John Enman
This past week I came into possession of a Linhof Master Technika. The Master Technika is a large format film camera that, although seemingly outdated in this time of high tech digital image making, is still sought after by many serious photographers around the world. As I looked it over I thought it would be a fun topic for those who are unfamiliar with that long-ago age of film cameras.
Linhof is the oldest still-producing camera manufacturer in the world. The German company, founded in 1887, has for years been known for making premium large format film cameras. The Linhof Master Technika was introduced in 1972 and is still available new.
In my travels around B.C. I see many film cameras, mostly the 35mm type, although I do run into a few medium format roll film camera users. But the larger cameras that use 4X5 sheet film are unusual.
Note: 4X5 film is a large plate of film that is loaded into a special film holder while in a completely dark room. It is then attached to the back of the camera, and only shoots two shots. Yes, that is right. The photographer only gets two exposures before needing to reload.
There are many types of 4X5 cameras still being made and gosh, even in this high tech digital age there are a lot of scenic photographers still carrying heavy 4X5 cameras into the great outdoors. Oh, and one of the interesting things about these big cameras is that, like the DSLRs and mirrorless cameras we now use, they are also interchangeable lens cameras.
The Master Technica I have came with three lenses: a 135mm, a 210mm and a 65mm. However, because of the larger format the lens equivalent is different from the 35mm format cameras we are used to. 150mm is referred to as the “normal” focal length, and on the 4X5 is slightly wider than a 50mm on our full frame DSLRs, and the 65mm is roughly equivalent to 20mm on a full frame DSLR.
The photograph I included with this article shows (from left to right) the film holder, the Linhof camera with a 65mm lens, and finally the 135mm lens.
Photographers who use large format view cameras will explain that a major advantage to using a 4X5 camera is the lens shift movements that give a photographer the ability to keep perspectives straight. An example is, with a normal fixed lens DSLR or mirrorless, if you point it upwards in a forest or at a building, everything will appear to converge towards the top of the frame. But with a 4X5 one can move the lens parallel with the tall subject to correct those converging lines.
Large format cameras like the Linhof 4X5 used to be the choice for professional photographers, for architectural as well as portrait photography. Part of that was because of the quality of film size, but it was also because of the technical abilities those cameras offered, like the large range of camera movements such as rise and fall, swings, tilts and shifts that allow photographers to control perspective, depth of field, distortion and selective focus.
Linhof has never manufactured a digital version, but there are (expensive) digital backs available from companies like Phase One and LargeSense. A new photographer, knowing that, might be tempted, but from what I have been reading the Linhof Technika is mostly being used in its intended form as a 4X5 plate film camera.
I decided to bring the Linhof home so I could show it to my friend Jo. As I handed it to her I could see her eyes light up in wonder. Gosh, these old cameras were really works of art. Now I am thinking I might get a box of film for us to try out while I still have the camera.
I think we photographers are living in a pretty special time. We have access to so many the wonderful working cameras from the past as well as the fast-moving, exciting technology of the present, and we can easily mix those photo technologies in very creative ways.
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
John Enman is a former Photography instructor and Public Relations Photographer at University College of the Cariboo. He owns Enman’s Camera in Kamloops.