Linhof Technorama 617SIII

RattyMouse · Jul 28, 2017

So I'm looking at the Badger Graphic web site and see this camera called a Linhof Technorama 617SIII for sale for the amazing price of $5800 without a lens.

Do people really pay this kind of money for just a camera body? I guess it's only a few thousand bucks more than an M7, but my god, this camera is expensive.

Richard Man · Jul 28, 2017

If you need it...

Dan Fromm · Jul 28, 2017

That's a little under B&H's price. They still offer a Horseman SW617 kit with 90mm Schneider lens for $9655. Interestingly, the Horseman 72mm kit is only $7513.

None of these are very expensive. You want expensive, look for cine cameras. I'll never forget the late afternoon I was in the lobby of the Managua Intercontinental (the old one) waiting for my dinner companions to arrive. Two white vans pulled up, disgorged half a dozen men who extracted aluminum cases from them and made a pyramid of cases in the middle of the lobby. They topped the pyramid with an ARRI 535. I'd never seen a $250,000 camera before.

btaylor · Jul 29, 2017

Oh yea, $250k or more...for the body! Add a few more hundreds of thousands for the Zeiss Super Speed primes and a zoom. Which is chicken feed when you add up the cost of everyone needed to shoot with the thing and buy some film. Amazingly that 535 is now worth just a few thousand $.

RattyMouse · Jul 29, 2017

Dan Fromm said:
That's a little under B&H's price. They still offer a Horseman SW617 kit with 90mm Schneider lens for $9655. Interestingly, the Horseman 72mm kit is only $7513.

None of these are very expensive.

Sorry, but I disagree. Nearly 10 grand for a camera IS expensive. Cine cameras are irrelevant to this discussion.

I bet the sales volume for this camera is next to nothing. I guess they want to make huge margins over a moderate amount of volume.

It must work, so good for them.

Dan Fromm · Jul 29, 2017

RattyMouse, you're just a two-bit chiseler. So am I. Welcome to the club.

I don't know whether you need what a Technorama 617SIII can do badly enough to scrape up the money and buy one. I doubt it. I don't have the need or the spare cash. Its still not that expensive. A one-off equivalent from, say, skgrimes would cost more.

ARRI 535s are indeed relevant. They aren't toys, they're tools and they earned their keep. The Linhof whose price offends you isn't a toy either. I can't read your mind, suspect that you evaluate cameras as toys and don't think about the value they produce for working professionals.

RattyMouse · Jul 29, 2017

Dan Fromm said:
RattyMouse, you're just a two-bit chiseler. So am I. Welcome to the club.

I don't know whether you need what a Technorama 617SIII can do badly enough to scrape up the money and buy one. I doubt it. I don't have the need or the spare cash. Its still not that expensive. A one-off equivalent from, say, skgrimes would cost more.

ARRI 535s are indeed relevant. They aren't toys, they're tools and they earned their keep. The Linhof whose price offends you isn't a toy either. I can't read your mind, suspect that you evaluate cameras as toys and don't think about the value they produce for working professionals.

I'd love to know how many people, worldwide, NEED a technorama. No way to know, but I would sure love to find this out.

Bill Burk · Jul 29, 2017

You know, there are a few things I prefer in a camera...

A focusing mechanism, such as SLR, ground glass or rangefinder.
Exposure setting of 1 second to a reasonably high speed, 1/250 or so.
f/stop settings, preferably f/2 or brighter, but understand that LF and specialty lenses might be slower.

But this expensive camera you are looking at does scale focusing.
I wouldn't spend that much on a camera that didn't have a rangefinder.

Haaa, yes I have spent about that much on a camera that does have a rangefinder.

Richard Man · Jul 29, 2017

I think this is the camera Koudelka used to use. Who can argue with that?

Bill Burk · Jul 29, 2017

There are a couple other Linhof's on Badger I wouldn't have a problem owning and using... Paying for would be a different matter.

jtk · Jan 17, 2019

Google Cyclopan. Load it with a 50' roll of 70mm chrome, cross your fingers, press the button and you'll get a single 70mm X 50' slide...

Arklatexian · Jan 17, 2019

Richard Man said:
If you need it...

Shouldn't the word "want" be substituted for the word: "need", in this case? My "motto" has always been: "if you WANT it, and can AFFORD it and your family will not miss any meals or be forced into poverty f you buy it, then BUY it. Unless you need it to make money with, you don't "need" it.. That "motto" has kept me out of trouble at home for over 50 years now.....Regards!

jtk · Jan 17, 2019

Arklatexian said:
Shouldn't the word "want" be substituted for the word: "need", in this case? My "motto" has always been: "if you WANT it, and can AFFORD it and your family will not miss any meals or be forced into poverty f you buy it, then BUY it. Unless you need it to make money with, you don't "need" it.. That "motto" has kept me out of trouble at home for over 50 years now.....Regards!

What financial "red line" has kept you "out of trouble at home for over 50 years" ? Sounds like that quantifies peace at home.

serge silberman · Jan 18, 2019

btaylor said:
Oh yea, $250k or more...for the body! Add a few more hundreds of thousands for the Zeiss Super Speed primes and a zoom. Which is chicken feed when you add up the cost of everyone needed to shoot with the thing and buy some film. Amazingly that 535 is now worth just a few thousand $.

Crazy how things can change

Linhof Technorama 617SIII

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