Rethinking the Peter Gowland Pocket View Camera

GPV-pre-mod-profile
Gowland Pocket View Camera, lateral view. This shows the original knobs and hardware. The focusing screen and film back are borrowed from a Burke & James Orbit monorail view camera.

Background

Peter Gowland was a photographer famous in the last half of the last century for his glamour shots and his custom cameras. I liked his cameras. In 1989 I called him up and ordered a Gowland 4×5 Pocket View Camera (GPV) with a Graflok back. He told me he didn’t sell them that way, but that he’d be happy to sell me one without a back and that I shouldn’t have any trouble adding one myself. Peter overestimated me.

GPV-pre-mod-rear
Gowland Pocket View Camera, rear view. This shows the original knobs and hardware. The focusing screen and film back are borrowed from a Burke & James Orbit monorail view camera. Torque applied to move the focusing screen and insert a film holder is sufficient to move things out of adjustment if one is not careful.

The camera hasn’t gotten much use since then. Once or twice I borrowed the back from my B&J Orbit monorail studio camera, screwed it to the back casting of the GPV, and took it for a spin, but it was clumsy. The holes in the castings didn’t exactly align with the springs and the springs were strong enough to knock the camera out of adjustment when loading the holder. Mostly the GPV lived in a small box on a shelf. For its thirtieth birthday I decided to make it a proper back.

The camera is quite light—that’s really its superpower. While I have a few Graflok accessories, every one of them weighs more than the camera. I decided to make a lightweight back to embrace the camera’s lightness, while adding a bit of protection for its time in a bag or backpack.

Design

Weight and additional stability were my prime considerations. I decided that any modifications I made would be reversible, so, no new holes in the camera. I also decided to sacrifice any use of Graflok accessories; they’re just too heavy. If I change my thinking on this in the future it will just mean a redesign of the rails.

GPV-pre-mod-rear-standard-viewed-from-rear
Gowland Pocket View Camera rear standard with focusing screen removed. The groove seen on the right side of the standard serves to register a film holder in the correct position to make an exposure.
GPV-pre-mod-rear-standard-front-view
This front view of the Gowland Pocket View Camera’s rear standard shows the camera back oriented for a horizontal photograph. To shoot vertically the knobs holding the standards (both front and rear) are removed and the entire assembly (standards and bellows) is rotated 90° and the knobs are replaced in the other set of holes. The new frame will slip over this from the front and will register on its front surface.
GPV-back-early-design_FreeCAD
The back shown here is an early concept for the auxiliary frame designed to slip over the existing rear standard and hold the focusing screen or film holder in position for shooting.

The build

The main build consists of six 3D printed parts and a piece of glass:

  • The frame is the most complex piece. It’s box-like and designed to fit over the existing rear standard casting. There is no physical connection to the camera; the back slips on from the front and is secured with nuts, bolts, and springs to the rails that hold the film holder or focusing screen in place.
    GPV-frame-inside-and-out
  • Parts 2 and 3 are the rails. They are identical and were made by printing, then sanding and waxing the surfaces to insure smooth operation.

 

  • Part 4 was the frame of the focusing screen. It was modeled after a 4×5 film holder. The aperture opening is 3.7″ x 4.625″, with a 4″ x 6″ opening designed to hold the ground glass 0.197″ from the front surface of the focusing screen’s frame. The distance is from the ASA standard Z38.1.51-1951.
    GPV-focusing-screen-4x6-pocket
  • Part 5 is a mask that shows the image area of a 4×5 sheet and serves to hold the glass in place.
    GPV-focusing-screen-glass-retainer
  • Part 6 is the ground glass. It’s a piece of glass from a cheap picture frame. I ground it using a 600 grit silicon carbide slurry. That was the first time I tried it…easy. There are lots of videos on YouTube that show the process. (I purchased the silicon carbide powder from Gritomatic. It was $12 + shipping for 200 grams…enough to make as many ground glass screens as I’ll ever need.)
GPV-rails-with-focusing-screen
Focusing screen in position. The screen is a piece of glass from a cheap 4″x6″ picture frame. I wet sanded it using silicon carbide to get a good focusing surface and masked it down to the film size with the 3-D printed frame and aperture mask. The full 4″x6″ glass is used in the frame. That eliminated having to cut it to a precise dimension.
  • Not really part of the camera, but just as important was the adapter designed to mate with the quick-release platforms on my tripods. The block on the camera’s focusing rail that contacts the tripod has a tiny surface area (0.75 sq. in.) and had a tendency to rotate on the tripod head. The quick-release adapter prevents any of that movement and makes setting up the camera a breeze.
    GPV-tripod-quick-release-adapter-top-and-bottom

Shooting with the camera

GPV-modified-rear
The Gowland Pocket View with with new back and focusing screen. Also pictured is the adapter to mate with the quick-release plates that I’ve added to all of my tripods. Without it, there’s really no way to keep the camera securely on a tripod; there simply isn’t enough surface area on the monorail’s mounting block to keep it from twisting.

It’s much better now. Loading film holders no longer knocks everything out of whack. The camera is light enough to take anywhere and I’ve used it more in the past several months that I had in the last 30 years.

photograph of dried tree stump in sunlight and shadow
Tree stump photographed with modified Gowland Pocket View Camera, Nikon 135mm f5.6 Nikkor-W lens on Ilford HP-5+. It was processed in HC-110 B, 8 min @ 68°.

Unfinished business

There are a couple of things left to do. Most annoying is the knob that locks the rear swing. The camera was originally furnished with a socket head screw fitted with an aluminum head with a hole so that it could be tightened with an Allen wrench (used as an arm or lever, not a wrench). It looked gross, so I replaced it with a brass knob. That was a bad idea…you almost need pliers to tighten it. I could drill a hole in that and go back to the arm idea, but I think I’ll try filing the brass knob square and design a 3D printable handle or wrench-like design to slip over it. It’s got to be small enough to fit over the knob and long enough to give sufficient leverage to tighten the screw.
The other thing the camera needs is a proper carrying case. I’m in the middle of that design now. It will be a two-piece 3D printed box that will secure the unassembled camera, lens, and focusing screen with room for a couple of film holders. The whole affair will fit in a small canvas messenger bag.

Additional links

Review of GPV, 2010, Brian Wallen

Repairing the GPV bellows

2010 GPV sale announcement with pictures

Wikimedia photo

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