Work in progress: Ultralight 4X5 build, with Carbon Fiber + 3D printed plastic

[DDrake]

Very cool! I own a Gowland PocketView. Specs look similar, tho my Gowland only has a bellows extension of 300mm. My Gowland checks in at 1.15 kg with a 150mm lens on it.

One thing I noticed is that one needs a solid tripod with such a light camera. I used a lightweight carbon fiber tripod (<2 kg) and extra care was needed not to move the whole set-up accidently. I prefer to use one with the weight of an old Gitzo Reporter (5 to 7 pounds...2.3 to 3.2 kg). But the light weight of the camera makes a ballhead a good choice.

1.15 kg including lens seems very light. