Sinar Norma1948

History

Carl Koch founded Sinar AG in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in 1948 and introduced the Norma as the company's first camera. The name Norma derived from a Latin root suggesting a standard or rule - fitting for a camera that would go on to define studio practice for generations.

The Norma established several conventions that became industry standards. The 140mm square lensboard - adopted by Sinar as its mount from the beginning - was eventually replicated or made cross-compatible by Cambo, Toyo (for their studio models), Horseman, and others. The modular rail system, composed of interlocking aluminum sections, allowed cameras to be extended for macro work or shortened for travel without changing fundamental components.

The P series, introduced in the late 1950s, superseded the Norma as Sinar's top-line offering and added refinements including a more sophisticated depth-of-field calculator integrated into the standard frame and enhanced gearing on the movements. The F series, beginning in 1976 with the F1, was developed as a lower-cost entry to the same system architecture. The Norma itself continued to be sold for some years after the P series introduction, serving photographers who valued its simplicity.

By the 1970s, the Norma was primarily a used-market camera, but its full compatibility with all later Sinar accessories meant that Norma bodies remained productive tools in professional studios well into the 1980s and 1990s.

Why It Matters

The Sinar Norma is historically significant as the founding document of the modern professional studio monorail system. Many of the conventions it established in 1948 - the modular rail, the large square lensboard, the asymmetric tilt geometry - are still in active use on cameras manufactured today. The Arca-Swiss F-Line, the Toyo View 45G, and contemporary field cameras from Chamonix and Ebony all exist in a tradition the Norma helped define.

For collectors and working photographers, the Norma represents the earliest and most historically resonant entry point to the Sinar system. Because it is fully compatible with later Sinar accessories - including F-series bellows, the Sinar metering probe, and roll-film backs - a Norma body can be equipped as a fully capable contemporary working camera at relatively modest cost.

Lenses & Accessories

The Norma mounts all lenses in Copal or Compur leaf shutters on Sinar 140mm lensboards. Because the lensboard standard remained constant across all Sinar generations, the full range of lenses listed for the F1 and P series applies equally here:

• Schneider Symmar-S 150mm f/5.6 - standard studio lens
• Schneider Super-Angulon 90mm f/8 - standard wide angle
• Rodenstock Sironar-N 150mm f/5.6 - alternative standard
• Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 300mm f/9 - long-focus process lens
• Bag bellows - required for wide lenses shorter than ~80mm
• Sinar roll-film backs - 6x7, 6x9 on 120 film (later production; verify compatibility with early Norma back rails)
• Sinar Polaroid back - type 55 and pack film for proofing
• Sinar metering probe - through-lens spot metering

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Established the studio large-format standard in Swiss and German commercial photography from the late 1940s through the 1960s.
• Used in European advertising photography and catalogue work throughout the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
• Adopted in European photographic education programs as a teaching camera for movement geometry.
• Remains a collector's item among photographers interested in the history of studio equipment.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Sinar
• Wikipedia: Sinar