When choosing a large format camera, one finds two basic designs: the monorail and the folding flatbed. Monorail cameras, like the Linhof Kardan, while offering the most versatility in movements, are generally quite large and heavy, making them ill-suited for field work. Folding cameras, sometimes called field cameras, like the Linhof Technika, are quite compact and extremely durable, rather like a turtle, closing as they do into their own protective boxes. They offer, however, rather limited movements. So one is faced with weighing the relative merits versus the limitations of each design - monorails offer incredible versatility and are extremely precise and rigid at the expense of weight and size. Conversely, folding field cameras, with their collapsible designs are generally not as versatile, rigid, nor precise as the monorails, but they are extremely small and light weight. The photographer seeking a camera that is compact and light, and at the same time precise and rigid offering a good range of movements, is left scratching his head.

Enter the Linhof Technikardan 45S. The TK45S is of an ingenious design, combining the strengths of both the folding flatbed Technika and the monorail Kardan designs - hence the name, Techni-Kardan. The engineers at Linhof really got it right with the Technikardan. The TK45S is only slightly larger than my technika, but far more rigid with more movements than I'd normally use in the field.

---TK45S Review Cont'd---