Da Yi 6x12 Back on Sinar F1

[barnaby_norris]

G'day,

I think this is probably my fault for not doing enough research

before I bought, but anyway... I bought a Da Yi 6x12 rollfilm back

which I intended to use on my Sinar F1. I thought that this fits the

F1, since it supposedly has an International back, but I can't see

how to attach it!

 

The ground-glass holder comes off easily, and if I put the Da Yi

holder in its place, it seems to fit - all the little tongues and

grooves line up precisely - but I can't see how to hold it in place!

It seems like there should be some sort of clip or something, but

there isn't.

 

Any ideas would be much appreciated! Am I not doing something really

obvious? The Da Yi holder fits so snugly that I could certainly use

it by taping it in place or something, but this is far from elegant!

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Barnaby Norris

[johnmarkpainter]

Generally speaking there should be a sliding lock on the camera that holds the back on at

the top edge. That is how it works on my cameras anyway. (graflex, calumet, shen-hao)

[streetlevel]

If it's international back...doesn't it just slide under the spring/groundglass the same as a

regular film holder? So the spring tension holds it on.

[johndc]

Barnaby has the right idea, but he used the wrong terminology.<P>

 

The DaYi back is a <b>Graflok</b> back, not an international back.<P>

 

AFAIK, the F1 can use a graflok back, so the 6x12 is quite usable on that camera.<P>

 

Like others have said, there should be slide-locks on the top and bottom of the camera rear which allow you to lock the back in place.<P>

 

The DaYi is a terrific piece of equipment -- I really don't know what I'd do without mine. Provided you can get it attached to your camera, you should be very happy with it.<P>

[streetlevel]

On my horseman with the graflok, when you remove the ground glass, there are sliding

tabs on either side of the catch for the gg hooks... those slide in to hold on to the new

graflok adapter.

 

Don't know if that helps or not. Cheers.

[barnaby_norris]

Duh, ok now I feel rather silly...!

 

Thanks to everyone for their responses - yes, there are indeed little black clips, camouflaged against the black metal of the camera. The reason I was confused is that I assumed that the 6x12 back was held on by the same mechanism that holds the ground-glass, as seems to be the case with other brands. But it seems that on the Sinar a completely different mechanism (ie not Graflok) holds the ground glass on.

 

Well now it attaches very well, so I'm off to run some film through this baby! Indeed the Da Yi back seems to be built very well, very solid feel to it (I was a bit worried that I was going to end up with a Holga-quality unit, being relatively cheap and from China and all!)

 

Cheers

 

Barnaby Norris

[michael_briggs2]

<p>A clarification of terminology: Graflok and International backs are the same thing. No doubt "Graflok" was a trademark and competitors either couldn't or didn't want to use the term. A 4x5 back on which you can remove the ground glass and use sliding clips to hold an accessory is an International back -- first sold by Graflex as a Graflok back. For the history of the various backs from Graflex, see <a href="http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/graflok.htm">http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/graflok.htm</a>.</p>

[big toys are better]

Thank you to Mr. Briggs for clarifying the facts.

 

I'd also suggest that it isn't such a great feat to rig up an "international back" that would fit one's particular camera, even old field cameras, so long as the backs are removeable. This could even be done using a plywood frame and some accessory parts. Thus putting any of these on a 4x5 or 5x7 field camera is not a stretch.

 

However, I'd sure like to find a company that would also provide a "bare" multiformat panoramic back (6x9 ---> 6x17 or so)with simple mounting brackets that could then be easily adapted to a wood frame as I noted above, and not necessarily need the "international back" hardware fittings. It would be my intention to adapt it to my 5x7 field camera and possibly to an 8x10.