Hearing of the new ShenHao prototype, I went searching for Sinar Auto shutters on *bay and found this instead: Sinar to Linhof
It shows pictures of it clearly being attached to a Chamonix. I wonder if this will be a worthwile solution to attach a auto shutter on the Chamo. I know little about Sinar Shutters and DB boards but the lenses seem cheap compared to Copal attached lens.
What do you think? Shenhao or this solution?
Once you have a Sinar Shutter, you can shoot barrel-mounted and shutter-mounted lenses - but even more importantly (in my humble opinion) you can use lenses mounted on Sinar DB boards.
Once a lens is on one of those boards, you don't need to visit the front of the camera to open/close the shutter, or to adjust the f/stop. All of that can be done from behind the camera, because the controls are on the rear of Sinar Shutter - which is where you stand most of the time anyhow.
Because the Sinar Shutter is self-cocking, you don't have to visit the front of the camera to cock the shutter, and you never forget to cock the shutter either. The only time you need to visit the front of the camera, is to put a filter on the lens. It's very nice, and lets you concentrate on making the photo.
The lens stays open wide all the time, but while composing, you can squeeze on the cable release, and preview depth of field, just like you would with an SLR. It is, in the modern vernacular... sweet.
Using the shuttter and DB boards with a lightweight wooden field camera, we start to add weight and size to our gear. For hiking and traveling (a main reason to use a field camera) the shutter and the boards may become counter-productive - but for studio work, portraits, or landscape work at a reasonable distance from the a car, they become... addictive.
To that end, I've starting to mount all my lenses on Sinar DB boards. I can always stick them back onto their original shutters, but unless I start trekking with a camera, that may never happen.
Thanks Ken. I was exactly thinking that. I wan't to either buy a new set of lens mounted on DB boards or mount my current lenses to DB boards...although I think i might be better served selling them and buying the set already mounted.
How heavy are these? That's my worry it might sag on the front standard of the rather weak CHamonix.
and how heavy is the actual shutter? The reason I have a Chamonix is for backpacking, it might be counter productive if it's too heavy...but then again, it beats counting elephants.
Originally Posted by Ken Lee
Once you have a Sinar Shutter, you can shoot barrel-mounted and shutter-mounted lenses - but even more importantly (in my humble opinion) you can use lenses mounted on Sinar DB boards.
Once a lens is on one of those boards, you don't need to visit the front of the camera to open/close the shutter, or to adjust the f/stop. All of that can be done from behind the camera, because the controls are on the rear of Sinar Shutter - which is where you stand most of the time anyhow.
Because the Sinar Shutter is self-cocking, you don't have to visit the front of the camera to cock the shutter, and you never forget to cock the shutter either. The only time you need to visit the front of the camera, is to put a filter on the lens. It's very nice, and lets you concentrate on making the photo.
The lens stays open wide all the time, but while composing, you can squeeze on the cable release, and preview depth of field, just like you would with an SLR. It is, in the modern vernacular... sweet.
Using the shuttter and DB boards with a lightweight wooden field camera, we start to add weight and size to our gear. For hiking and traveling (a main reason to use a field camera) the shutter and the boards may become counter-productive - but for studio work, portraits, or landscape work at a reasonable distance from the a car, they become... addictive.
To that end, I've starting to mount all my lenses on Sinar DB boards. I can always stick them back onto their original shutters, but unless I start trekking with a camera, that may never happen.
Having a loose one about: The DB 1 mechanism (in its nineties variation) adds about 200g to the bare board - which would make it about 1/5 heavier than the corresponding Copal 1 shutter. YMMV, not all boards are created equal, nor do I have any idea whether that relation continues up and down the size series (probably not) - I don't want to unscrew collimated lenses to determine that.
Overall, DB does not save weight - but it saves a lot of time if you can swap lenses without unscrewing shutters, unplugging flashes and setting time and aperture every time.
The primary reason that I had the Shen Hao designed and made was to accept barrel lenses with the Sinar shutter. As such, assume that I want to do portraits...
As background, I was doing this prior to getting the Shen built with an L-Series Horseman rail camera.
The straw than broke the Camel's back was trying to do some environmental portraits in the city. I have the Horseman in one of those plastic under-bed storage boxes, and had to get a hand trolley to move it around. All in all, no good for semi-spontaneous shooting!
So, I had the Sen built to allow backpack portraits. For this, it is perfect.
In addition, I do not feel its weight; being built more like a Clydesdale than a Quarter horse, I am quite able to do this. I am not sure about you, nor any other user, so please don't judge the camera based on my experience of weight.
I do carry it and "normal" lenses in a backpack, and have gone some long distances from the car.
One thing that I can say categorically is that this camera is far more solid that a Chamonix Mk I. I was fortunate enough to compare these side by side recently. I would probably not mount the barrel lenses I have on a Chamonix. I think that the Iris clamp and the Sinar shutter would be way too much for a Cham. I don't have an issue with this set up and a 240mm Petsval (as shown in my post for the Shen).
Just so that the Cham Fanboys don't cut up too rough with these comments, let me finish by saying that the Cham I handled would be a fantastic travel camera, and I left liking it for this reason.
Lachlan.
You miss 100% of the shots you never take. -- Wayne Gretzky
300mm Fujinon A, on a Sinar DB board.
Mounted by George Brown.
Last edited by Ken Lee; 28-May-2010 at 03:09.
Sinar shutter without the DB side piece (Norma model) weighs 545g. Later models with DB weigh 645g.
The Sinar auto shutter is so much nicer to use than the Copal shutters I have used but I don't know that you will be saving any money in the long run as the DB boards seem to make up the difference.
One more thing that has to be considered is the cost and availability of the cable releases. I have only had to replace the shutter release so far and it was $274.99 from Calumet http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/SR222002/ and it took about 2 weeks for them to get it in before they shipped it. I actually wanted to replace the cable to the metering back at the same time but could not even find one.
This has not discouraged me, I still would not go back to the old way of standing in front of the camera to make all adjustments but it is something that needs to be considered.
I used a sinar auto aperture shutter and an Expolux shutter daily for more than a decade. I still own 2 auto apertures and an expolux, several sets of back up cables for each, and about 10 db mounted lenses. For studio use, and with electronic flash, there is nothing better, but for in the field use, even while mounted on a Sinar, it is not necessarily the best choice. The first issue is that the Sinar db boards are large and heavier, so for in the field use I ended up using copal shutters on linhof boards and mounting an adapter to the Sinar. I also shoot with a Linhof so this means cross platform compatibility.
The biggest issue I have with the sinar auto ap is that because it has a huge shutter it has an increased vibration when it opens and closes and at slower speeds with long lenses creates an noticeable loss of sharpness.
For those using barrel lenses there is little choice and for their requirements it will do the job better than any alternative. But for those with lenses already mounted to standard shutters, there's little advantage in field use.
I find it surprising that you have noticed vibration with the shutter. Given that the designers had table-top and product photography in mind, do you think they expected the use of high-speed flash ?
I don't have any lights or flash, but have never noticed any vibration, even up to 8 second exposures. Could you share some sample images that show the vibration introduced by the shutter ?
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