Some Graphic Discoveries...

[rdenney]

In playing with my Speed Graphic this evening to see if it would focus a 65mm lens (it will), I made another discovery: A Sinar Norma ground glass carrier will slip into the Graflok back of a Graphic camera. The Sinar ground glass really is nicer than the Graphic, and it allows one to use the Sinar clip-in Fresnel. The Sinar ground glass also has notched corners, which is probably only useful for a couple of lenses (long enough to be outside the box but short enough to have marginal coverage--the 127 is the best example).

The next tidbit is that a Speed Graphic folding hood will clip into the ground glass frame of a Norma, though not at the same time as the Fresnel. (I really stole this idea from Glenn Evans's web page.) Need a gg protector for your Norma? (No, it won't work with an F or a P--it needs those Norma side clips.)

And the third tidbit is that once a Norma ground glass frame is on a Speed Graphic, it allows one to use masks for roll-film formats using a Vario/Zoom holder.

I was going to use the Norma ground glass frame with some spare F parts to make my own "Handy", but I already have the Speed Graphic and can make that work, like, tomorrow.

Rick "no Sinar parts were injured in the making of this post--insulted, maybe, but not injured" Denney

[Leonard Robertson]

Rick - When I first got my Norma a few months ago, I learned the focusing hood trick, probably from a post on this forum. It is a good one to keep passing along to Sinar Norma owners.

I initially tried swapping focusing panels between the Sinar and a Graflok - without success. Encouraged by your post, I tried again this morning, and yes, the Sinar panel snapped into the Graflok frame. Only problem, it wouldn't come out again! After quite a few tense minutes of pushing and pulling and considering taking the Dremel tool to the Graflok, I learned the trick. The side of the Sinar panel where the film holder inserts must be lifted away from the Graflok frame a lot more (maybe a couple of inches) than with the Graflok focusing panel. It looks like the Sinar "hooks" are deeper than the Graflok ones, and take a different technique to unhook them. At least with my Norma panel.

I can't get the Graflok focusing panel to mount on the Norma frame, but I didn't fool with it too long. It seemed the Graflok "arms with hooks" hit the Sinar roll back sliders, but maybe there is a trick to getting around this.

Here is another entertaining Sinar-Graphic hack if you haven't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELIKeCtT6Oo&feature=bf_prev&list=ULL_ApcL_1YAk&lf=mfu_in_order

Len "glad I didn't get out the Dremel" Robertson