Greetings, I am thinking of buying a second hand sinar vario but the sales person don't realy know how it works???? I mean can you set different formats (4.5-12 X 6)while you are in mid-roll? Or you set the format from the begining of the roll and then you have to finish the roll so you can load and set another format? Any folks out there with experince with this rfh please answer my questions. Also it will cost me about AUS$1150. I had a look at it and it is well used, definetly not mint. Good buy?

-- Renee Galang (r.galang@chisholm.vic.edu.au), April 05, 2001

Answers

There are two iterations of the Varioback, the I & the II. I believe that only the Varioback II will let you change formats on a single roll. Look carefully at the rollers and run a test roll. Contact Sinar at http://www.sinarbron.com for a brochure on the current model.

-- Ellis Vener (evphoto@insync.net), April 05, 2001.

Actually, there are three versions of the Sinar variable-format roll holder - Vario, Zoom and Zoom 2, of which the last is the current model. The Vario does NOT allow you to switch formats in mid-roll, but the Zoom and Zoom 2 do. I don't know about market conditions in Australia, but the US dollar equivalent of AUS$1150 would be a very good price for a Vario here in the US if it were in good condition.

-- Oren Grad (orengrad@world.std.com), April 05, 2001.

Renee, the first Vario I bought very used for a similar price as the one you are looking to. It had light leaks and when I sent it to Sinar they told me it was too old to fix. They offered me a rebate on a new one. They explained there are two series of Vario. In effect, another one I bought later was differently made. You can find out by opening the back and looking inside: if there are black soft plastic inserts inside to keep light from entering the back cover, it's a 2 and also the 2 has grooves along the back cover to prevent the light passing. The Vario and Zoom are very good and durable but can easily be damaged by improper manipulations. Repairs are rather expensive. If you have a serial number, you can email it to Sinar Switzerland and they will tell you how old it is. (www.sinar.ch)sinar@sinar.ch The Vario 2 and Zoom2 are better than the first versions of both models.

-- Paul Schilliger (pschilliger@smile.ch), April 06, 2001.