Backpacking a Sinar Norma 8x10 Camera

[William Whitaker]

Vaughn,

This "longer" rail is needed for 8x10, given that camera's extra thickness. But, I have a shorter rail (6 3/4") that has a similar construction. (See photo below.) If it's long enough, it makes for a smaller package, and it has the same ease of setup.

I have the 6 3/4" rail segment and just discovered that I can just fit both front and rear standards of my Norma 8x10 onto it. Of course I don't have 100% engagement of the front standard, but with caution it does make for quite a compact handful of 8x10 and allows me to place the camera, inverted, into a top-loading Lightware case from which I like to work.
I'll be getting outside with this kit in the next couple of weeks and look forward to finding out if it's entirely practical. But I'm optimistic.

[Daniel Unkefer]

And, I'm not kidding about avoiding hills. I can't imagine going up hills with this camera.



Hi Neil,

Twenty years ago a friend and I went out to Denver and we camped all around Colorado for a month. I DID go up and down mountainside trails with the 8x10". But the majority of the trip was all 4x5 Norma. I carried the Norma attached to my Lightweight Zone VI with Norma head. A towel rolled up on my shoulder provided the padding.

Getting just the right sized Norma rail is an excellent idea for super wide shooting

[Pere Casals]

And, I'm not kidding about avoiding hills. I can't imagine going up hills with this camera.



Hi Neil,

Twenty years ago a friend and I went out to Denver and we camped all around Colorado for a month. I DID go up and down mountainside trails with the 8x10". But the majority of the trip was all 4x5 Norma. I carried the Norma attached to my Lightweight Zone VI with Norma head. A towel rolled up on my shoulder provided the padding.

Getting just the right sized Norma rail is an excellent idea for super wide shooting

59 years after product release the Norma is still top notch gear. Single problem I've with it is that I feel I don't deserve the privilege to use same gear that Mr Adams.

[neil poulsen]

One nice thing about the way this project came together is that, by tightening the red knob on the end so that it can't turn, after mounting the camera onto the tripod, it's easy to then add however many extensions are needed to the front end of the rail.

For example, in addition to the above 9" rail onto which I would load the camera, one could carry two 6" rails and a 12" rail and incrementally lengthen the camera's combined rail up to almost 32".

That's enough to use a 600mm lens and still attach my contrived, Sinar/Toyo compendium lens hood . . .

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...-Norma-Cameras

[Drew Wiley]

Please note that I consider Sinar as highly "portable" using long lenses and long rails. Why? For one thing, it's really easy to balance and adjust a Sinar monorail using the rail clamp only, and a relatively light tripod works well in comparison to the support needs of overhanging-weight cameras. And long regular lenses weigh a lot less than telephotos, and are more compact too, unless they're big studio plasmat clunkers. Then it takes just seconds to reconfigure a rail either shorter or longer. Note that I'm referring to 4x5 applications. An 8x10 Sinar would be a lot more difficult to fit into a backpack along with other necessary backpacking supplies and equipment. I confess to using a Phillips 8x10 folder relative to that need, and in fact, now for day hikes only. Can't stay young forever.

Daniel - how do you avoid hills? Move to Kansas or Florida, where topographic maps are plotted in millimeter intervals? I thought that hills were the whole point of getting outdoors. Just fill the bellows with helium, and it gets easier.

[Bob Salomon]

Please note that I consider Sinar as highly "portable" using long lenses and long rails. Why? For one thing, it's really easy to balance and adjust a Sinar monorail using the rail clamp only, and a relatively light tripod works well in comparison to the support needs of overhanging-weight cameras. And long regular lenses weigh a lot less than telephotos, and are more compact too, unless they're big studio plasmat clunkers. Then it takes just seconds to reconfigure a rail either shorter or longer. Note that I'm referring to 4x5 applications. An 8x10 Sinar would be a lot more difficult to fit into a backpack along with other necessarily backpacking supplies and equipment. I confess to using a Phillips 8x10 folder relative to that need.

Daniel - how do you avoid hills? Move to Kansas or Florida, where topographic maps are plotted in millimeter intervals? I thought that hills were the whole point of getting outdoors. Just fill the bellows with helium, and it gets easier.

My wife and her sisters went to summer camp at Howey in the Hills, FL.
It’s not all flat. Highest point there is 121’!
It wasn’t called the FL Alps without reason!

[Drew Wiley]

That's nice to know. A scenic view hill right beside the new shoreline, given a few more years of global warming. Everyone in Miami will need a boat to get down the street. Former ground floors will be for the alligators and water moccasins; rent collectors beware.

[Bob Salomon]

That's nice to know. A scenic view hill right beside the new shoreline, given a few more years of global warming. Everyone in Miami will need a boat to get down the street. Former ground floors will be for the alligators and water moccasins; rent collectors beware.

Well, my wife escaped. When we met she lived on East Delido Island on the Venetian Causeway between Miami Beach and Miami.
Guess they got out of there in time now.

[Drew Wiley]

Well, I was ecologically in error. You won't find water moccasins and maybe not even alligators in intruding ocean water. Maybe Aussie saltwater crocs and toxic sea snakes instead.

[Daniel Unkefer]

[QUOTE=Drew Wiley;1620557]Daniel - how do you avoid hills? [QUOTE]

By living in central Ohio. Have to go North or South of here to get into rolling hills.