I have just taken delivery of a vintage Norma. All the bubbles have dried out and gone misty inside BUT one of the white plastic bubble holders is missing.
Does anyone have 1 (or 2) holders I could buy off them please?
Cheers Dave
I have just taken delivery of a vintage Norma. All the bubbles have dried out and gone misty inside BUT one of the white plastic bubble holders is missing.
Does anyone have 1 (or 2) holders I could buy off them please?
Cheers Dave
I don't have any Dave, but by coincidence I was reading this guy's website because I was curious about the weight of a Norma. He has all kinds of bits and pieces for Normas for sale, including levels. http://glennview.com/sinar.htm
Ps......fleaBay item number:
173613865676
For the bubbles
Hi Dave,
Take a look at the large selection of levels on the McMaster-Carr website
https://www.mcmaster.com/levels
They don't ship to the UK.
But if you find what you want, I could order it and ship it to you.
I would need the proper catalog number.
- Leigh
If you believe you can, or you believe you can't... you're right.
Thanks very much for the offer Leigh but I have ordered the ones on fleabay and will see if they are suitable first.
Cheers Dave
Don't expect cheap ones to necessarily be accurate. A pendulum-type angle finder is a way better method of correcting verticals on view camera standards. And as far as horizontal, film seldom fits in the holder itself precisely aligned, so some amount of post-correction of alignment is inevitable if you need true vertical or horizontal lines. But don't forget that too thick an epoxy will offset the positioning of your replacement levels themselves. You should have you camera solidly set up and well-aligned before you begin, with a high-quality reference level on hand when you set your little bubble levels in, and for the duration of the epoxy cure time. Don't use the five-minute type. It's weak.
amazon has hundreds to chose from.....
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bulls+eye...f=nb_sb_noss_2
There's actually quite an art to making a simple bubble level that's accurate. I've sat in on an entire factory seminar with German engineers on the subject. And I can confidently tell you, it's pretty rare that you find one done correctly unless it's machinist quality. I do know two other companies using patented methods. Not the kind of thing you can get at Amazon or your local home center. But that's just for sake of whatever ... I wouldn't worry about it too much in this instance. A basic inclinometer is always a good idea in an architectural photography kit - as if buildings themselves were always plumb and true! I don't even look at the levels on my on Norma, even though they're all still there.
A few years back I made a few sets of Norma levels using a 3D printer (for the base) and buying the vials from here:
https://www.geier-bluhm.com/product-...tubular-vials/ (see 3-0501)
These vials were a very close match (I can't see any difference) to the orginals, and my 3D printed bases work fine.
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