wouldn't do any harm esp if you didn't leave it on for prolonged periods of storage. You could use your old board as a template... you can never have enough lens boards so I might even give it a go myself after I finish making some more dodgy graflex boards
sorry, this is hardly answering the original question about what lens but don't get uptight, the III/5 is a great little camera so long as it's in good order, and a lens will be found !!!
next time you hit ebay you can't go wrong if you look for a lens of the focal length you want that's mounted in a modern copal shutter and you stick to a major brand like Schneider, Rodenstock, Nikon, or Fuji.... search for "copal" you'll find a stack of 'em. And have a look in the for sale here too.
If you're new to it like me don't get uptight about single coated vs muti coated and that stuff... just make sure you get something in good condition with a working shutter.
Forget about any lens in any old style shutter unless you're prepared to pay someone to service it for you
too easy, eh !
Last edited by Andrew; 30-Jan-2009 at 04:51.
Thanks everyone for answering so quickly. The camera got restored by cameraleather.com and there is a new Fresnel screen installed.
I didn't know the lens and lens board for Technika III are quite rare on Ebay. I will have to wait another 29 days in order to post on Buy and Sell section.
I found this one on Ebay , do you think it will fit on my Tek III/5?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Schneider-Tele-X...3A1%7C294%3A50
Anh
It's a Tele-Xenar mounted in a Compound shutter # II 5/2. So it should fit on a Technika III. There is no problem with my Tele-Xenar 360mm mounted in a Compur # 3 and my Technika III/5, but Copal shutters #3 are without the distance ring for the diaphragm remote control. So one needs a distance ring, made by a machine shop in five minutes.
Peter K
keh.com lists 3 Tech III 4x5 boards, one with a 34mm hole (should fit most sized 0 shutters) and one a 47mm hole (possibly a bit too large for a size 1 shutter). The third seems to have an extension? The description isn't clear. $23 for the "plain" ones.
http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Produ...BCL=&GBC=&GCC=
etc.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/drew_saunders/
The lens will "fit" in the sense that you can use it on your camera. However, I can't tell from the ebay listing whether the board is a Tech III board or not so you might need a different lens board than the one that's included.
I assume you understand that the lens is a telephoto lens, which means it's designed in a manner such that it doesn't require as much bellows extension as a normal lens of the same focal length. Your camera can be used with a normal 270mm lens (i.e. you don't have to have a telephoto lens) and there are some downsides to using telephoto lenses which you can learn about with a little research.
The lens is single coated or uncoated, as opposed to being multi-coated. Single coated vs multi-coated isn't a big deal, uncoated vs multi-coated is a bigger deal. An uncoated lens will be more prone to problems with flare than a coated lens and will tend to produce photographs of lower contrast.
Finally, compound shutters haven't been made in quite a long time and if there's a problem that requires parts you may be be out of luck.
Unless you can get a screaming deal on this lens I'd avoid it and instead look for a non-telephoto lens of approximately the same focal length in a Copal shutter and one that you know is at least single-coated.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
the Tek-III/5 requires a small notch in middle of the lower edge of the lens board because there's a small positioning pin on the camera but if you have an old board without the notch you just cut one yourself with a small jewelers file [do it carefully!!!] I don't see a notch in the images but you could make one.
dude, you don't NEED to get a lens already mounted on a board.... get any lens and then get a board to suit the shutter size. They're out there, I even found a couple at the local camera fair.
aplogies to the tele-xenar seller but I'd stay clear of that one because it's got an old shutter that may well become a liability PLUS the lens design had a smallish image circle and won't allow much movement. I'm sure you will want to be able to play with using movements because that's where the fun is on LF.
Of course it's different if you actually want a lens where you can get to the edge of the image circle easily so you can have dark corners in the frame?
That said, do get the tele-xenar if it can be got cheap enough !!!! And then get a modern plasmat design lens like some variation on Schneider Symmar/ Rodenstock Sironar/ etc etc in a modern copal shutter
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