WOLF 4x5 Studio wide view?

[Rodneytrotter]

Hi There, I am new to this forum, and have recently acquired a WOLf 4x5 monorail camera it has a nice Symmar-s and Sironar lenses complete with another Lustrar lense?
The camera is very complex it moves practically at every angle, and has even little vertical and horizontal level bubbles built into it, the bellows and lens plate and viewing plate which is covered in masses of grids, I was advised that it was used in an artists studio for a while both lenses are 150mm would this be for studio use.? The bellows extends to approx 12", all movements are graduated either in mm or degree's There is not an angle it cannot obtain of course without breaking the bellows. the puropose of this posting is to establish whether anybody has ever heard of this thing, every component has " made in sweden " on it, and is either ally or steel, and moves like a swiss clock, everythin is there apart from the film carrier - I think. Can anybody suggest who might have made it? I think it is of 70's origin if I was to guess but not certain, when I find my digital cam I will post a photo. Thanks in advance Martin.

[Rodneytrotter]

Sorry it does not state made in sweden (senior moment!) anywhere on it, it states " Swiss made " it also has a Norseman lens carrier and Atmos written on a lot of the frames, i'm still none the wiser as to who made it, or whether its still made by someone else under license.? Any thoughts anyone regards Martin

[Len Middleton]

Martin,
You may want to use your glasses or reduce your alcohol consumption.:D Check to see if the lensboard has "Horseman" on it.
If it is Swiss made and uses a Horseman lensboard, it might be a Sinar. Or maybe a Sinar knock-off.
Hope that helps,
Len

[Rodneytrotter]

ummh, dohhh.... :o not only can I not read, nor spell, I cannot string a sentence together.. yep you are correct should have realised that " Norseman " do not come from Japan :D I think it is a Sinar knock off it states swiss made on everything though, and has a particularly long monorail not round but more rectangular, tis bugging me that I cannot find one like it. I'm sure its a studio camera, twas found in an artists studio gathering dust, I was hoping an instruction manual of sorts could be dug up, as there are one or two sliding rules, which move up and down this rail, they are used for something or other, I suppose I will have to work out what they do. One question somebody might be able to answer the Sironar N Copal N 0.0 fitted to the " Horseman " plate is faulty in as much as the 1/4 - 1 sec shutter does not work, now for my sins I am a bit of a horologist, if I was to remove both lenses (assuming that's easy in itself?) and then dunk the whole thing in my cleaning tank normally reserved for fine swiss time pieces to remove centuries of grime oil and dust, would it harm it in anyway..? Or is there a far more simpler method to loosen the wee beasty up a bit, just nudging the cocking lever sends it in to countdown mode and fires away after the remaing fractions have elapsed. Indicating to me that she is a bit dustified and needs a bit of cleaning in some form...? Thoughts on a postcard please. Thanks Martin.

PS now I am probably going to crash and burn and get chucked off this site, as I am going to ask whether a digital 4x5 back has been invented which straps to the back of these camera's??, failing that is there a cost effective source of Ektachrome or slide film for 4x5 cameras, and is the cost of developing ektachrome changed much in the past 25 years (last time I did any developing) am thinking of using slide film and scanning said film, and printing via one of them their grey electronic boxes :eek: Being a cheap skate limey I want to try this thing out, and produce a few images in some form or other. Thanks in advance again

[ic-racer]

if I was to remove both lenses (assuming that's easy in itself?) and then dunk the whole thing in my cleaning tank normally reserved for fine swiss time pieces to remove centuries of grime oil and dust, would it harm it in anyway..?

Not sure about watches, but frequently when this is done to a shutter, you may find there to be a few lube or grease points that will get washed away.

[Len Middleton]

Martin,

Often times the shutters can be freed up through a little "exercise". Fire the shutter at the faster speeds that will work, and after it is running well, then try some of the slower speeds.

Further to ic-racer's comment on cleaning, you may recognize many of the same components in the shutters as you would in your fine swiss time pieces, but I would not expect any jewelled bearings to be found. Shutters are relatively crude devices as compared to watches. Besides, how would you feel about your watching being off by about a 1/4 of a stop.

You might first try B&W film to first try out the camera, before going to the expense of shooting "chromes", as chromes are neither cheap to buy or process. Another alternate might be to shoot B&W paper to start off, as that is much cheaper yet.

Posting a picture of it might be helpful, as I expect most on this forum agree with the saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" (give or take a little, depending upon your writing skills).

Hope that helps,

Len

[Gene McCluney]

Indeed there is a "digital" back that works just like a Polaroid back, in that it slides in under the ground glass and captures almost the full 4x5 image area. It is called a scanning back, and currently the most popular ones are made by Betterlight. The downside, is that they scan the image area, like a scanner, and can take several minutes to get the whole scene, so you can only do still life images, and you must use constant light. (no flash). But they are capable of the highest resolution of any digital capture media. Prices range (according to resolution) from approx. $7000 to $32k.

[Struan Gray]

The Sinar Wolf was an entry level model which I think was called the Alpina in the USA. As far as I know, the lensboards, bellows and ground glass backs were compatible with other 4x5 Sinar models, but the standards and the non-cylindrical rail were specific to the Wolf.

They are supposedly good cameras, but not as expandable as other models - I don't think you can extend the rail for example.

[David A. Goldfarb]

If it's like the Alpina or the later A1, it uses a flat, dovetail rail, which is lighter and more compact than the cylindrical rail on the F and P series, but the rails and standard bearers aren't interchangeable with the F & P systems, but the bellows, 4x5" backs (except probably the sliding back, which needs a little more clearance on the bottom), and lensboards should be interchangeable.