This is endemic to all 8x10 Normas and has nothing to do with "salt air". It will have no influence on functionality the first 200 years. There is no obvious treatment, but the patchy nature of the pox and oxidation/hydration suggests it is variance in the alloy, finish or priming rather than a green paint problem.
My 8x10 Norma standard had oxidation in the same areas as Will describe. Most of it came off quite easily when I used an abrasive cleaning pad. I did this five years ago, and only a little bit of new oxidation has formed since then.
I’m not convinced that oxidation affects all Norma 8x10 standards though. A friend bought one around the same time as I did and his still looks like new.
I might add that I briefly owned what I believe to be an early 5x7 Norma standard that had severe oxidation in the light traps, but I have never seen it on other 5x7 or 4x5 standards.
Thank you Steven. That's been my experience. I knew I hadn't been abusing Miss Norma.Originally Posted by Steven Tribe
Can anyone tell me unequivocally that the rear standard casting is, in fact, aluminum and not magnesium?
Will, I have no first hand experience with the Norma metal but the oxidation/corrosion problem might suggest that the metal is an alloy rather than pure aluminum. Maybe even a steel alloy containing zinc or a so called "white metal" where the alloy composition may vary from model to model. Pure aluminum has a very stabile oxide that forms quickly after polishing and reaches a stabile thickness of around 100 to 150 angstrom units over time. If cleaned properly prior to painting there should be no blistering or corrosion given that a proper primer is used.
If pure aluminum, the ultimate rugged finish would be to anodize the aluminum surface which can produce a transparent finish in the natural state or can be colored by pigmenting the natural finish. Any number of small companies can anodize parts for you.
Nate Potter, Austin TX.
That was slightly before the time of diecast mfg of magnesium, which I remember clearly, cause I was involved with distr for the company which first figured out how
to do that. Straight mag would have been way to weak for a part like that anyway. Mag/Al alloys have been around a lot longer. As Nathan noted, there have been all kinds of alloys, and anything Sinar would have been diecast. Anodizing is popular nowadays for cost-effective surface hardening alum, esp CNC fabricated parts, but that hardness is only a few microns thick.
Back in the early 60's I had three Sinar Experts in my studio. A 45, a 57 and an 810. At that time Paillard was the Sinar distributor in the USA and Norbert Kleber was the Product Manager for Sinar at Paillard.
My studio was in Darien, CT and while Darien is on Long Island Sound I never used the Sinars at the beach and my studio was well away from the water (several miles actually). That said I always had a continuing problem with the rails of these Sinars as they would develop what looked and felt like rust on the body of the rails. Even though some of the rails never were out of the studio. Norbert would make several runs from Lower Linden, NJ where Paillard was located to my studio to replace these "rusting" aluminum rails.
Never did find the answer to the problem and years later, when I sold Sinar through EPOI this particular problem never seemed to happen with the later cameras.
Thanks for all the replies.
Found this thread in another forum and some of the methods suggested are specifically for aluminum and not magnesium, hence my question.
The most obnoxious aspect of this is that the lands that support the film holder are also crusty. And the last thing I want is to stick a nice clean film holder into that.
Bob, I assume by "rails", you mean the monorail sections? I haven't had any problems with that. Only the major casting of the rear standard.
It's a sweet camera and certainly worthwhile to try to find a fix, if not a cure.
yes, the monorail sections.
The main monorail sections are steel, so could hypothetically rust. But despite living on the coast, and even using my gear around beach salt spray for decades,
I've never developed any rust on these. Apparently the vintage of any gear I've owned has been properly plated. I don't know exactly how old my Norma is, but
I'm certain it isn't first generation equip. It apparently took awhile to get all the bugs out.
My first retirement project!
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