Adapt Technika flash mount for shoe mount flash?

[Chazzy]

My Super Technika V has a side flash mount for use with handle-type electronic flash (potato mashers, whatever you want to call them). It would be very handy to have a gadget that would slip onto this flash mount and provide a shoe for my shoe mount flashes, since the top shoe is usually dedicated to the viewfinder when the camera is hand-held. Does anyone know of such an adapter? Or is there a Stroboframe or similar flash bracket which is big enough for use with a 4x5?

 

[Ole]

Hama makes a small hotshoe adapter - well, they make two of them. One frem accessory shoe to hot shoe, one from hot shoe to accessory shoe. I've only tried the first version, for using a "potato-masher" with a camera with hot shoe only.

What can I say? It works. I assume the other one works, too?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

With my Tech V I usually use a simple Norman flash bracket to position the flash over the lens axis. The only modification necessary was to add an extra hole in the top plate of the bracket for better positioning of the flash. Normally I just use the bracket in place of the Linhof ergo grip, but if you like the grip, you can set up the bracket on the right side of the camera, or you can attach it to the tripod socket in the bed, instead of the one on the back. If I'm using the camera on the tripod with on-camera flash, I'll attach the bracket to the bed socket, and use the socket on the back for the tripod.

If I'm using my Norman setup, I just screw the flash head to the bracket using an ordinary screw instead of a knob, so that there's a little more clearance for the Linhof viewfinder. If I'm using my small shoe-mount flash, then I use a Hama flash shoe designed to screw into a flash bracket.

If you're really enthusiastic about using the flash mount on the rangefinder, there is a company that still makes an e-clip for mounting any round thing to the flash mount. Try a search at the LF forum at lfphoto.info for "e-clip" and look for a post by Bob Salomon.

 

[Chazzy]

Ole, I guess I wasn't clear. I was looking for some kind of shoe that would mount to the E clip on the right side of my Technika. Converting from hot shoe to PC socket and vice versa is not the problem. I looked at all the Hama flash adaptors I could find via Google, and there was nothing that mounted to an e-clip mount. Not that I could find, anyway.

David, I found the post from Bob Salomon that you referred to and went to the the Veach Company's website to look at the Jones flash brackets. They don't seem to have a single bracket that does what I want, although it may be possible to put something together that would work, using multiple accessories.

I'm surprised that Metz or Honeywell or someone like that didn't manufacture a one-piece adaptor that would attach to an e-clip mount and would have a flash shoe on top. Or maybe I just haven't found it yet. If someone knows about such a thing, please let me know!

I will definitely look into the Norman flash brackets. My local camera store has only one flash bracket (a Stroboframe), which appears to be too small for practical use with the Technika. It would be great to find a well-stocked camera store where I could try out different brackets and see how they fit on the Technika--but, in this region at least, camera stores are fast disappearing.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

You might also look at the Stratos bracket system.

I happen to have a Norman bracket, and it works, so I use it, but you could probably put together something even better with the Stratos system. I think Stratos makes a cable release attachment for the bracket, for instance. With the Norman bracket, I use the cable release mount on the camera bed (fortunately I have two of these mounts).

 

[MikeS]

I just looked at the Jones e-clip bracket, and for $33.00 or so it really looks cheap to me. In fact I think it's just a hose clamp that attaches to the flash! In a case like this, eBay can be your friend Heiland made e-clip brackets to mount to a then standard 1.5" flash handle. Also, if you can find one cheaply (might not be possible due to all the star wars fans) the original Graflex flash bracket (for the earlier Graflex style flashguns) was an e-clip bracket. Graflex also made a very simple 1.5" tube that had rubber caps on either end, and one end had a standard 1/4-20 thread screw on top, so you could mount any tripod mountable flash shoe on that, put it in either a Graflex, or Heiland e-clip, and you're all set. Occasionally you can also find an original Linhof e-clip on ebay as well.

Of the 3 e-clips the cheapest looking one is actually the Linhof one! The Graflex one is really nice as it's as wide as the mounting bracket on the Linhof, so you have a large surface holding the weight of the flash. One thing I don't like about either the Graflex or Linhof e-clips is that the clamping action that holds them to the camera is also the same clamping action that holds them to the flash unit, so when you remove the flash unit from the camera, the bracket is also loose on the flash! The Heiland OTOH mounts securely to the flash unit using a separate screw from the thumb screw that secures it to the camera. I currently use the Heiland bracket on a Strobonar 772, and the Graflex bracket on a Graflite (later model Graflex flash) flashgun for bulbs, and I keep the Linhof bracket as a spare.

-Mike

 

[jjstafford]

You can make one very easily. Get the clamps (pretty commonly available used or found in the junk bins of old camera shops) and drop by a place like Menards or any lumber shop and pick up a length of 1 1/2" wooden round (dowel). Cut it to length, stick a shoe on top and you are good to go. You can even make it pretty with a nice finish if that concerns you. When my wife comes home with the digital I can post a picture of one if you like.

 

[Chazzy]

Thanks, everyone. It sounds as if the Graflex e-clip is the way to go, if I can find one--maybe someone who has one which he has no use for will message me. I'll search on eBay, too, and on Google. Otherwise, I guess it's the Veach clamp. I was thinking in terms of attaching a tube, but maybe the dowel would be better. If the size is right, it would be like having an extra handle on the right side of the camera. Maybe it could even be shaped a little and finished so that it looks nice--like that nice wooden grip for the Pentax 67.