Sinar pan tilt head for Norma - different versions?

[Jimi]

I happened upon a Sinar pan/tilt head, decent price and in excellent condition. All good.

I think it is a later model, all black. As far as I have understood it, they should be useable with a Sinar F, P or in my case, a Norma. Or does only the earlier, green ones fit correctly to the Norma?

When I tried it out today, the Norma clamp did not fit to the head - it wobbles very slightly and even when tightened down fully, there is a small gap between clamp and head plate when looking at it from the side. The two pins (screws actually) are seated as far down as they can.

[William Whitaker]

I can only speak from my own experience. I have a black-finish Sinar Pan/Tilt head and have no difficulty attaching a Norma clamp to it.
Check yours for interference. Perhaps a previous owner made some change?
Make sure the alignment screws are the correct cheeshead variety. If they were replaced with another type, it's very possible that the clamp base would not seat fully on the head.

[Jimi]

I will have a second look tomorrow - could be that the clamp is uneven in some way.

[Greg]

I can only speak from my own experience. I have a black-finish Sinar Pan/Tilt head and have no difficulty attaching a Norma clamp to it.
Check yours for interference. Perhaps a previous owner made some change?
Make sure the alignment screws are the correct cheeshead variety. If they were replaced with another type, it's very possible that the clamp base would not seat fully on the head.

Also have a black-finish Sinar Pan/Tilt head that I have no problems with mounting 2 slightly different Norma rail clamps on. In the end I just removed the "pins" so I could use my Chamonix and other cameras on the Pan/Tilt head. Mounting my 8x10 Norma was always a bit finicky (camera seemed top heavy) with the pins there, but now with the pins removed, mounting the 8x10 is a whole lot easier. Without the pins, the Norma still mounts rock solid on the Pan/Tilt head.

[Keith Pitman]

I had to file the grooves in the bottom of the clamp slightly so it would fit on my black Sinar head. Works fine now.

[Jimi]

Interim update: tried it a bit more today, and it seems that this particular clamp has to be oriented in a certain way to not wobble. Yesterday, I was contemplating filing the grooves down, but it seemed a bit drastic as a first measure. Perhaps I will just remove the pins eventually, as Greg suggested.

Learnt something in the process too - yes, the screws are original cheesehead ones.

[Bernice Loui]

Those screws are "cheese head", but the outside diameter is not the standard cheese head diameter. They have been sized to fit the Sinar rail clamp. If they are removed, do not lose them unless a standard cheese head or similar screw can be modified to fit properly.

Sinar pan-tilt heads are mostly the same from Norma to the last all black version and mostly interchangeable.
There is a small pin on the cover nut opposite side of the clamp screw lever. This pin can shear off causing the cover nut to spin when the clamp lever is tightened.

Friction lock of the tilt comes from thin sheets of circular plastic between the base casting and camera mount casting. These can get dirty or worn. If there is slippage, these plastic circular sheets need to be replaced.

Bottom rotation plate has three adjust screws for vertical movement lash and these same three adjustment screws also adjust the gap between tripod mount and pan-tilt base casting.


Bernice

Learnt something in the process too - yes, the screws are original cheesehead ones.

[William Whitaker]

Everyone knows good cheesheads have a weakness for Wensleydale!

"Gromit, that's it! Cheese! We'll go somewhere where there's cheese!"

[Bernice Loui]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl98-LC3fsU


Bernice

[LabRat]

If you don't want to mess with it too much, you can make a thin spacer out of metal, formica, etc that can be contact cemented to the top of the head that will take up the excess space between the camera mounting block without removing the pins...

Steve K