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Hand-held Pancakes

Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
One thing which is cool is to use the ergonomic grip and add it to both sides of the TC - a mini SWA which makes handheld shooting super steady
 

akaru

Active member
Funny to me that I dislike the grips on the Plus, but find their archetype, the TC grip, to be the best grip ever made. I’ve had Leicas and HB’s etc but the TC with that grip is so comfortable it’s almost worth futzing with the copal.

1729550134907.jpeg

The e-shutter cable is nice too, but can’t use it most of the time due to moving subjects. I want this design but with a shutter.
 

Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
you can mount the 47 XL which is not bad not shifted with X-shutter - this is the widest rectilinear schneider you can outfit with an x shutter.

Together with the Alpa TC this is probably the smallest wide-angle setup you can do in 150 and soon 250 megapixels.

The 43 and below don't fit and even with a modified mount, they won't fit an X shutter if it is a fake mount (in case one takes a Chinese knockoff mount to get SB 43 XL, for example).

So the 47 XL in X on the TC is in my understanding the closest you can get to the truly portable Phase experience.

Should they introduce an EVF we are golden.
 

ThdeDude

Well-known member
Since we are already on the side tour of circular lens mount.

"the round boards are funky, but they actually have an advantage since the Toho doesn't have a bag bellows option. The eccentric lens board I'm working on has a spinning disk mounted off-center on the main board. Then the spinning disk has an offset C0, or C1 hole. When the spinning disk is at it lowest point, it will be centered on the outer board, then as you rotate the disk the lens moves further away from center. Since doing that adds shift and rise/fall at the same time, you can rotate the outer board to remove that shift (or rise/fall if shift is the movement you're trying to make."
abruzzi, https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/toho-owners.208482/

Notwithstanding, I used a Linhof boards on my Toho until I semi-permanently mounted a Linhof lens board with a Silverstri mount adapter. The round Silverstri mounts are smaller/lighter than the Linhof lens board and - because being round - are also easier to store in a small camera bag.
 
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abruzzi

Member
yeah, thats my comment, but I haven't had a chance to complete my eccentric lens board. Toho made one, but they are hard to find, so I figured it should be too hard to design. Unfortunately, my Toho doesn't work with Linhof boards.
 

ThdeDude

Well-known member
yeah, thats my comment, but I haven't had a chance to complete my eccentric lens board. Toho made one, but they are hard to find, so I figured it should be too hard to design. ...
You know what, I even didn't realize that this was you! (If I would have read your previous post a bit more careful.)
 

ThdeDude

Well-known member
Unfortunately, my Toho doesn't work with Linhof boards.
It should! Unclip the two meal strips, then place the Linhof lens board diagonal on the front standard opening, and then fixate the lens board using the two metal strips.

Below photo with mounted (genuine) Linhof lens board. (The Linhof lens board having a Silverstri mount adapter.)

IMG_4708.jpeg
 
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abruzzi

Member
Mine is an FC45A, not a FC45X. Looking at the instructions for the FC45A, it reads as if there is an adapter to mount linhof boards. The opening on the front standard is a smaller diameter than the light trap on the rear of the linhof board. But I created a 3d model of the standard lens board, and had someone print them. It cost me like $60 for 8 boards.
 

abruzzi

Member
"The main difference between the cameras is in the rails. The FC-45A uses a one-piece rail ... The FC-45X uses a telescoping rail."

Your Toho doesn't have the two metal strips?
Do you mean the brackets that hold the lens board to the front standard? Yes it has them. This is my camera:

1729775140844.png

Here is the google translate of a bit of the last page of the FC45A manual:

toho-man.png

You can see it references an intermediate plate that adapts the linhof board to the camera. They clearly changed something when they redesigned for the X.
 

ThdeDude

Well-known member
Have you tried to mount the Linhof lens board as I described it and as shown in the photograph I posted?
 
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abruzzi

Member
yup. I even measured the opening on the front standard and the diameter of the light trap on the linhof board. The linhof board's light trap was larger than the opening in the standard.

Just thinking, I've never seen the adapter the Toho manual mentions, but it would be reletively easy to modify my lens board model to function as an adapter. Most of my lenses are on Linhof or Arca Swiss 110mm boards. I'd prefer to keep everything on Linhof boards to make things simpler to manage.

I just redid the measurements:

OD for Linhof Board light trap: 87.3mm
ID for the main opening on the front standard: 79.2mm

So the light trap cant fit in the main opening. So measure the light trap ring on the front standard:

OD: 97.9mm
ID: 89.2mm

The Linhof lightrap's ID and OD would need to fit between those two numbers, which the OD clearly doesn't, no point in measuring the ID.
 
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ThdeDude

Well-known member
Yes, the front opening looks different. The lip of the Linhof lens board fits precisely into the groove of the front standard of my Toho.

Have you tried a generic Linhof lens board which does not have a lip. I used only generic Linhof lens boards and never recall an issue. I actually never noticed the lip/groove until now!

Toho and Linhof lens Board.jpg
 
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abruzzi

Member
Yes, the front opening looks different. The lip of the Linhof lens board fits precisely into the groove of the front standard of my Toho.

Have you tried a generic Linhof lens board which does not have a lip. I used only generic Linhof lens boards and never recall an issue. I actually never noticed the lip/groove until now!

View attachment 216986
If I had to guess, they came out with my model, then realized they could support Linhof boards by widening the light trap channel, so they did that in the next model. I kind of wish I was able to find an X for a reasonable cost, the telescoping rail would be nice. I have the short rail which limits me to 300mm total. The long rail would be an extra piece to lug around, 400mm instead of 300mm, so less compact, additional weight (though as is, I believe my A is 300gr lighter than an X. Probably the lightest 4x5, or at least the lightest 4x5 monorail at 1.1kg.)

I've combined the camera with my collection of the lightest lenses I have--100mm WF Ektar, 150mm G-Claron, 180mm Fujinon-A, 203mm Ektar, 270mm Tele-Arton (not light but the lightest decent telephoto at that end of the range)--and three grafmatics. I don't carry all that at once, but it can make a super light 4x5 setup.
 
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