Technika vs Graphic
By Leigh L Klotz Jr

Linhof

is much more expensive
is better built
has more movements and extension
is heavier
old lenses often come with cams
you can get any lens "cammed" by Linhof
is still supported by Linhof
Graphic

inexpensive
rugged, but not as well-built as the Linhof
has adequate movements for many needs
no lightweight, but weights less than the Linhof
only the Super Graphic has cammed lenses
Cams for new lenses not available (yet)
is supported by a network of suppliers with old parts
By Alan Heldman

I placed my Linhof Technika IV, and my Speed Graphic (side-mount Kalart; I don't obsess on model names, not metalbodied) consecutively on a granite surface plate and employed a high quality dial test indicator readable to about one-fifth of one thousandth of an inch, and performed three tests.

Test #1: flex, in thousanths of an inch ("thou") , between the camera bed pressed down onto the granite plate, and the top front edge of the camera body, (a) with forward pressure from my finger, at the top rear of the camera body, in one direction, approximating one pound of force. (b) with back tension, at the same point, measured with a spring scale, of eight pounds

Test #2: forward flex, in thous, of the front standard or lens board, measured at its upper edge, when racked out to the proper point for a 150mm lens at infinity, with pressure from my finger, at the top center of the lens board, in one direction, approximating one pound of force.

RESULTS:

Test #1 (a) Linhof flex one-half of one thou (0.0005 inch) Graphic "" eight thou
Test #1(b) Linhof flex four thou Graphic " thirty thou
Test#2 Linhof flex seven thou Graphic " twenty thou

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Technika vs Toyo
By Meefter Pahnowt

If you go wider than 72mm, the Technika bed drops away more easily and the 55/58/65 can be shoved into the box for an acceptable infinity. Yes, the back movements are better, but other than rear tilt which is available on both, who among us use sophisticated back movements in the field? Toyo's larger 158mm standard makes for MUCH easier use of WA recessed boards, and allow you to use a 72/75 along the geared rail for finer control of focus.

Why a Toyo 45A-II over a Technika IV? Sturdier bellows, bigger easier to handle knobs (a must for shooting in low light or weather), interchangeable bellows, an accordion style WA bellows, deeper (38mm) and bigger (158mm sq.) recessed lensboards (ever tried threading a cable into a #1 shutter in a technika recessed board?), binocular reflex hood (ease of use in viewing perspective effects and depth during coarse composition plus the obviation of need for a darkcloth and the setup involved), plus the fact that it's current, so all accessories are available and repairs are easy to access. Summary: Faster, tighter, versatile enough and it's current.

On the Tech IV side, it's way cheaper, and has longer extension which is better for using a 360mm telephoto with some amount of image control. And I use the Linhof Multifocus finder more than I'd expetced I would, but on my Toyo.

By John Sparks

I find the toyo field cameras extremely limiting because of their short bellows. The 4x5 won't handle the 450mm that I regularly use and have difficulty with even a 300mm (my most used lens on 4x5). The 8x10 won't handle the 600mm that is my second most commonly used lens. They are very sturdy cameras, but in my opinion, too heavy for their extremely limited bellows extension. Technicas have a very useful 4" more extension (plenty for a 300mm though still not enough for a 450mm without mounting the lens on a 2" extended lensboard).

By Chauth

Before the Toyo experience I had played around with a Wisner Technical. It's a nicely made piece of work but too delicate IMO. Rigidity was something I was looking for and comparing the two I thought the Toyo might fit my needs. After the first day using the Toyo I thought this might be the camera I would invest in. On the second day of the rental my wife and I were at Shore Acres on the Oregon Coast and ran into a guy using a Linhof Master Technika. He was very gracious and helpful and let me play around with it for awhile. After a few minutes I realized that the Toyo wasn't nearly as rigid as I thought. The extra movements, bellows legnth, rigidity and quality of the Linhof blows the Toyo away. It's an amzing piece of work. Needless to say the Linhof was my choice. Yes, I know the prices for the Linhofs can be astronomical. For what I paid for a used one I could have purchased a new Toyo body and maybe a lens or two. I'm not a rich man, I'm a teacher with two kids in school, but I know quality and a good investment when I see it.

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A comparison of the Sinar F1/F2 and the Arca-Swiss F cameras
by Ellis Vener

I have owned an Arca Swiss F camera for nearly six years and recently considered switching it out for a Sinar F camera system that I was offered a great deal on. Previous to acquiring the Arca my view camera was a Sinar C.

