Sinar F

[Bjorn Nilsson]

I also just won a bag bellows for $49 I guess that means I need to get a wide angle lens! How low can I go with a Sinar F?

First, get a 150mm lens (Well, 135 is OK too, as well as a 180 or even a 210mm, depending upon personal taste.) as a starter lens. There is plenty to learn and you will learn about the basics on how to adjust the camera much better with only one "normal" lens. While it's nice to have a few lenses, you will find that the whole process of large format photography in itself makes you concentrate more on the camera initally and after a while you will turn your attention to the subject. All of this with one single lens.
Apart from that a second wide-angle lens is a matter of personal taste, but a 90mm is plenty wide. Do remember that with the typical 90mm (Super Angulon or Grandagon or similar) you will have a generous image circle which will allow you to shift the picture up (most common) without disturbing the perspective. By the way, when you buy that wide angle lens, don't forget to find a fresnel lens for the ground glass. Without the fresnel you will end up in that common question: "My ground glass is too dark, will it be any better with that superlarge and superheavy f/4.5 90mm lens?" to which my standard answer have always been: "Get a fresnel! (Your f/8 lens is plenty sharp and plenty good.)".
I recon that you can find somewhere in this message that you don't need that many lenses, so a third longer lens could be a 240-300mm lens (depending on the length of your normal lens). But that would be by 2011 or so...
Don't get me wrong here, I do want you to have great fun with your new Sinar. But there is plenty to learn and you don't need too many boxes of stuff to find the hidden pleasure of large format photography. One of the things you may learn is taking the time to look at the scene/subject long enough to make the very best picture of it. LF photography is the main key to doing this, as setting up the camera takes a few minutes if you're fast. In terms of quality, it's quite easy to achieve similar quality with e.g. a Hasselblad in fractions of the time needed with an LF camera, so most of us don't use LF cameras for superior picture quality, rather something else. (You will find out it's very easy to goof up with an LF camera, much easier than with any other kind of camera you've encountered.) But again, have fun and learn from the mistakes.

//Björn

[dfoo]

Thanks for the advice Bjorn. I have a 150mm and 220mm lens. I'll get the wide angle later Looks like 90mm is a good choice!

[rdenney]

Making a board is probably pretty simple to me. I have lots of ply due to another hobby of mine (model airplanes). I'm not sure how the board attaches to the front standard, but if it is too thick will it put the focus off? Or is that simply dealt with in the process of focusing the camera?

The plywood will have to be very thin. If you try to route down the edge to fit under the clips, you'll be down to only one veneer and it will crack. You'll also need a slot routed in the edge for the light-trap ridge. You'd have to use plywood intended for model-building, but then that slot would likely weaken it too much. It wold be easier to buy a cheapie off-brand or Horseman board aluminum with a smaller hole and drill it yourself.

I had to do this for my Ilex No. 4 shutters. I drilled the hole with a drill press and a hole saw. When I installed a flange, it required me to slightly enlarge the hole, which I did with a drum-sander attachment for my drill press.

Rick "who hasn't had trouble with off-brand boards for Sinar" Denney

[dfoo]

I just received the Sinar F. From what I can tell everything looks good, except the center plastic piece that would attach the rail to the tripod has a crack at the top. Henry's didn't say anything about that in the auction, and I'm wondering whether that matters?

[Richard Raymond]

No problem with the rail ring. It is supposed to have a "crack" in it. This allows you to get the ring onto the rail. The rail clamp then goes around the ring and tightens it against the rail. If the ring was solid and made "just to fit the rail" then it would loosen as it wore out with use.
Ric

[dfoo]

Ah, I thought it was broken I'm very excited to get the remainder of the stuff now so I can take some pictures! Its definitely not the lightest thing in the world though.

[Bjorn Nilsson]

Ah, I thought it was broken I'm very excited to get the remainder of the stuff now so I can take some pictures! Its definitely not the lightest thing in the world though.

Eh no, it isn't. But on the other hand once you lock the controls down it's very stable and you can easily use a long lens (e.g. 300mm) without any risk of the camera giving up or flexing on you. The longest lens I've used with an F is a 480mm (Apo-Ronar). It took an extra 30cm rail, an extra bellows and an intermedate bellows frame, but the camera was steady.

//Björn

[dfoo]

After looking at the camera for a while tonight I found an issue. On the rear there are two levers which I guess are supposed to raise the ground glass so a film holder can be inserted. When I press the levers the back raises unevenly. I took off the ground glass holder and took a good look. The issue is that some teeth are stripped off one lever, meaning that two bars which push the ground glass off the rear standard move unevenly...

Is this is a big deal? It looks pretty easy to replace the gears, assuming they are available.

[Bob McCarthy]

After looking at the camera for a while tonight I found an issue. On the rear there are two levers which I guess are supposed to raise the ground glass so a film holder can be inserted. When I press the levers the back raises unevenly. I took off the ground glass holder and took a good look. The issue is that some teeth are stripped off one lever, meaning that two bars which push the ground glass off the rear standard move unevenly...

Is this is a big deal? It looks pretty easy to replace the gears, assuming they are available.

As long as the spring back holds the film holder snuggly in the correct position, no harm.

Use your thumb and finger to spread the spring back, not the levers to insert the film holder.

bob

[B.S.Kumar]

Here is where I show a picture of my Sinar F mounted on a tripod. It has bag bellows in this picture. I also attached a picture showing the "mobile office" roll-around that I carry it around in. As you can see, it's quite a compact package for a monorail. That case is about half the size of the hard case that holds my Calumet 45nx (Cambo SC).

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...&postcount=551

Rick "who has become a real Sinar fanboy" Denney

Rick,

I couldn't find the "mobile office" roll-around on the Staples website. Do you have a product code?

Thanks,
Kumar