Linhof Technorama 617s III For Sale

UPDATE: the Linhof Technorama is sold!

The time has come for me to sell my Linhof Technorama 617s III panoramic camera.  I have often compared it to a piece of agricultural machinery, mostly because of the over-engineered way its built, but it is a an agricultural machine that does its job extremely well.  The Linhof Technorama 617s III really is built like a tank and designed to perform in all conditions.  It has no batteries, full manual wind on, mechanical shutters and manual focus.  It shoots 4 exposures on a roll of 120 film (or 8 on a roll of 220), thats 4 exposures of 6cm wide by 17cm long, thats 11 times the area of a 35mm negative, imagine the potential of that!   Read more about Large Format Cameras.

Linhof Technorama 617s III

The Linhof Technorama 617s III is the benchmark of all panoramic cameras, it’s the one all others are compared to, usually something like… “This camera is nearly as good as the Linhof Technorama 617s III”.  Well this camera isn’t nearly as good, its every bit as good, it’s the real thing.  For more information about it you can download the Linhof Technorama 617s III pdf from HERE>

So why sell it?  because I’m moving onto a Hasselblad  medium format digital, more on this later.

Schneider Kreuznach lenses

Of course the heart of all good cameras are the lenses, and the Linhof has the absolute best lenses.  There are a selection of 5 lenses in the Linhof Technorama 617s III range, all of them are made by  Schneider Kreuznach, which have a long standing reputation for being one of the highest quality lenses ever made.  I am selling this camera with three of these lenses

• 72mm Super-Angulon XL f5.6 with an effective angle of view of 100° (35mm equivalent of 17mm)
• 90mm  Super- Angulon XL f5.6 with an effective angle of view of 87° (35mm equivalent of 25mm)
• 180mm Apo-Symmar L f5.6  with an effective angle of view 51° (35mm equivalent of 50mm)

Each lens has its own dedicated removable optical viewfinder which is remarkably accurate and can simply be carried in your pocket for framing up potential shots and deciding lens choice without even getting the camera out of the bag.  These too are made by Schneider Kreuznach to their same exacting standards.

Graduated Neutral Density Filters

Both the 72mm and the 90mm lens come with their own centre spot graduated neutral density filter to compensate for light fall off towards the extreme edges of the field of view, each of these is made by Schneider Kreuznach and matched  to the specific lens.  The 180mm lens doesn’t require a centre filter and thus doesn’t have one.

Polarisers

The kit comes with 2 B+W circular polarisers, one for the the 180mm lens, and a second super wide angle stepped polariser for the  72mm and the 90mm lens.

Bonus Fuji Velvia 100 Film

I will also throw in with the kit 7 Pro Packs of 120 Fuji Velvia 100 that i have in my freezer.  Thats 5 rolls of 120 film per Pro Pack, 35 rolls  at 4 shots to a roll makes 140 shots.

All of this comes in a black waterproof (and nearly bomb proof) Pelican case.

Condition

This camera is not in a collectors condition, it has been used (check out the rest of my website to see where it’s been) and shows some wear marks on the body (just cosmetic).  BUT, it has never been dropped and it works perfectly and exactly as designed.  The shutters, apertures and focusing mechanism in all lenses work perfectly, and all glass is perfect, unmarked and unaffected by fungus or dampness.  If you want a showroom condition Linhof Technorama 617s III, then this camera is not for you, (but you can buy a brand new one for 4 times the price) if you are looking for the best Panoramic film camera made to take awesome images, then this could be for you.

UPDATE: THE LINHOF IS SOLD!

Some Anticipated Questions

• Can I just buy just the … filter… 90mm lens… viewfinder… ect?  No (at least not from me). I am not interested in separating  this kit at all, i’m selling it all as a complete set only.
• Are these actual photos of your (my) camera?  Yes they are, all these images are of my Linhof Technorama 617s III kit.