Similarities
Both are base-tilt yaw free designs. Basically this means that if you incline the monorail and tilt the standards back to vertical and then have to swing either the standards the standards stay vertical. This makes life much simpler and limits the time you spend setting up the camera. Not all base tilt cameras are yaw free.
Both are extremely modular systems that you can expand as your needs grow.
Both have superb handling characteristics with wide angle lenses.
Differences
The Arca has the rise/fall movements (this is the movement most often used with a view camera) abovethe tilt and swing mechanism, in the plane of the standard. With the Sinar the rise/fall movements is located below the tilt/swing axis. In practical terms this means that with the Arca Swiss there is less refocusing to do.
The Sinar has a built-in depth of field (hyper focal distance) calculator and also a tilt swing calculator built-in. The Arca does not. This is handy especially for beginners.
The Arca function carrier (this is the mechanism that drives the standards back and forth along the monorail and which also contains the tilt and swing mechanisms) is designed to carry up to an 8x10 back so it is much stronger than the comparable mechanism on the Sinar.
The swing and horizontal shift locks on the Arca are segregated. This is not the case with the Sinar F1 (but is the case with the Sinar F2).
The standard Arca lensboard is designed to put the nodal point of the lens directly in the lens plane. This isn't the case with the Sinar. Also with a standard Arca board you can use super wide angle lenses like the 47mm XL Super Angulon without having to resort to recessed lens boards.
The Sinar uses a tubular monorail that rotates in the tripod mount. This makes the camera easier to level to the horizonal . The Arca Swiss uses a different monorail design which requires the user to level the tripod head to level the horizonal orientation . To add extention to the Sinar you simply screw on a new extention rail. The ArcaSwiss uses two basic monorails of different lengths: The rail used on the FC folds in half and attaches to the Triod via a short (85mm) length tripod block. This block can be moved the length of the monorail. The standard F-line design (aka The F-line Classic) uses a full length optical bench which fits directly into the open-ended Arca-Swiss quick release clamp. In the top of the optical bench are two monorail sections. My camera came with a 40cm optical bench and I have found that I can spread the two sections apart and get an extra 20cm of length without need for an extention rail. The standard Arca bellows is 38cm so to get full use of that length I'd need to get either an intermediate standard and function carrier and a second bellows or an extra long (70cm) bellows.
Because of the design of the Tripod mount and rise/fall posts that are located below the standard the Sinar is a bulkier camera.
The Arca Swiss has a bright screen / fresnel lens built-in to the groundglass design. With the Sinar, as with all 4x5 cameras, this is a (in my experience) necessary accessory.
The lens board and bellows for the Sinar are smaller than those of the Arca.
In the United States at least, Sinar has an extensive distribution system and there are a lot of used Sinars out there. Arca has a small core of dealers and used current models (the F & the big studio based M series) are scarce.

关于LINHOF和GRAPHI我认为应该这样理解：
LINHOF长于精密、耐用；GRAPHIC长于轻便、价廉。
原来比较的是SUPER GRAPHIC跟LINHOF的TECH III，而不是IV、V；跟III比，SUPER GRAPHIC不见得差多少。
如果用于野外风光，GRAPHIC足矣；需要精耕细作（微调）的，还是用LINHOF吧。

to bebebear
你有台V，又有台MASTER，还投啥啊，不是真想要就别投了，价钱就是这样给抬高的！那台V已经超过1500了，我不投了。哪天是刚注册完，看到喜欢的东西就冲动的BID了2次。以后不想要的东西就坚决不去BID了，等我先把上EBAY的功课做好了，再去BID需要的东西。

TO BEBEBEAR
投东西太麻烦了，如果不是特别便宜，就不要考虑了。我投的那台V已经给人超越了，呵呵，看名字象国内的老兄,正好，我嫌麻烦呢。

与graflex类似的，比较好的机子还有busch pressman，全金属（speed,crown graflex是有木头零件的），调节范围比graflex还大些。价格便宜一些，成色好的250刀。

这些机子用起来应该还不错，问题是原配镜头通常很一般，多是3片结构的。俺就不太敢买。除非极便宜，回来再配个实乃的头。

顺便推荐一个查镜头结构的网页：
http://medfmt_8k_com/mf/lenstype.html

to bebebear:
现在好象新规矩，投标后永远不可以撤回了。我后来BID时注意到有这个新规则的。

To bebebear:You are good commond in english !

当然，你也可以撤回你所投的标，但前提是在离结束还有一天以上的时间才能生效，至于具体操作，我因为未有干过不是太清楚，你在坛子里翻翻，我记得有介绍的。

to bebebear
你是ebay上的行家。
我在ebay上注册了个名字，然后瞎投了一把，万一真投中了，怎么办？
紧急求救！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！

我用林哈夫3型上90镜毫无问题！75的动动脑筋也还行，再以下就没试过了。

哪里有格拉服可以搞到

bear:怎么你帮我拍的SUPER GRAPHIC还没到？

他怕我们自己人硬抬价格，我只有不拍了，谢谢你了，真不好意思，我主要看中他的后背多

我的一个朋友决定要这一套了，我只有给他让路，我觉得这套如果在400上下就很值，如果超过550，加上邮费※※，就不算花算了

TO猎人：
135也说得对。买4X5是应该有明确的目的，别为了上4X5而上4X5。我的LINHOF也是考虑了很久才买的。
你要帮忙时出声吧，没问题的。
此外，我的意思是我在网上用我的名字去拍，然后你和卖主自己搞定，我跟你的钱是不沾边的。只是也提个要求，如果要买东西，该怎么给就怎么给，言之有信，别在鬼佬面前坏了我名声。

TO建筑：
请把你准备支付的最高金额数传到我邮箱，我会考虑处理的。