Hello all, I am new to the forum, and *brand new* to large format photography! My experience with film photography has been limited to medium-format Hasselblad work.

A family friend is letting me explore the world of large format photography with one of her late husband's cameras -- a Sinar F with a pair of lenses. I have read a lot about the operation of the camera and finally took possession of the camera yesterday evening. It appears this camera has been used very little, if at all. Unfortunately, as I was removing it from the carrying case, I must have looked at the front standard wrong, because the rail clamp snapped right off. I have since read that it is not uncommon for this to happen as a result of the clamp being overtightened.

I have looked online (ebay, etc) to find a replacement front multipurpose standard and have found a couple. My question: Is the camera still operable while it has the broken front rail clamp? I am not going to be hiking with the camera nor do I anticipate doing anything crazy with it. The entire body still seems "solid" and the tilt, shift, and swing movements all seem to work just fine. I just wanted to make sure it is "safe" to use with teh current broken clamp while I obtain a replacement front standard.

Thanks in advance for the information!