Sinar Handy

[Jeicob]

Why is the grip/tripod mount made the way it is?

If I turn the nub fully counterclockwise the mount locks up but are very,very easily shaken lose again. If I turn the nub fully clockwise it locks up in a little more firm way, but would still be easily shaken lose. In between those two the hole assembly is completely wobbly.

To me It's kind of unbelievable that all this is done only to hide the mounting to the frame and I would actually still have to use excessive force to rotate the lower part enough to revile all 4 mounting bolts.

Is something wrong or what's the point of this construction?

[Frank Petronio]

I owned a Handy for a week and sold it for a profit because people consider it collectible. But I found it very awkward and poorly built and designed. The grip is hard to use when loading film holders or pulling out the dark slide because it makes you want to twist the camera and requires strong wrists. The viewfinder is nothing special (Made by Mamiya for their press cameras) and the lens helicoil is crude compared to most other Sinar products.

I'd just sell it.

A Cambo wide-angle handheld is much easier to use in the field. The Linhof design is also very nice, their grips are the best, but it is very rare and expensive for what is basically a very simple camera. There are also some Italian Silvestri and Chinese cameras that are similar, but better.

[Jeicob]

Thanks Frank - Any advice, comment, view or warning are appreciated

But I had hoped that someone could tell me about the Sinars frame mounts?

I have been using a Linhof 220 and learned that I prefer a side mounted grip and this is what I came up with; an old grip/tripod mount (Bronica?) mounted directly to the coupling frame:

[Frank Petronio]

That looks like a much nicer set up than the stock Sinar Handy.

[Jeicob]

I got my misused and faulty mount up and running again (a bend locking-rod)

I must admit that I'm not planning on much hand held shooting so I'm going to mount the camera directly on the QR-plate of my new head


Gitzo GT3541XLS, G338 and Manfrotto 410 Junior

A superb tripod/head combo for this type of camera - a little heavy but highly recommended!

[John Schneider]

Jeicob, who makes the translating filter mount system shown in the last photo? I've been looking for something like that. If it's a Sinar part, do you know the full name or part number so i could track one down? Thanks!

[Jeicob]

It's not a filter mount, it's a Sinar pol filter!

[Nathan Potter]

Jeicob, who makes the translating filter mount system shown in the last photo? I've been looking for something like that. If it's a Sinar part, do you know the full name or part number so i could track one down? Thanks!

John, a range of those precise translation stages can be found at Newport instruments. They have holes drilled and tapped for 1/4-20 machine screws and tripod threads. I believe they have a web site www.newport.com and the newport subsidiary supplies the stages.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[John Schneider]

Thanks for the suggestions. But perhaps I should have been a bit more specific. Just below and to the left of the finder is a clamp for a filter rod (top pic). In the last pic we see a rod extending from the aforementioned clamp, and affixed onto the rod is another clamp, this one attached to a bracket extending down to a filter which is placed in front of the lens. It's this system that I'm looking for.

And Newport makes great stuff; my lab had a lot of it for various laser and microscopy apparatus.

[Frank Petronio]

John, that is all part of the Sinar system. But you don't have a Sinar do you?

It's based on a hexagonal rod the same x-section as a common pencil (in fact a pencil makes a good substitute!), the Sinar standards have a mount that the rod will slide into. From there you can attach a bellows to make a lenshade, add rotating filter holders as this fellow has done, build matte boxes, etc.

Look at the lower right (from the front) of a Sinar standard next chance, there is the slot.

There are similar sorts of systems being made for the people using DSLRs for videography nowadays, they seem to need all sorts of fancy matte boxes and filter frame devices.

NOW WHY IS THE REFLEX VIEWER UPSIDE DOWN? That's a new one, but it looks cool. Surprised nobody mentioned it yet....