Sinar P

The Sinar P is a Swiss monorail view camera, and for many years it was the studio standard for large format. It is built for precision rather than portability: geared movements, accurate scales, and a mechanical design that makes careful work faster.

The feature Sinar is known for is how its tilts and swings are arranged. Movements on the P are placed so that tilting or swinging the standard to bring a plane into focus disturbs the composition as little as possible, so you spend less time correcting and re-correcting.

It is also a true system. Standards, bellows, rails and format frames swap between models, so a 4x5 camera can be extended or converted to larger formats with the right parts. Lenses mount on Sinar lens boards, usually in Copal shutters. Sinar also made a shutter that sits behind the lens, which lets you use barrel lenses with no shutter of their own.

None of this makes it light. A Sinar P belongs on a sturdy tripod or a studio stand, and it is happiest photographing things that hold still. In that role it is superb. Loaded with sheet film such as FP4 Plus or Portra 160, it is about as precise as film gets.