Copal/Sinar shutter mounted on a Reisekamera - first attempt!

[Steven Tribe]

This is a first attempt at mounting a copal sinar shutter between the front standard and the bellows of an 18x24cm reisekamera.
This is a little more complex than the present offerings of new cameras with this excellent use of copal shutters with barrel lenses or prized shuttered lenses with u/s shutters.

These are full size bellows at the front end- so there has to be some kind of adapter plate to reduce from the 22cm square bellows outline down to the attachment approx. 14cm square of the standard Sinar coupling system-

The second problem is the locking system which has to be attached to the rear of front standard to catch and clamp the sq. 14x14cm flange. The mechanism must not be in the way of the bellows.

The final problem is that the entrance for the cable release at the side would be completely inaccessable with a direct mounting of the c/s shutter to the rear surface.
The c/s shutter release allows absolutely no play!

The bellows were glued to a slightly oversized galvanised plate which just fitted into the niche at the rear of the front standard. A square hole was cut and two profiled walnut strips - which mimic the profile of the standard of a sinar connector/lens board were glued and screwed around the square hole.

The opening of my 18x24 was just big enough to accept the standard sinar size so I mounted a copy of the locking system on the recessed rear standard. The push down/release controls were "moved" up to the top left and top right positions - just above the bellows corners (1st photo).

Before trying out the shutter systems, I checked that the new bellows plate actually could be fitted in AND that the bellows could still be folded away. Which it did!

The difficult part was to make a box spacer which would bring the C/S shutter far enough away from the back of the front standard so that the shutter release could be screwed into the appropriate hole. Again, I used tin plate. The front attachment is achieving by bending a U formed profile top and bottom to catch the fixed and moveable plates. The rear, which attaches to the plain side of the shutter, is similarly profiled as a U - but, of course, in reverse directions. So this last fitting is by engage and s l i d e across - the pin which sticks out has to be depressed to get past it. To be honest, I found it easier to mount this spacer box by wrapping round this necessary evil around the shutter flange and then inserting and screwing.

All controls are still readily available - only modification to the C/S is to reverse the sliding lock and make a new scale ( Dymo + extra glue).

Some of the joins are quite light tight - others are not! But the only light will be at 90 deg. and will not end up on the film.

I have kept this brief but can provide better illustrations if wanted by anyone.

[cdholden]

Go find a ripped 4x5 P/P2 bellows and modify your bellows to accept that front bellows frame that you should remove from the damaged Sinar bellows. I have a spare front frame you could pillage for parts, or use whole, to add a frame to hold the bellows from the rear of your front standard, making the whole thing a much cleaner affair.

[Steven Tribe]

Sounds OK - except that I would still want to have the old setup - big bellows on the front standard would give no access to any standard Sinar release. I didn't think that odd Sinar fitments would be available.

[cdholden]

The beauty of the Sinar system: it's all modular. Pick a series (Norma, F, P, etc) and you have compatibility amongst all of its parts... even some compatible parts between series.