Gowlandflex

[Sanders McNew]

July was Large-Format GAS Month, so
I am the new guardian of a whole-plate
Korona and an early Gowlandflex. The
Gowlandflex is a marvel, combining the
dynamics of a Rolleiflex with sheet film.

I have a problem with mine, and I am
hoping someone out there might have
an answer. The viewfinder is misaligned
vertically with what the taking lens is
capturing on the film. So, for example,
if I frame a portrait with the head barely
touching the top of the frame, the
recorded image on the negative will be
cropped just above the eyebrows.

I've written to Peter Gowland but I know
he is occupied with many other things. I
am wondering if there are others out there
shooting a Gowlandflex, and if so, whether
they might know how to adjust the view-
finder to align with the taking lens.

Sanders McNew
www.mcnew.net/portraits

[Vaughn]

Try calling him instead...

from his website:
----------
Alice and Peter Gowland
609 Hightree Road
Santa Monica, CA 90402

(310) 454-7867
(310) 454-6779

Best times to call are in the mornings during the regular Monday-Friday work week.

Both of the above telephone numbers are voice.

----------

It has been years, but I called and while Peter was about to walk out the door on an assignment, I talked to his wife and got my answer from Peter via her.

Vaughn

[dsphotog]

Hi Sanders,
Great work on your website!
When shooting close, all TLR's have vert. parallax issues ,
While I have never seen a Gowlandflex (sounds cool), I have used Mamiya c330's
They have a bar in the finder that shows the approx. top of the actual framing, of course if moves lower the closer you focus.
The earlier Mamiya C220 had reference marks on the focus screen to show the same.
Check your focus screen for possible reference marks?
Perhaps you could pencil mark the screen for different distances...
Hope this helps,
David Silva
Modesto, Ca

[David A. Goldfarb]

Did you give Peter Gowland your phone number? Presuming he's around and in good health (I haven't heard otherwise, but he is 91, after all) he'll call you. Really. Or call him as Vaughn suggests. He loves to talk with people using his cameras.

The camera is designed to be parallax corrected. I don't know how adjustable the parallax correction is, or if the cams are fixed for a certain focal length. He's always tweaked his cameras as he's developed them, so I suspect there are a lot of little differences from one camera to the next, but if you talk to him, he'll make sure your camera is up to date.

[Jeremy Moore]

Off Topic:

My first field camera was a Gowland Pocket 4x5 that was mixing a couple of pieces. I called Peter on the phone and he not only told me what to buy at the hardware store to replace the pieces, but also chatted with me for about 2 hours. Wonderful conversationalist.

[Sanders McNew]

I didn't call because I didn't want to intrude.
And I was hoping to see if there are others
out there who know something about the
Gowlandflexes, so we could pool resources
and knowledge about the cameras.

David, it is not a parallax problem. It happens
at all distances. It is a misaligned viewfinder.
The parallax-correction mask seems to be
working as it is meant to work.

Sanders

[Jeremy Moore]

Intrude, intrude! Peter loves to talk shop about his cameras.

[Peter De Smidt]

Yes, by all means give him a call. Just make sure to have some free time available :)

[Ash]

I would love to own a Gowlandflex so much. The new ones look so good.

I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it soon enough though!

[Ralph Barker]

I'm jealous, Sanders. I assume yours is a 4x5, rather than the 8x10 TLR model?

[John Schneider]

My Gowlandflex (also an early one: in black leatherette overall and no tilt), had a cardboard mask on the viewfinder that fit over a small metal tab. The metal tab was geared to the lens extension and moved the mask vertically to compensate for parallax at short subject-lens distances. So either yours is very early and lacks this mechanism, or a part or two is missing. I sold the camera this spring, otherwise I'd include pics.

I emailed Peter about a Pocket View part two days ago and he returned my email the following day, so he's around and answering emails. I'm sure he'll respond to you soon.

[ASRafferty]

Did you give Peter Gowland your phone number? Presuming he's around and in good health (I haven't heard otherwise, but he is 91, after all) he'll call you. Really. Or call him as Vaughn suggests. He loves to talk with people using his cameras.

I had a note from Alice in May, and they both sounded well... of all the people on the planet who should live forever, Peter and Alice are at the head of my list.