This month I`m showing the jewel of the Crown, my Linhof Super Technika IV a metal folder 4x5 or in Europe 9x12 cm flat film or roll film in 56x72 mm and 6x9 cm.
This is not my first Linhof as I had a 6x9 cm one also called baby Linhof. I had this camera from thirty years ago and it allowed me to learn the basis of large format. This is another quite different way to take pictures. Although you can shoot handheld with a large format camera and the Linhof cameras have rangefinder, the usual way is to place the camera in a rather sturdy tripod, to level the camera and it has a bubble level built in for this, and after that and through the glass focuse and compose. You can tilt and move both the lens board and the back of the camera in order to avoid any distortin produced for the converging line and increase the deep of focus.
It's quite a different way of photographying. You can use an extended range of lenses in it but main suppliers are Kodak, Schneider Kreuznach, Rodenstock and few others.
However people think wrongly that large format lenses have more sharpness but they have, in fact, less. The question is that the ratio of enlargement is smaller. So to get, let's say a 8x14 print from a 35mm negative you need to enlarge it many times more than a 4x5 negative from my Linhof and so this seems and really is sharper.
Of course it's much more difficult to carry a large format camera and it's quite common to go with someone who can help you. You cannot shoot in a hurry nor take candids but finally the results are spectacular. Landscape, architectural is his normal use.
You always distinguish clearly a large format picture because, even in mural size, it looks clear and crisp. Of course to get and tho use a large format camera is truly expensive.
