Hello from Istanbul/Turkey and some questions about Linhof Kardan Color

[taylanb]

Hi LF Folk. I am Taylan from Istanbul, Turkey. My main interest is street photography and I have quite knowledge about 35mm, medium format and darkroom printing. You can check my works from my website and flickr. Also I have a blog about my darkroom prints. As you guess I am new at LF cameras. I have been lurking here since a week and I get very valuable information. First of all I want to thank people in this forum.

And here my LF set:





Linhof Kardan Color (I am not sure the model It was in a dusty situation. I cleaned every part of it and lubricate bellows with almond oil. Now it is in a good condition.

Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 65mm f:8 : It seems unused. All glass are clear and shutter works properly
Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar 150mm f:5.6 : There is fungus on glass and slow shutters are not working properly. High speeds are fine
Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Arton 270mm f:5.5 : It is also seems unused. Glass are perfect but low shutter speeds are really slow. High speeds are fine also.
Super Rollex 6x7 roll back: Working perfect
Linhof 9x12 cm sheet film holder: 6 piece

I loaded a roll and tried that tree lenses and I didn't saw any problem at the negatives.

If you don't mind I have some questions.
Firstly am I right about the model of the body?
Secondly, Can I use all of these lens without chancing attached bellows for 4x5 film. When I used it with roll film I managed to focus all of the lenses with no problem.
Lastly, Can I fix the shutters low speeds an easy way or is it a craftsman work?

[Jan Pedersen]

Welcome to the LF forum Taylanb.
I can't answer your question about the camera model as i have never seen one like it before.
As for the lenses, i would keep that 150 Symmar away from your other lenses and possibly just discard it. Fungus can move from one lens to your other lenses and Symmar lenses are plentiful on the auction site so it would not even be worth getting the shutter repaired.
Shutter repair really is for a specialist as they are very complicated. Before you send any shutter for a CLA you might want to excersize it at the slow speed settings for some time, it is possible that the oil used for lubrication is gunked up if the lens has been in storage for a long time and sometime the shutter will come back alive being used.

If you can focus your lenses using a MF film back you can also focus on 4x5 film, the distance from lens to film should change very little. What you could have a problem with is movements. I am not sure what the image circle is on the 65mm lens but the bellows will be quite compressed at such short focal lenght and that could prevent movements. Try it and you will know.

[timing]

Merhaba Taylan. Hos Geldininz.

Will you be using this camera around Istanbul?

Tim

[taylanb]

Welcome to the LF forum Taylanb.
I can't answer your question about the camera model as i have never seen one like it before.
As for the lenses, i would keep that 150 Symmar away from your other lenses and possibly just discard it. Fungus can move from one lens to your other lenses and Symmar lenses are plentiful on the auction site so it would not even be worth getting the shutter repaired.
Shutter repair really is for a specialist as they are very complicated. Before you send any shutter for a CLA you might want to excersize it at the slow speed settings for some time, it is possible that the oil used for lubrication is gunked up if the lens has been in storage for a long time and sometime the shutter will come back alive being used.

If you can focus your lenses using a MF film back you can also focus on 4x5 film, the distance from lens to film should change very little. What you could have a problem with is movements. I am not sure what the image circle is on the 65mm lens but the bellows will be quite compressed at such short focal lenght and that could prevent movements. Try it and you will know.

Thank you Jan. I did what you say. I kept away 150 from others. Also I will exercise the shutters before CLA. You helped me a lot.

Merhaba Taylan. Hos Geldininz.

Will you be using this camera around Istanbul?

Tim

Teşekkürler Tim.
Yes, I am living i Istanbul and planing to use around here. Are you living Istanbul, too?

[fotografueland]

Hallo Taylan
The camera is a Linhof Kardan Color 4x5/9x12, the first model was named Linhof color and appeared in 1958 and did not have rise on rear standard.
Your camera is the Kardan color who came out in 1964 and was made untill 1975 according to the Linhof camera book.
I had that 65mm lens once and can be used on 4x5"/9x12 but has a small image circle and need to be stopped very much down to minimize vignetting but it will allways produce dark corners on 4x5/9x12, there is no point in trying tilt and shift with it. But dark corners can be nice in the right pictures.
It's probably better to get another 150mm they are not very expensive.
Good luck and good shooting to you allways

Trond

[timing]

Hey Taylan,

I was living in Istanbul near Istinye / Resitpasa but moved back to the uk at the end of last year. A shame as I loved living there, travelling around the country and meyhane cuisine!

