Linhof tested and selected Schneider and Rodenstock

[Tin Can]

Post WWII Japan had no machines

'MacArthur Plan' gave them leftover tooling to boot them up

As Japan recovered they made better

Remember Japan transistor radios?

I do

My Pentax H1 never needed repair, even after a 20ft fall off a bridge, we got it new and used it 40 years until I gave to an idiot nephew. He lost it

[Drew Wiley]

An H1 was my first camera, and it went through incredible torture in the mountains. Even got dunked under a frozen stream, along with myself (I lost the coin toss, who had to bring the safety rope across). Finally, the cat lost all of its nine lives - the shutter speed gear stripped at 1/30th, my favorite speed.

[Embdude]

From what I can tell the practice of engraving the "Linhof Select" lenses with the Linhof script logo begins in 1950 or 51 and continues until about 2000.

I have not seen a lens with the engraved script with a SN later than 1999.

Some of the late 1990's "Linhof Select" lenses were not engraved but screen or laser printed with the logo.

Also some later lenses like the 300mm 5.6 Schneider Xenar had the serial mumber and Linhof script on the back cell for whatever reason.

[Oren Grad]

Have you ever seen Nikkor lenses offered on a Linhof price list? The lists I have show only Schneider and Rodenstock, but I don't have any from the 1980's-90's when Nikkor LF lenses were in their heyday.

[Bob Salomon]

Have you ever seen Nikkor lenses offered on a Linhof price list? The lists I have show only Schneider and Rodenstock, but I don't have any from the 1980's-90's when Nikkor LF lenses were in their heyday.

Only the long teles were offered by LInhof.

[David Lindquist]

See post #5 here: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...opal-lensboard

And post #24 here: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...04#post1111304

One thought that occurs to me is that Linhof would have sold rather fewer Nikkor-T lenses than, say, the various plasmats by Schneider or Rodenstock so there won't be a lot of examples out there.

David

[Per Madsen]

I have a Schneider 120 mm 5,6 Apo-Symmar i bought new in 2008, which are marked Linhof.

I will check the serial number and return.

Linhof engraved, but tiny. Serial number 14.935.908 (after January 2005).

[BrianShaw]

Some key information has to be revealed for a buyer to determine whether it is worth the extra money to buy a Linhof lens. (1) What percent of lenses that are inspected by Linhof pass its tests? If 99% pass the test, I would conclude my chances of getting as good a lens are very high, even if not Linhof tested. (2) At what size enlargement does the Linhof lens show significant enhanced image (resolution, contrast, saturation, color fidelity) compared to a non-Linhof lens? If the differences are not apparent until the image is enlarged to 5 x 7 feet, I would see any need to buy the Linhof lens. (3) Is the technical data (MTF, etc.) the same for the Linhof and non-Linhof lenses? If so, there is less reason to buy the Linhof lens. (4) Since the Linhof-rejected lens passed the original lens manufacturer's quality control tests, this suggests that Linhof accepts lesser variation from optimum quality than the original manufacturer. How much is the variation at which the original manufacturer will allow the lens to pass its tests? If the accepted deviation is small enough, there is less reason to value Linhof's pass-fail criteria. (5) How much does the Linhof name help with respect to the resale of the lens? I wonder whether the price for a used Linhof lens would merge with that of a used Caltar. xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

Well, gosh and golly. Since this thread has been revived perhaps these critical observations can be addressed and very important questions can be answered. I’ve been waiting more than 20 years… two decades… a score and more.

[David Lindquist]

Well, gosh and golly. Since this thread has been revived perhaps these critical observations can be addressed and very important questions can be answered. I’ve been waiting more than 20 years… two decades… a score and more.

So does anyone have a price list from the USA distributor of Linhof from, for example, 2002 and a price list from the USA distributor of Schneider from the same year so we can see how much the price premium from Linhof actually was.

David

[Embdude]

https://static.bhphotovideo.com/Fram...rmatLenses.pdf

B&H LF lens sourcebook - undated but looks to be this century... has prices but no mention of Linhof...

UPDATE: looks like from 1998... here is the rest of the book...

https://static.bhphotovideo.com/Fram...SourceBook.pdf