Widest Lens on Sinar F2?

[Mark_Se]

Does anyone know whats the widest lens that works with a sinar f2?

[Jim Noel]

With a bag bellows, a 58mm should do fine. If you wish to go to a recessed board, more movement will be available with a standard bellows.

[Sevo]

Any LF lens I am aware of! The standards can literally touch at the closest position of the focus drive - that leaves you with a few mm of depth for each standard plus less than 20mm for the bag bellows, a small enough space even for sub 50mm lenses, as long as you shoot 4x5. The 65mm SA will even work with a sinar shutter inserted.

You will be very limited in tilt/swing movements with 50mm and less lenses on smaller formats (6x9 film backs or digital), as they tend to spread the camera out of focusable spacing. For architectural work with digital or medium format, a 4x5 camera can be too limiting - hence the new breed of smaller size cameras...

[Mark_Se]

hmm, the widest lens i use with my f2 is a 65mm, but with roll film its still not wide enough...

[Sevo]

In my experience 47mm works as long as you restrict yourself to shifting - but as the standards do swing out at the far end more than needed, due to the relatively oversized standard, even a minute degree of tilt will already translate to more than the few available millimetres of compensating focus range at the far frame edge in 6x9 or, even worse, 36x48mm.

[Mark Sampson]

It's probable that when the Sinar F was designed (1970s?) there was no lens wider than 65mm, available new, that would cover 4x5. People would use a 58mm Rodenstock lens from a Graflex XL that covered, sort of. So if you can make a 47mm lens work at all it's a bonus.

[Drew Wiley]

With the bag bellows and a recessed board you should be able to use just about
anything capable of covering 4x5 film. Most of those very short lenses won't accept much movement anyway.

[Ron Marshall]

I use a 55mm on my F1 on a flat lensboard with the bag bellows.

You may need a recessed board for the 47XL but it would could definately be used, as could shorter focal lengths, but they would not cover 4x5.

[rdenney]

I can focus a 47 on a flat board using the standard bag bellows, but I have to make sure the bellows don't get folded wrong between the standards. Also the regular bag bellows are stiff and resist shift using that lens. For lenses that short, I recommend the Wide Angle Bellows 2, which is folded in a way that allows full movement without such fiddling. I can get up to 8 or 10 degrees of tilt, and unlimited shift with those bellows. I do not have to move the standards to one side of the tripod mount, or any such foolishness, but I do have to use the geared focus to close the gap, and that may require some rise to keep the rise columns fron interfering with the adapter in some situations.

Sinar certainly had smaller formats in mind at the time. They made rollfilm holders, and my 47/5.6 SA dates from the early 70's. It covers 6x9 abundantly, and 6x12 in a pinch.

Rick "who uses the WA2 bellows for everything at 180 and shorter" Denney

[Captain_joe6]

Now, while Sinar doesn't design their cameras to do this, you can put both standards on one side of the rail clamp, and with a bag bellows, you could actually make the standards touch. You'd be fine with any lens on a flat board, and stability would be unaffected. Really, honestly, truly, at that point the only limitation would be whether or not the lens in question covers 4x5. If it does, its game.