Tim

[taylanb]

Hallo Taylan
The camera is a Linhof Kardan Color 4x5/9x12, the first model was named Linhof color and appeared in 1958 and did not have rise on rear standard.
Your camera is the Kardan color who came out in 1964 and was made untill 1975 according to the Linhof camera book.
I had that 65mm lens once and can be used on 4x5"/9x12 but has a small image circle and need to be stopped very much down to minimize vignetting but it will allways produce dark corners on 4x5/9x12, there is no point in trying tilt and shift with it. But dark corners can be nice in the right pictures.
It's probably better to get another 150mm they are not very expensive.
Good luck and good shooting to you allways

Trond

Thank you for your reply, Trond. It is very valuable for me.

Hey Taylan,

I was living in Istanbul near Istinye / Resitpasa but moved back to the uk at the end of last year. A shame as I loved living there, travelling around the country and meyhane cuisine!

Tim

Wow, I am working very close there, at Maslak. I wish I could contact you earlier.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

/Hello from France!

I know the camera, I have used it when I was a student in the 1980's.
Note that you have a real rotating back, a marvel of precision mechanics, very few large format cameras acually offer this.

Lens boards are the same as for the Linhof Technika, thery are proably the most common large-format lens boards, very easy to find either original Linhof or from third party manufacturers.

I agree with Jan Pedersen: even if you do not discard the 150 mm affected by fungus, keep it far away from all other lenses that you have. The 150 mm lens is one of the easiest large format lenses to find, either new or used. Their exist probably thousands of such lenses for sale all the time ... simply select one which has no fungus and for which the slow speeds are correct.

A Compur shutter can be cleaned, lubricated and adjusted even 80 years later by many competent craftsmen. Here in France, this repair will cost you about 100 to 150 euros, which can be close to the price of a used 150 m lens !!
The basic principle is that you should not attempt to add oil or whichever lubricant inside the shutter if the mechanism has not be totally cleaned. This principle is common to quality mechanical watches: never attempt to re-lubricate an old mechanism that has not be, first, thoroughly cleaned.
Some careless 'so-called repair technicians' will simply blow some kind of gas-propelled solvent, operate the shutter a few times, and eventually declare it 'repaired'. This is worse than doing nothing: by carelessly blowing a solvent, you'll send oil and dirt everywhere inside the mechanism, potentially on shutter blades which have to be absolutely kept clean and oil-free.

Regarding your 65 mm lens, if I see well, it is mounted on a recessed lens board. Try and see if you can focus an image at infinity by collapsing the camera as much as you can. If you cannot collapse the camera enough, simply put the mounting clamp on the end of the rail, but outside the 2 standards, so that you can shorten the distance between the front and the rear standard as much as possible without being restricted by the clamp width.
The shortest focal length I've used with this camera was a 90 mm - F/8 Super Angulon and it could be focused on a recessed lens board with the mounting clamp located in the middle of both standards. For the 65 mm, I do not know, but the trick is very simple and efficient, put the clamp outside the standards.

9x12 sheet film in black and white is very easy to find in Europe. It is listed by Ilford, Foma, Adox, Efke, etc ...
If you have original "thick" 9x12 Linhof holders, keep them preciously, they are mounted with screws, are very robust, can be repaired, and offer an interesting fearture: a lever that will tell you whether the holder is loaded or not.
Linhof had also on catalogue other 9x12 cm cut film olders, thinner, very similar to classical American holders.
Colour film in 9x12 might be difficult to find, though; however your camera is not only a 9x12, it is fitted witth the International 9x12 - 4x5 inches springback, hence you can fit any 4x5" holder and use 4x5" film as well.

Have fun and take a lot of good pictures with your Linhof Color !

