4x5'' Linhof lensboards from China (?)

Marco Gilardetti · Feb 5, 2014

Gentle fellows,

I have seen recently a huge quantity of 4x5'' Linhof-branded lensboards sold from China on that-famous-auction-site, all at a very good price. Judging by the picture, the product looks excellent.

I usually dont' like to deal with China because, no offense intended to fellow subscribers from China, my experience so far has been awful. I have come across both counterfeit products as well as a pityful post-sale service in case of defective goods.

On the other hand, the price is so low (and the official price of Linhof parts so out of this world for such basic parts) that is tempting nonetheless. It's like placing a small bet. If you win: excellent! If you loose: well... that's allright; you knew you could loose.

Has anyone bought one of these lensboards and can comment on the quality of what he received?

eclarke · Feb 5, 2014

jinfinance on eBay, is a wonderful vendor with top shelf products. He made custom 110 Arca to Technika adapters, Technika to 110 Arca and others..from scratch, beautiful macining and anodizing in about two weeks at a bery good price. This is not a commercial for him, just the straight scoop.

Marco Gilardetti · Feb 5, 2014

Allright, but he doesn't have Linhof-branded products among his listings. I was wondering about Linhof-branded products for sale in China.

jp498 · Feb 5, 2014

ecbuyonline2008 sells quality stuff from Hong Kong. I have not bought their linhof stuff as I don't use that brand, but the sellers bellows are well regarded.

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 5, 2014

I'm pretty sure jinfinance sells linhof style boards in both off set and center drilled holes and any requested standard size for about $15 shipped new.

I just recently bought used boards from keh, off set ones were as cheap as $2 in bgn condition, ex as low as $3. The center drilled ones ranged from about $9 and up. There is a low cost shipping option at keh as well, which was around $5 for just the boards. Might be slightly different depending where you are.

Regular Rod · Feb 5, 2014

Marco Gilardetti said:
...
Has anyone bought one of these lensboards and can comment on the quality of what he received?

Yes. One central hole and one offset hole generic Linhof style as used on Shen Hao etc.. Neither are badged, both are perfect and the service was reasonably quick considering they were coming from China. I'd buy again from jinfinance, in fact I'm sure I will be shortly.

RR

ntenny · Feb 5, 2014

I assume by "Linhof-branded" you mean "counterfeit", right?---not "true Linhof products that happen to be routed through a seller in China"?

Personally I'd avoid buying faux-branded knockoffs when there are good non-branded compatibles to be had. Partly that's just because I think counterfeiting the brand is a crappy thing to do, but it also gives me that feeling of "why would they need to?"---I'd have more gut faith in a product whose seller thought it could stand on its own.

Linhof lensboards aren't that complicated, and lots of people have made compatibles. Here in the States, KEH routinely has tons of the Toyo and Wista versions priced below US$10; I'm not sure what the equivalent European source would be, but it seems like there must be *something*.

(Bigger holes are more expensive, which seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? Are we paying more for the air in the middle than for the metal around it?

-NT

ndrs · Feb 5, 2014

The Linhof boards I've bought from China are perfect. Pick a big seller and don't worry.

paul_c5x4 · Feb 5, 2014

jp498 said:
ecbuyonline2008 sells quality stuff from Hong Kong.

Had Linhof/Wista style lens boards off this seller - Ships reasonably quickly, and to be honest, there isn't much that can go wrong with a lens board.

If you find a Chinese seller with branded Linhof boards, the label is most likely to be fake...

infundibulum · Feb 5, 2014

The lens boards work well, I have three lenses working on them and they function as well as my Wista lens board, but the polished flats are not there like on the Wista board. Good deal for simple function.

Dr Croubie · Feb 5, 2014

As long as you don't actually expect it to have been made in a factory with 'Linhof' in big letters on a sign out the front, I think you're fine.
I've also bought off Jinfinance (Toyo boards) and ecbuyonline (numerous things) and have never had a problem. Nowhere does it say 'Toyo' on the board, but it fits and that's all that I need.

