Sinar Norma 8x10: Weight

[Michael Nagl]

Greetings to everybody here,

I have quite a simple question - what is the precise weight of an 8x10" Sinar Norma? (Without lensboard, without rail holder - which I consider a part of the tripod head.) I have to switch to 8x10 because I´ve used up all my 5x7 colour negative stock; I have that Linhof Bi-Kardan that I use as a field camera - heavy, yes, and I´d love to have a 8 pound featherweight, but I can hardly afford a Canham and I doubt that I could bear a camera that has "springy tendencies", as someone here has put it. The only camera that I did not manage to hear anything bad about was the Wehman, but Bruce W. told me that I´d probably be disappointed with the movements possible with the 150mm lens (I take pictures of houses)... So I figure I´ll get a Norma, cheap, but not what you´d call a cheap camera, any desired amount of movements, but will I be able to move with it?

Please tell me!
thanks
Michael

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hallo Michael

Habe leider in meinem alten Sinar Buch über die Norma nichts bezüglich Gewicht gefunden. Bei der heutigen P 2 8x10 Grundausstattung ist das Gewicht mit 8,5 kg angegeben. Da die Norma nicht diese schweren starken komplexen Gelenkblöcke wie die P2 oder P hat gehe ich davon aus das die Norma eher etwas leichter ist, aber vermutlich nur marginal weil das 8x10 Rückteil der Norma schwerer ist, wie das der P2!
Gruss Armin Seeholzer

P.S. So I hope somebody has an Norma for to get the exact wight of it my wight is only from the P2!

[Michael Nagl]

Danke (but let`s be polite and stick to English here), sounds heavy. In the meantime I found that Shen-Hao thread... sad thing in Austria is that it is near impossible to ever lay your hands on any of the wooden cameras... They are utterly exotic here, as is the entire concept of traight photography to the Austrian artist. People think of the Wild West when they see me under the darkcloth - anyway, they are not so wrong. I only managed to find a Tachihara in a store here, and I shrinked -- eek, wobbly!
Grüezi
M

[Frank Petronio]

An older Arca-Swiss 8x10 is light and stable. They are rarer than the Normas but the do come up for sale if you are patient.

The 8x10 Norma doesn't seem overly heavy for what it is, and I think it is more robust than the older Arca.

[Don Hutton]

Danke (but let`s be polite and stick to English here), sounds heavy. In the meantime I found that Shen-Hao thread... sad thing in Austria is that it is near impossible to ever lay your hands on any of the wooden cameras... They are utterly exotic here, as is the entire concept of traight photography to the Austrian artist. People think of the Wild West when they see me under the darkcloth - anyway, they are not so wrong. I only managed to find a Tachihara in a store here, and I shrinked -- eek, wobbly!
Grüezi
MLotus, Lotus and Lotus.... Give them a call - great folks to deal with.

[Michael Nagl]

Yes, Lotus... just around the corner, too.... costs more than a n e w Arca! (ca. 4 000 Eurobucks) but before this turns into thread No. 8677577 "My favorite camera" - please tell me what the Norma weighs. On your scales, not in your opinon.

[Struan Gray]

I have been idly following eBay auctions for Norma 8x10 kit. The back and normal bellows are usually advertised as weighing 6 kg. With a rail and front standard, expect 7-8 kg.

FWIW, my Norma 4x5 with a six inch rail and no lensboard is almost exactly 3 kg.

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

I took my SINAR Norma 8x10" and put it on a scale. 5,5 Kilograms with the rail clamp ( 5,2 Kg less the clamp)
The camera had normal bellows and the 46 cm rail combination (grundrohr+30 cm verlaenerung).
I am one of those missing 5x7" or 13x18cm color negative film. Could we not find a dealer that would collect
subscribers for 5x7" color negative film just like they did with the 5x7" TMY? I for one would like six 50 sheet boxes.

[Struan Gray]

Gudmundur, that is good news. You could almost go jogging with a 5.2 kg camera.

[Michael Nagl]

Gudmundur, that´s what I had hoped to hear! For those unfamiliar with the metric system: 11.47 pounds! You saved me from the Shen-Hao!
Another question - how much shift is possible with standard bellows & 150mm lens? Maybe I can do without the w/a bellows?
5x7" color negative film: Few day ago I tried to cut 8x10" film into 5x7" sheets... with a stanley knife... a nightmarish experience. I doubt that it resulted in rectangular sheets, but some might like the manufactum-appeal of these negatives.

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

You can shift the 150 mm lens all the 4,5 cm upwards- with force- but then the foldings of the bellows
will black out the bottom of the picture. If you can not get your hans on a wide angle bellows- you can have you
lens mounted of center on the lensboard and thus gain an upwards shift of probably 3 cm without forcing the bellows.
Sinar lenboards are easy to get and not very expensive.- In his article on the 5x7" format OT Luong tells how he cuts
8x10 down to two 5x7" s with a Rotatrim : http://www.largeformatphotography.info/5x7.html

[Michael Nagl]

Thanks again for being so helpful. Guess I´ll need the w/a bellows. First I need the camera - hope it shows up soon on the *bay.

[archivue]

Rotatrim is the way to go for 5x7 !

considering a 150, you need a bag bellow with a norma !

i have a norma myself, and i had th oportunity to play with a Canham (wood)... i come back to my norma for rigidity !