The cameras are thus often used in advertising, document reproduction, product and architectural photography, where correctly vertical image lines, fine focus accuracy, and extra details are wanted.

The name SINAR is explained by the company itself as "Still, Industrial, Nature, Architectural and Reproduction photography" in the English version of the April 2011 press release.

The business recalls its roots to Swiss photographer Carl August Koch [de] who worked in Marseille from 1865 to 1878.

His son Hans-Carl expanded the family-owned photography studios to add retail sales of photographic equipment, starting from 1911.

[2] His main aims were to produce a large format monorail camera system of high precision and simple operation, with readily interchangeable parts and accessories.

Major components (rails, bellows, lensboards, and standards) made in the 1940s are still usable with currently manufactured Sinar equipment.

In 1968 Carl Hans' son entered the family business and the company's camera production moved to Feuerthalen (north of Zürich).

[9] The basic classes that make up a Sinar view camera include:[8] From the code numbers, the main differences between the P- ("Perfection"), C- ("Combination"), and F ("Field")-series are the front and rear standards provided.

[14]: 8  In general, Sinar maintains broad component compatibility between the different modular view camera series and generations.

The original view camera introduced in 1947 and manufactured until 1969 was called the Sinar Standard or, more popularly, Norma, as labeled on the default 30 cm monorail.

Like the later P-, C-, and F-series, it is a modular system, which Sinar billed as the "Construction-Unit", consisting of interchangeable basic components, including a tripod head (monorail clamp), tubular monorail, front and rear standards, and bellows connecting the standards; the only significant differences between the different film format sizes were the bellows, rear frame, and back.

[15]: 22 Carl Koch applied for patents in 1947 and received them for the film holders,[16] front and rear standards,[17] the "optical bench" monorail,[18] and the camera itself.

[19] The primary technical advantage of the Sinar over other view cameras was moving the pivoting point for each standard from the center of each frame to the bottom.

A key feature of the Sinar P system, particularly in the domain of scientific and industrial photography, is the precise machine tolerances that are part of the fittings and movements.

The Sinar X was offered as a lower-cost alternative to the p2 4×5, with the same range of possible movements but removing other features, such as the metering back and the ability to change film formats.

This system has been used in modified mode by RIT to obtain multispectral images suited to aging analysis of color pigments in artworks.