Sinar Repair

**Dave Schneider** · 1-Dec-2004, 21:30

Sorry if this is posted twice....
I bought the Sinar P that I went to look at. It's in very good condition except for what seems like deadband on the tilt/swing control. I mean if you are tilting forward and then reverse the knob to tilt back the knob turns quite a ways before the standard begins moving in the other direction. The standards are rigid and have no slop. Is this something I can repair myself? I would send it back to Sinar for a rebuild if that could be done for a couple hundred.

A question on the operation of the P. Why do the tilt/swing knobs pull out against spring tension? I see no reason for this feature.

**Ling Z** · 2-Dec-2004, 03:19

Dave

"quite a ways", how much? It could be normal for a used Sinar P. I used to own two Sinar P's, and now have a Sinar P2, a Sinar X and a Sinar F2. I have repaired/maintained many Sinar cameras, and I think most of problems are due to the geared nylon tracks, which can be easily replaced with new ones. However, I could not tell you the root cause based on your description, and I don't recommend you repair it yourself if you have no repair experience. You may send it to SinarBron for repair if you live in the States, but I think they will charge much more than a couple hundred for rebulit.

As for your question on Sinar P's operation, I can tell you there's no spring in the camera. The design of Sinar P/P2/X is quite smart, and the tension can be adjusted by tightening/loosing several small screws.

Ling

**tor kviljo** · 2-Dec-2004, 05:21

If I recall right, the tilt/swing knob on rear standard is spring loaded to give room for the extensive right shift needed when using the 8"x10" format frame: You will find that there are 3 zero detents for the shift-movement on the rear sinar P standard bearere. These three detens is for zero-setting with 4"x5", 5"x7" & 8"x10" format frames respectively. With the latter format, I think intereference with tilt/swing knob would occur if not spring loaded. This after my memory: having the last years used a 8"x10" Sinar Norma instead - more portable than the P in that format.

**Dave Schneider** · 2-Dec-2004, 08:05

Thanks, Tor, for the explanation on the spring loaded knobs. I have diassembled the camera far enough to see that the nylon tracks are in good shape and there is no slop between the helical rack gear and the nylon tracks. The slop seems to be in the reduction gear. I suspected this since the slop is the same in both axes of movement. If the problem were the nylon gear tracks it would only affect the one axis.

**Frank Petronio** · 2-Dec-2004, 09:36

Bob Watkins at Precision Camera Works also works on Sinars, as well as being the Arca-Swiss US service center. He used to work for Sinar, so he should be able to help you out. http://precisioncameraworks.com/

**Dave Schneider** · 2-Dec-2004, 10:48

Thanks for that referral Frank. I will contact Bob.

**Jim McChesney** · 24-Feb-2006, 16:02

Hi. Slightly off topic, though having read your posts it seems likely u shall know the answer to my question.

Yesterday, I purchased a used Sinar. This is my first LF camera and I’m very excited about starting to shoot with it, which I will do just A/S/A I've read about and figured out how to use it, exactly. It came with a Sinar 210- mm, f/5.6 lens. The camera is not marked with the model number and I’m wondering if you can tell me how to determine which model camera I have. Thanks,
Jim