P.S. I've visited Turkey once in my life ... but this another story, I had no large format camera at the time

[Noah A]

Welcome to the forum! I'll be traveling to Istanbul sometime in the next few months for a photo project so maybe we can meet up when I'm in town.

[taylanb]

/Hello from France!

I know the camera, I have used it when I was a student in the 1980's.
Note that you have a real rotating back, a marvel of precision mechanics, very few large format cameras acually offer this.

Lens boards are the same as for the Linhof Technika, thery are proably the most common large-format lens boards, very easy to find either original Linhof or from third party manufacturers.

I agree with Jan Pedersen: even if you do not discard the 150 mm affected by fungus, keep it far away from all other lenses that you have. The 150 mm lens is one of the easiest large format lenses to find, either new or used. Their exist probably thousands of such lenses for sale all the time ... simply select one which has no fungus and for which the slow speeds are correct.

A Compur shutter can be cleaned, lubricated and adjusted even 80 years later by many competent craftsmen. Here in France, this repair will cost you about 100 to 150 euros, which can be close to the price of a used 150 m lens !!
The basic principle is that you should not attempt to add oil or whichever lubricant inside the shutter if the mechanism has not be totally cleaned. This principle is common to quality mechanical watches: never attempt to re-lubricate an old mechanism that has not be, first, thoroughly cleaned.
Some careless 'so-called repair technicians' will simply blow some kind of gas-propelled solvent, operate the shutter a few times, and eventually declare it 'repaired'. This is worse than doing nothing: by carelessly blowing a solvent, you'll send oil and dirt everywhere inside the mechanism, potentially on shutter blades which have to be absolutely kept clean and oil-free.

Regarding your 65 mm lens, if I see well, it is mounted on a recessed lens board. Try and see if you can focus an image at infinity by collapsing the camera as much as you can. If you cannot collapse the camera enough, simply put the mounting clamp on the end of the rail, but outside the 2 standards, so that you can shorten the distance between the front and the rear standard as much as possible without being restricted by the clamp width.
The shortest focal length I've used with this camera was a 90 mm - F/8 Super Angulon and it could be focused on a recessed lens board with the mounting clamp located in the middle of both standards. For the 65 mm, I do not know, but the trick is very simple and efficient, put the clamp outside the standards.

9x12 sheet film in black and white is very easy to find in Europe. It is listed by Ilford, Foma, Adox, Efke, etc ...
If you have original "thick" 9x12 Linhof holders, keep them preciously, they are mounted with screws, are very robust, can be repaired, and offer an interesting fearture: a lever that will tell you whether the holder is loaded or not.
Linhof had also on catalogue other 9x12 cm cut film olders, thinner, very similar to classical American holders.
Colour film in 9x12 might be difficult to find, though; however your camera is not only a 9x12, it is fitted witth the International 9x12 - 4x5 inches springback, hence you can fit any 4x5" holder and use 4x5" film as well.

Have fun and take a lot of good pictures with your Linhof Color !

P.S. I've visited Turkey once in my life ... but this another story, I had no large format camera at the time

Hi Emmanuel
Thanks for kind and informative reply.
For the 150mm lens, I opened it and cleaned all elements. Fungus were mainly at the back of the lens. Now it is in a crystal clear condition. For the front element I cleaned it too but there were three spot (which I think that were dead fungus.) between the glass of foremost element. I couldn't (actually hasitated to do it) separated these glasses. Probably I won't have a trouble anymore with this lens, at least I hope so that.

For the shutters, I will try to repair myself. We will see the results . I appreciate for your suggestions.

Yes 65mm lens is mounted on a recessed lens board and I can focus it as you explained. There is no problem with focusing.

Actually I opened all 9x12 holders and cleaned every part of it. As you said it is very easy and well organized. I started to use them with paper negatives, but i will order films as soon as possible.

If you visited to Istanbul just send a PM. May me we can arrange a meeting

Welcome to the forum! I'll be traveling to Istanbul sometime in the next few months for a photo project so maybe we can meet up when I'm in town.

Hi Noah
I would like to meet, too. Just send me PM when you are here.