Love of Linhof
May 27, 2005
So far I’ve had two Linhof Technika IV outfits. Below is a photo of my first, which sported a metal focusing hood and vinyl bellows from a Crown Graphic. It was pretty much bulletproof and I spoofed the goofballs on Photo.net with it. Later, I had a cleaner Technika that I recovered with new material from Camera Leather. This was a particularly slick outfit because I had hunted down a late, coated 90mm Angulon and a compact 210mm Geronar - both lenses were sharp and fit into the folded camera. With the later outfit I could fit everything including a D-70 DSLR; a 15-inch Powerbook; a stack of 52mm filters; an Olympus Stylus 35mm; a Pentax Spot Meter; and 40 sheets of Readyloads into a airline carry-on sized Lowe-Pro backpack.
The Linhof Technika is probably the most practical 4x5 camera for carrying about — it is very sturdy — but the other nice cameras I’ve enjoyed are the Arca-Swiss F and the old Sinar Norma. They are much bulkier, but also much easier to use with extreme movements. I used a modern 90/4.5 with the Arca and it was a dream for architectural work.