For what they are, they're a hunk of metal with a hole in, not going to be any worse or better than the overpriced real thing with a real badge made in a real factory that's probably in china anyway. I wouldn't trust something as heavy as a Fine Art XXL to mount to one, but I doubt I'd trust one to a real brand either (not least given that it wouldn't exactly fit on a Technika board)

mgb74 · Feb 5, 2014

I've had good success with a lot of "little stuff" bought from sellers in China and Hong Kong, both in terms of quality and shipment. But I do draw the line at goods I feel are counterfeit. I.E. leave off the Linhof logo and I'm fine buying it.

BTW, as far as "made in China", it's very likely your branded items are made in China now.

RalphLambrecht · Feb 5, 2014

I see absolutely no reason why not to.I'm usually not in favor of China low cost productsbecause, they hurtestablished manufacturers but,I agree,alliegiance to quality products has a limit in price and the quality of Chinese products is getting increasingly better.I bought some view screens forthe Hasselblad at 1%of the original product price and got80%of its value. local manufacturers need a reality check.We are not making 1980ssalaries anymore either.

Marco Gilardetti · Feb 6, 2014

ntenny said:
I assume by "Linhof-branded" you mean "counterfeit", right?---not "true Linhof products that happen to be routed through a seller in China"?

That's exactly the point, and although I repeated it twice I'm surprised that few readers seem to have got it.

I don't assume that a Linhof-branded item for sale in China is counterfeit. Not necessarily. 99,9% of products that proudly bear a "Made in U.S.A." or "Made in Italy" label are instead made in Mexico and/or in China and then boxed in the States or in Italy (and this is the best case scenario...). Germany is no exception. So there are good chances that these are indeed the genuine products, just sold without the obscene Linhof surcharge.

On the other hand, let's assume they're counterfeit. By the picture of the auction, although I own many original Linhof lensboards bought years ago at offending prices in regular shops, I absolutely can't tell any difference I'm afraid. And if a counterfeit product is identical to the original one, it's identical, full stop. Even form a legal standpoint, what can I do if I am totally unable to tell wether they are or not legitimate Linhof products? As far as I can see and judge they're true Linhof lensboards, with their coat of arms and everything else. So, I see no reason to pay for the exact same item ten times as much just because it made all the road from China up to Germany to be repriced at stellar prices with absolutely no added value. Actually it would be plain stupid, wouldn't it?

So, back to the question: would I get what I see in the picture, or fellows that purchased these linhof-branded products have been disappointed by their purchase?

TheMissingLink · Feb 6, 2014

Bought a dozen of different sizes als "linhof-type" some time ago for my Wista. Fast and good work for a fraction

pasiasty · Feb 6, 2014

I prefer Shen Hao lens-boards (e.g. from ecbuyonline2008 on eBay) over no-name ones (eg. from jinfinance). They fit somehow better my DIY Linhof-to-Cambo adapter. However, that the no-names don't fit it well is rather the adapter's fault. Chamonix also does and sells lens-boards, but rather luxury ones, however made out of carbon fibre.

Marco Gilardetti · Feb 6, 2014

We are not (repeat: NOT) talking about no-names lensboards here. (fourth time) :confused:

eclarke · Feb 6, 2014

Marco Gilardetti said:
We are not (repeat: NOT) talking about no-names lensboards here. (fourth time) :confused:

You seem to be more interested in the pretty badge rather than using them, I have around 30 lenses mounted in generic ones I bought from jinfinance and they are excellent. Do you think you bought fake Linhofs.

ntenny · Feb 6, 2014

Marco Gilardetti said:
We are not (repeat: NOT) talking about no-names lensboards here. (fourth time) :confused:

Any special reason why not? Having used no-name and undoubtedly-made-in-China compatibles, I can't see that the Linhof branding confers any advantage in functionality.

