Cameras I Own and Love: Linhof Technika 70
And my trip to Belgrade.
If Hasselblad was the Rolls Royce of the camera world, Linhof must have been a Porsche. I always wanted to own a Linhof camera with bellows, but the regular Technika in 4x5 format was always too intimidating and too expensive for me. So I settled for a smaller version intended for larger crowds.
The Linhof Technika 70 is a compact medium format camera that belongs to the Technika series, renowned for its precision engineering and versatile design. Produced by the German manufacturer Linhof, the Technika 70 is particularly notable for its bellows system, which allows lens movements to achieve the “tilt-shift” effect, which I adored from many film photographers, most notably Castro Prieto or even Ansel Adams. More importantly, it allows you to position the perspective and depth of field perfectly for architectural and landscape shots.
So, in late 2012, one such camera appeared on the used market for a ridiculous price of about 300 EUR. I immediately contacted the owner, and it turned out that he wasn’t even from our country (Slovenia), but from Serbia, more precisely, Belgrade. Sending it via mail or carrier wasn’t an option for him; actually, it wasn’t a particularly attractive option for me either, as I wanted to test the camera before purchase. So, I had to plan a trip to…
