New Norma user intro

[Sibben]

I'm new here and new to LF photography in general so hi everyone. Just got an old Sinar Norma and assembled it. It's a beautiful piece of engineering. Does anyone know if it's possible to date these things somehow. I'd love to know when it was made.

[Robert H]

Have been a Norma user for many years. If you look under the horizontal part of the standards you should see a two digit number stamped in off to one side. This would be the year of manufacture. 60 as in 1960 for example.

[Robert H]

Beautiful piece of engineering indeed !

[Keith Pitman]

My Norma is stamped 63 on one standard and 64 on the other. Is it a Frankenstein?

[Robert H]

The term "Frankenstein" seems a bit harsh but unless your equipment was made very close to the end of December or during the first days of the following year, the standards were obviously produced at different times.
This however is not at all uncommon with a system camera like this and it would not bother me personally.
One detail I do look for on the early Sinars is the material used for the central gearing as the earlier cameras used steel whereas the later versions used nylon which did not require regular lubrication.
The steel models can be easlily recognized by the presence of small screws holding the different number and name plates at the base of the standard. These were cemented in place on the nylon track models.
A second detail I look for is the presence of the locking system on the focusing mechanisms. Again these were always present on the earlier models but dissappeared on the later ones, at some point after the change to nylon central drives.

[gorsescent]

Hello, Mr. Pitman. The name "Frankenstein" stands for the young scientist who created the half-robot, half-human monster.

Mr. Frankenstein was actually a handsome man as seen in these 2 drawings.

[Jerry Bodine]

My Norma is stamped 63 on one standard and 64 on the other. Is it a Frankenstein?

Not a problem, just use it, it's fine. I have a 4x5, a 5x7 and an 8x10 - all bought new. I've interchanged the standards on different monorails many times and have no reason to match up the dates on any paired standards. They vary from '64 to '70 and all with apparently the same design details.

[jonreid]

Mine is obviously a later model as it doesn't have locking knobs on the fine focus. Wish it did though.

[Robert H]

There is another member here with some experience who believes the non locking models were in fact earlier. This on the regular production Norma models and not the 1947 prototype. My four cameras were produced between 1960 and 1965 and all eight standards do have the locking mechanism, from 4x5 through 8x10. Just out of curiosity, would you mind checking for that two digit date number stamped on the underside of your horizontal rails for me to help me establish the truth on this detail? Would appreciate it.

[Sibben]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Both my stands are stamped M63. They have both nylon inserts on the rail gear and locking levers on the focus knobs. So it's built in 1963 in between transitions I suppose? It looks exactly like the images above.