Technika lens boards - what's so special?

[Thom Bennett]

I see a lot of references to Technika lens boards and they seem to be very popular. Also see a lot of references to adapters from other popular brands to Technika. What is so special about the Technika lens boards?

Thanks!

[vinny]

It's a piece of metal with a hole in it that's anodized black. Many camera makers use this size and it's the most popular size for 4x5 field cameras.

[Alan Gales]

They are small and take up less room in your camera bag. The Technika style boards (not original) are cheap. Also adapters are easy to find to swap Technika boards from camera to camera. I own a Tachihara 4x5 which takes Technika boards. With an adapter I can mount the same boards onto my 4x5 Sinar P and also my 8x10 Wehman.

[Graham Patterson]

Lensboards around 4"/100mm (the Technika is 96/98mm) are about the practical minimum for mounting lenses with large rear elements. The camera mount aperture is smaller, of course. The actual camera is usually the limiting factor - my Wista has a circular opening and will take my 90mm f5.6 wideangle while the MPP has a square opening and won't take the lens (I have an adapter to shim the board to MPP standards). It may be the closest thing to a universal form-factor.

The other practical reason for this board being popular is that it is readily re-sellable if you get a lens pre-mounted, but you use something else 8-)

[Len Middleton]

Actually they are pretty good boards...

The originals have a light baffle on the back to match the step around the circular opening on the front standard they mount on.

They are about the closest thing to a standard lensboard if you want to mount lenses in standard shutters Copal 3 size or smaller. Standard sizes bigger than that could be 6x6 Deardorff or Kodak boards, or the Sinar / Horseman boards, all much bigger than the little Technika board.

Like many others (see Alan's comments above), I use them on other LF cameras through the use of lensboard adapters, as well as on my 45 Technika.

Maybe not special, but a practical solution for the situation of multiple cameras...

[mandoman7]

I would reiterate Alan's mention of the use of adapters with the Technika style boards. This gives the huge advantage if you have different cameras of not having to commit a lens to a given system. Some lenses I like to use with both the 8x10 and 4x5 outfits. Most 300mm's for instance, can be used pretty interchangeably. If I'm out and finding good scenery close to the car, I like the 8x10 for ease of viewing and the incredible negs. If its going to be a trek, the lightweight 4x5 might be called upon. Having the adapter capability allows me to make the decision while I'm in the field rather than at the studio.

[Leigh]

I have five LF cameras (three 4x5 and two 8x10), and about 18 lenses.

Each of the 4x5s take a different lensboard; the two 8x10's can both use Sinar boards.

Most of my lenses are mounted on Technika boards because I can adapt them to any of the cameras.

- Leigh

[Brian Ellis]

To the extent that there's a standard size for 4x5 boards the size of the boards made by Linhof for the Technika cameras (from the Technia IV camera forward, boards for the Technika III and earlier cameras were a different size) comes closer to being a standard than anything else. More 4x5 cameras made today - e.g. Tachihara, Shen Hao, Wista, Chamonix, Ebony - take that size board than any other. There are some 4x5 cameras still made that take a different size - e.g. Canham - but the Technika size is the most common today.

If you're asking what's special about the Linhof-brand boards that makes them so expensive, AFAIK it's just the fact that everything made by Linhof is very expensive. I've owned about ten or 12 4x5 cameras including three Linhof Technikas. While I mostly used Linhof-brand boards I also occasionally used boards of other brands (e.g. Wista, Horseman Woodfield, Ebony) as well as the generic boards sold by places such as Midwest Photo Exchange and Adorama. The non-Linhof brand boards worked just as well as the Linhof-brand boards. I've read attempted explanations for why the Linhof boards are supposedly better but they didn't ring true for me. A lens board only has to do two things, hold the lens in the correct position and not leak light. The non-Linhof boards did that just as well as the Linhofs.

[Leigh]

I've read attempted explanations for why the Linhof boards are supposedly better but they didn't ring true for me.

The most common explanation I've heard for high prices is "precision" or "tight tolerances".

While that might be true for a lensboard, it makes absolutely no difference as to how well that board performs its function.

If the size is held to ±.001" rather than .010", or the hole position is held to ±.001" rather than .010", it doesn't matter.

- Leigh

[Sal Santamaura]

It's a piece of metal with a hole in it that's anodized black...

I'm unaware of any Technika or Technika-compatible boards that are anodized. Doesn't mean they don't exist, I just haven't seen any in around 30 years of involvement with large format photography.

All such boards I've encountered were painted black. The better ones were crinkle finished on their front surfaces and flat black on their rear. Cheap generics are typically crinkle-finished front and rear.