Newbie needs help with lenses for TLR

[feppe]

I'm new here (hi!), and am considering the Gowlandflex 4x5 TLR for portraits and glamour. I have and love my Mamiya C220 TLR, so I'm very familiar with how they work. But the large format... format poses unique challenges, and I'm unclear how they can be solved.

I understand lenses are mounted on lens boards for this camera. Since the lenses are mounted on two separate lens boards, I'd imagine the taking lens and the viewing lens could easily focus differently. Is there a way to adjust the focus point with a LF TLR? I'd imagine even with identical lenses, the focusing point might be different.

Also, I'd prefer longer than 300mm (I usually shoot portraits with a 135mm in 35mm format), but the Gowlandflex seems to focus with only up to 300mm lenses. Is this a limitation with the bellows?

[Gene McCluney]

As far as I understand this camera, the lenses are indeed mounted on boards, and I would imagine the calibration is done by Gowland before he ships. The focus is done by rack and pinion and both lenses are coupled with bellows to the camera and focus together. I "think" the viewing lens rides up and down on a cam to compensate for parallex.

[feppe]

Hmm, it didn't occur to me that it might come with lenses - that would make the cost much more reasonable. If it comes with a pair, I'm sure it's calibrated.

Yes, I believe the Glamour TLR has a built-in parallax correction, which sounds very nifty! My Mamiya has just a line on the GG which works perfectly fine for landscapes, but parallax becomes a problem with portraits with tight framing.

edit: found further down on his site (http://www.petergowland.com/camera/index.html): "Allow 4-6 weeks for manufacturing and lens fitting. Lenses must be supplied by customer as they are not included." So no, doesn't come with lenses, but Mr Gowland would calibrate the pair. I guess I should start looking for 300mm lenses, and perhaps figure out if it would accept longer lenses.

[Gene McCluney]

While the lenses are on separate boards, they mount to a common frame which is focused in and out, and the top lens shifts up and down to compensate for parralex. So once calibrated to the camera, the lenses do not focus separately.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Just about every given pair of lenses will have a slightly different focal length, thus the focus will not be identical. It's not too hard to make up for the difference by judicious shimming of one or the other. I would imagine that is what Mr. Gowland does for you. Medium format TLRs do that with an adjustable mount on the viewing lens. Because of this focal length phenomenon, Graflex had so many different focus scales for a given lens, I don't know if anyone has ever figured them all out. I hope this gives you some insight.

[Jim Graves]

Per their website, shoot them an email at: petergowland@earthlink.net

Or better yet ... they encourage phone calls: (310) 454-7867 or (310) 454-6779
[both are voice.] "Best times to call are in the mornings during the regular Monday-Friday work week."

[Frank Petronio]

300mm on 4x5 "feels" very long, more than 135mm on 6x6. As your film size goes up, the "traditional" portrait length goes down.

Also at portrait distances, the front extension would be quite long, making the camera difficult to handle, even on tripod.

You might want to start with 210mm lenses, as they are very common and the best value for your dollar. They are only a tad "past normal" but an awful lot of classic and commercial portraiture has been done with a 210mm on 4x5.