Sinar Shutter in field camera?

[Daniel Mitchel]

I have a Sinar DB shutter and would like to find a field camera which could accept the shutter. Any leads?

Daniel

[tor kviljo]

Using DB and Norma type Sinar-Copal shutters on Sinar, I like them very much, making it possible to use nearly any glass around. However the 139x139mm square mount flange of the Sinar-Copal is a challenge for any field-camera standard, and due to the protouding cable release & the bulging aperture-vindow on right, I think any "standard" (i.e. behind the front-standard) mounting of the shutter on field type camera would be difficult. It would however be possibe to make an adapter to front-mount the shutter the way you would frontmount a packard shutter on a lens, using a lens-panel with appropriate filter-thread adapter to connect lens & shutter. The weight of the shutter + possible drag of the release cable is a challenge for the front-standard (leaving out the flimsy thaciharas etc.) , but I think You will have problems using the sinar-copal on field camera any other way. Why dont You just get an appropriate backpack and carry a monorail instead - it's much more home in the field than many think.

Good luck anyway!

Regards

Tor Kviljo

[Mark Sampson]

The "f" in Sinar-f means "field". I use a Sinar-f2 on location (w/out Sinar shutter) but have never taken it far from the car, as I often do with my flatbed "field" camera. But you could probably rig up a truly portable setup using a Sinar-f - I'm sure other people have.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

here is a link (http://homepage2.nifty.com/akiyanroom/redbook-e/collection/moriya.html) to a photographer who has attached a Sinar shutter to a 8x10 deardorff.

[Frank Petronio]

I've never seen a Pan-Field in person, but I think it is a wonderful design:


http://www.icon.co.za/~panfield/ (http://www.icon.co.za/~panfield/)

My own experience with the Sinar shutter is that it caused more vibration problems than it solved. But perhaps a newer, well maintained unit would be smoother. For catalog work with strobe, the vibration issue never was a problem, but in the field I'd be cautious.

[tor kviljo]

I have used the Sinar Copal on my P/P2 (4x5 ) later also on 5x7 Norma. Usually, highest shutter speed is 1/15, more often 1/4 - several seconds. Tripod is surveyors tripod with gitzo 476 or LUMPP 3-way head. I have not encountered any effect of vibration compared to pictures taken with the few lenses I have/have had with built-in shutters. The hefty noices & "slam" experienced with the Sinar-Copal shutters is mostly part of the shutter closing, not disturbing exposure. The other thing is that the movement in the shutter si not up & down or sideways movement of any kind of body mass, but rather movement of shutter blades distributed perfectly around the lens center & mowing just in or out from this center: You need rapid movement of weight in one direction to introduce movement of the camera.

[Struan Gray]

I use my shutter in the field on a 4x5 Norma, mostly with an 18" process lens. My tripod is a Gitzo 3-series with an older Sinar pan-tilt head. I had intended to use a monopod or my ski poles as extra stabilisation, but my images with this setup are just as acceptably sharp as those taken with my shuttered 360 Symmar at similar extensions, so I'm happy without. In storm winds I switch to MF :-)

[Daniel Mitchel]

Thank you for your replies. I have tried taking the F1 into the field.



I do not in any way want to slander the F1 because it is in fact a very economical entry point for the useful features of the Sinar system.

I did find the F1 a bit "top heavy" as it sits very high above the tripod head. I'm using a Bogen

3021 with a 3047 head, and it felt like it moved too much.

I like the straightforward design of the Norma, maybe that is the direction to look, and find a very flat tripod head that sits close to the top of the legs. Does the Norma include a depth of field calculator?

[Frank Petronio]

Yes, the Norma DOF calculator is attached to the photographer's neck (but not on the camera itself.)

[tor kviljo]

hello again, Daniel

The Sinar F (and C and P) being top heavy have been discussed many times, and it certainly makes for a tower-like construction when using one of the very high manfrotto 3-way heads. That's why Gitzo's excellent low-profile 570 3-way head as well as the lesser known LUMPP & FOBA 3-way heads fit these cameras better. Getting rid of that Manfrotto (#047?) -head in favor of Gitzo or equivalent, and changing the Sinar F's tall rail-bearer with a Sinar Norma rail-bearer lowers the balance point about 6 inches or so. That is a very big difference. I have seen the Norma rail-bearers on eby germany & UK from time to time, and I would think that glennview might have one of these too, but he is 'kindof expensive. A working alternative for making simple rail-bearer as well as attaching other stuff to the Sinar rail, is buying one of the Manfrotto Super Clamps and modifying it to be used as rail bearer. Briefly I used one of these (I drilled and threaded a 1/4" hole in it) as a simple standard bearer when putting together a 5x7 Norma from parts). Worked OK when camera were not loaded with a heavy lens & long rail. The small base-area of the super clamp + the cut-out for the original fittings it's intended for, reduces the footprint to a small one, making it only fit for a light sinar set-up, but OK for a F with not too heavy lens. Only problem with this approach is that using the lower rail-bearer might cause the standard bearer interfere with the tripod-head/mounting plate when using short lenses: the two aluminium poles used for F's standard rise, protouds far down below rail when standards is in zero positio, and will interfere with any big tripod-head/platform when you try to push standards together on rail for WA use.

[Struan Gray]

The 4x5 and 5x7 Normas have geared fine focussing with a very readable mm scale. It won't do the DOF maths for you, but I just carry a small aide memoire card with the Hansma numbers on it (see the DOF articles on this site) and read off an aperture having measured the focus spread. I don't know about the 8x10 back (Tor?), but I'd be surprised if it doesn't have something similar.

Norma rail clamps go for £15 - £25 from UK secondhand dealers, the pan-tilt heads for £100-£200 depending on age and condition. The combination is as rock solid as the more exalted Arca-Swiss head I use for smaller formats.