New Norma user intro

[Leonard Robertson]

Robert - Thank you for the Sinar Europe email address. I emailed Sinar US a couple of years ago and never received a reply. although my ISP has a rigorous spam filter and I'm sure I don't always get all emails sent to me.

Another Norma question - Mine came with what I assume is a later model main rail; extension rails can be added to either end and the end pieces are black plastic. I've seen pictures of rails with NORMA stamped into the top square bar, and I've read those can only be extended from one end. Did all Norma cameras until the end of production use this NORMA stamped rail, or did later Normas use a double-ended version?

Len

[Robert H]

You're welcome Len. The Swiss office and my connection in Belgium (Hotz) have been very helpful for me. Hope your experience is the same. Virtually anything can be found for these old cameras and Sinar will even tool up to make obsolete parts (although at a price !). Planned obsolescence just isn't a part of their philosophy.
Regarding the rails with the Norma name engraved / stamped in, I'm afraid I'm not clear as to how long they were produced. Perhaps someone else here has more information.
I do know that the very early rails were of a unique and very interesting design. Have a look at the attached images as I happen to be lucky enough to own three examples. The quality was very impressive and the results quite handsome in my opinion. !

[Robert H]

Additional images / early Norma rail

[Sibben]

That's one beautiful rail.

[David Lindquist]

I purchased my 4 X 5 Sinar Norma "new" in Spring 1966. Both standards are marked M 64. Focussing racks are nylon, focussing knobs have locks, scales are glued on.

David

[Robert H]

Thanks David. That pretty much seems to fit into what we are assuming although I'm starting to wonder exactly when Sinar decided to go to nylon. My '65 8x10 rear standard still retains the steel track although this may have to do with the weight of the unit and the increased level of work it was expected to perform. That camera currently has a steel rail front standard manufactured in '61. Locks and screwed plates on both.

[Drew Wiley]

They never used ordinary "nylon", which wears out quickly. Certainly the focus mechanism on later camera series seems to be something like delrin, and it holds up wonderfully. With the F standards, if any slop developed from wear, thin shims could be added below the gear mesh to take up the slack. A brilliant design. With the Norma, the tune-up process is a set of simple screw adjustments.

[Robert H]

Yes. Delrin was a possibitity. That or Celcon, Duracon or Hostform. In any case a synthetic polymer and not steel. Do occasionally hear of these materials failing on these cameras and also on the later P's and P2's. Have yet to hear of a problem with the early steel track Normas however.

[Drew Wiley]

My Norma has something resembling delrin (but actually, a little harder) comprising the sliding clamshells on the shoe of the standards, internally, which fit around the rails. But the gearing per se is machined diecast alum alloy. I actually prefer the smoothness of delrin for gearing, and during several decades of very rough outdoor use of my F-series cameras, never found it to be unreliable, and never wore it out. The metal geartrack of the Norma is exceptionally well-made, so very smooth too; but on many metal field cameras, metal gearings isn't all that smooth. And delrin is actually more durable than brass in most instances, unless it's a machinable diecast alloy more closely related to bronze. But this is all getting academic to me, cause my last Norma purchase is probably the last monorail I'll ever buy. It should last me the rest of my life, and still be fully functional to yet another generation.

[Leonard Robertson]

Drew - You have a good point on the type of material Sinar used for the racks. I think many of us use the term "nylon" as sort of a generic term for higher grade plastic used in applications like this. I recall "Home Shop Machinist" magazine a few years ago ran an article on machinable plastics, but I don't know if it is available online. The plastic rack on the rear standard of my Norma has a stripped section about midpoint in the length. If the focus is helped across this point the rest of the rack works wonderfully, so the pinion gear is probably good. I bought the camera this way, so I have no idea what sort of abuse caused the problem. As far as I'm concerned this is in no way a "weak point" in Sinars. Some people can ruin anything, no matter how well made. I've considered grinding a fly-cutter bit and making a replacement rack on the milling machine, but I'm hopelessly slow as a machinist. Buying a replacement piece makes a lot more sense.

Robert - Thank you for posting the pictures of the early Norma rail cap. I've seen pictures of this type of cap but couldn't quite make out how the cap works. Now I understand. I did a Google Images search for Sinar Norma and saw a couple of other style rail caps. One looks like the newer plastic end cap but made of aluminum. Another looks to be aluminum with knurling for the grip surface rather than the scallops of the newer style cap. However these may not be Sinar factory made caps, they could have been machinist made.

Len