Alaska is work (I'm here now), and Russia is pleasure. I'm agonizing over which camera to take. If I had your Mamiya 7, I wouldn't have to think at all, but the RB67 is a different beast. I was considering a Fiji 6x9, but I think I stalled too long now.
Frank,
Thanks for the good advice. I've seen one of those Linhof Color Kardans, and they are indeed beautiful. The one I saw didn't have much extension, but I suppose that is variable. I'll keep the geared v non-geared issues in mind, too -- makes sense. Those Sinars look very well made, though. I'm sure they're more susceptible to jamming if they're taken out of the studio than if they stay indoors, but your point is good.
I think the 8x10 non-metered back I had was 26 or 28".Originally Posted by Tony Karnezis
While I still need to cull the herd to make the best of space for a home office, I couldn't bring myself to sell the 5x7. Yes, it's a P.
And a Toyo G is a 1978 Lincoln Continental.
Sinar is nice, but buying them used can be a bit tricky.
The one that I got had a real tight rear standard, which I like. You could not push the movements with your hand, only with the knobs.
The front standard was different - it wasn't tight at all. I never tried to use a 360mm on there, but a loose tilt would make me nervous with heavy lenses.
The good thing is that you can always send these cameras in for repair/tweaking/refurbishing.
Yes, it would be nice to put my hands on the camera before I commit. I told Julia what I was planning and she forbade it! She says the only thing to do is to buy whatever I think I want, and then, if I really prefer it to the V8, maybe I could sell it. I love that girl.
If you want to use large lenses on a Sinar 8x10 don't forget the trick of using a 5x7 standard and a lensboard sized to fit the bigger opening.
Sinar sold an 8x10 to 5x7 bellows and lensboards for this sort of rig, but they were expensive and still are when they come up used (once or twice a year on eBay.de). I'd bet one of the custom bellows makers could knock up a similar bellows for less, and there is at least one ebay seller from Switzerland who offers (offered at any rate) the extra-large lensboards at quite reasonable rates.
Struan,
Thanks for that information. It seems the Sinar system is very modular, correct? Am I right in thinking the same rails work with all format standards, and between the P and F models? If that's true, it just about decides the issue, for me.
Between the Norma, F, and P... yes.
There was an Alpina series that has a different style rail, not compatible with these other 3.
I *think* so, but I only have real experience with the Norma system. As far as I know, all Sinars use the same rail, except the budget Alpina/A1 model which had a dovetail rail. Even that used the same bellows, lensboard and accessory attachments.
One final thought: the Norma 5x7 format frame has a groove which runs all the way round the inside edge of the frame. The 5x7 back assembly and 5x7-4x5 reducing back have sliding locks which engage in this groove, in addition to the external Graflok-style slides. For really heavy lenses you could make an L-tab which engages in this groove once the lensboard is mounted, and locks the board in place more securely - you would engage the tabs from the rear with the bellows temporarily detached from the back of the standard.
Ah: I see cdholden beat me to it.
Basically, the Sinar system at current used prices is extremely versatile and useful. The existence of custom machine shops and far-eastern gadget makers means that a lot of the oddball kit that used to be a special order from Switzerland is now cheap-n-cheerful on eBay.
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