As to counterfeit vs. "diverted", it's probably impossible to tell. It's been a few years since I was travelling to China regularly, but when I was, it was generally understood that quite a bit of merchandise was made in the actual factories responsible for the branded stuff, and sometimes there was an unauthorized production run or a box that "fell off the truck".

Bottom line: I think you should treat branded but presumably-illegitimate lensboards pretty much the same whether or not they came from an actual Linhof factory, and expect them to be not significantly different from the non-branded versions. But that's based on inferences, not on any direct experience with the branded ones specifically.

-NT

250swb · Feb 6, 2014

I have a couple of Chinese lens boards with what looks superficially like a Linhof badge on them if looked at from a great distance, but it doesn't say Linhof on it. The quality is excellent as it should be, I mean, it's a lens board, what can go wrong? But they definitely aren't fakes, the boards themselves aren't cosmetically anything like a genuine Linhof board although they are still finished very nicely.

Steve

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 6, 2014

If rather have boards without any badges on them. They look cleaner that way. I took delivery of 3 used board from keh ranging from 3-5$ (toyo and misc no name made in japan, and one blank) each all fit well and were not loose on the front standard. Though one had a section filed out to fit a pin that probably was on someone's shutter.

Marco Gilardetti · Feb 7, 2014

250swb said:
I have a couple of Chinese lens boards with what looks superficially like a Linhof badge on them if looked at from a great distance, but it doesn't say Linhof on it. The quality is excellent as it should be, I mean, it's a lens board, what can go wrong? But they definitely aren't fakes, the boards themselves aren't cosmetically anything like a genuine Linhof board although they are still finished very nicely.

Steve, thank you very much for your informative reply. In detail: did you receive exactly what was pictured in the auction/sale photograph, or was the auction illustrated with a photograph of a genuine Linhof item while you received a counterfeit item?

250swb · Feb 7, 2014

Hi Marco, what I ordered from reading the text and the photo's in the auction/sale was exactly what I got. The Ebay auction was for brand new generic Linhof/Wista sized boards, no mention or suggestion of them being Linhof made or original boards in any sense. I have seen some auctions/Buy It Now's where the accuracy of the language is lost in the translation, but generally they get the message across. But I think the bottom line is that if any of the sellers were to go all out to and suggest they have vast numbers of genuine Linhof boards, where you can order the exact size you want off the shelf, and at that cheap price, then it would make anybody smell a rat and ring alarm bells. These people want to sell their products, not get a bad reputation before they've even had a chance to be called a capitalist.

In the future I would order any more I need from a Chinese maker, their new ones have been much less of a disappointment to me than some of the so called 'mint' genuine boards I have had from sellers in the UK and USA.

Steve

Regular Rod · Feb 7, 2014

250swb said:
Hi Marco, what I ordered from reading the text and the photo's in the auction/sale was exactly what I got. The Ebay auction was for brand new generic Linhof/Wista sized boards, no mention or suggestion of them being Linhof made or original boards in any sense. I have seen some auctions/Buy It Now's where the accuracy of the language is lost in the translation, but generally they get the message across. But I think the bottom line is that if any of the sellers were to go all out to and suggest they have vast numbers of genuine Linhof boards, where you can order the exact size you want off the shelf, and at that cheap price, then it would make anybody smell a rat and ring alarm bells. These people want to sell their products, not get a bad reputation before they've even had a chance to be called a capitalist.

In the future I would order any more I need from a Chinese maker, their new ones have been much less of a disappointment to me than some of the so called 'mint' genuine boards I have had from sellers in the UK and USA.

Steve

+1 here.

RR

eclarke · Feb 7, 2014

Marco Gilardetti said:
Steve, thank you very much for your informative reply. In detail: did you receive exactly what was pictured in the auction/sale photograph, or was the auction illustrated with a photograph of a genuine Linhof item while you received a counterfeit item?

Geezuz..do you photograph?

4x5'' Linhof lensboards from China (?)

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