New And Improved Linhof Master Technika 2000

I made some small upgrades to my Linhof 4x5, which I hope will help me to be faster in the field when I am working with my portrait subjects. I added a new/used reflex viewer, its an older version form the Linhof III, IV cameras, I feel its a better design than the newer one I was using. The newer version comes in 2 parts which you have to physically take off and reattach to change from verticals to horizontals, this older version viewfinder just turns 360 degrees without removing or attaching anything. The worst part of the newer version is that it always came apart in my bag, sometimes  the whole thing popped off the back of the camera body, sometimes the top half would just come off in the bag or while I was carrying it in the field. I was always afraid I would be in the middle of a busy street, a dangerous slum area or on the back of a motorbike and the viewer would fall off and be lost. This older version is also slightly more compact, it is a about an 1-1.5 inches shorter. Compact is good when your hauling equipment around the world to all kinds of locations.

The other thing I upgraded was the bellows measuring tape numbers I had on the side of the camera. Over the last few trips I used dirty masking tape with felt pen marking to tell me the bellows extension in inches, I improved that hard to read stuff with a bright white tape and black numbers which should be faster to read in the field. I also added the bellows factor numbers for various lens to the back of the viewfinder, using the white tape. Using these tools I can figure out my bellows factor number without using a hand held card/chart and measuring tape, it can all be done quickly and easily now. The more I shoot I should be able to memorize these bellows factor numbers which will speed things along even more.

This machine is a wonderful tool, compact, very well built and completely reliable. I feel that I can take it anywhere to make any kind of photograph, you do not have to baby it, its robust and solid! Hopefully these little improvements will allow more speed and fluidity in my shooting style, it should allow me to concentrate more on my subject and less on my tools.

Here are some photos of the updated version of the camera: