4 1/2" square lensboards

[pgk]

I have a Gandolfi tailboard camera designed to take 4.5" square lensboards. This is the extrenal dimension. The external board is ~1/8" thick and has an internal secition 4 1/8" square which is also 1/8" thick. I am just wondering if this is a board which has any degree of 'standardisatyion - that is to say do any other cameras use a similar board?

[Jim Jones]

An old Camera Repairman's Handbook from the National Camera Repair School lists only one 4.5 inch square board which is twice as thick and is for 5x7 Korona View cameras.

[pgk]

Thanks. It appears that this was yet another 'Special' from the Gandolfis. Standardisation and record keeping were not up to the standard of their camera build unfortunately. I currently have 6 Gandolfis of which only 2 really looks like they weren't of modified construction when built.

[Roger Thoms]

I just measured a Eastman Kodak 2D 5x7 lens board and the exterior measures 4.495” square, 1/8” thick ant the interior measures 4.121”, 0.141” thick, so very close to your Gandolfi board and would probably interchange. The closest thing to a standard board might be the Linhof 96mm x 99mm just because a lot of people use adapter boards and standardize on the Linhof board, especially if they have lens the want to use on different cameras. But to answer your question, no there really isn’t a standard, there are dozens of different sizes the have been used by different manufacturers over the years. Here a link that will an over view of a variety of different boards. This list is not complete but you’ll get the idea. https://skgrimes.com/lens-boards/#ebony

Roger

[pgk]

Again, thanks. Two of my cameras use boards which fit into the front section. They are of course different. I was simply hoping that one might be more easily obtainable if it was used on other cameras and so I could find a few, but it looks rather like I'll just have to get enthused and build some for both cameras.

[domaz]

I have an Eastman View Camera No 33A that takes 4.5" square boards. Not a common size, but I sort of like it for this camera. You can mount bigger lenses than you normally could for the size of the camera. The camera itself is pretty basic but works very well.

[Dugan]

I second domaz....I also have a 33A and can confirm 4.5" square lensboards.

[pgk]

Thanks. I've located a a number of slightly smaller Gandolfi boards reasonably priced so will use those and simply make an adapter as this way I can also use them on other cameras too. Thanks for your thoughts though - useful to know for the future perhaps.

[Tracy Storer]

zbima1 on Ebay makes good boards, very reasonably priced. Might be happy to take on a new size if he's not already making it.

[pgk]

Thanks all. In the end I made an adapter which took a fair amount of time and then bought some original slightly smaller boards and have made some more using a ply back and mahogany front which are cheap to make, relatively easy to cut and glue and which look very reasonable too.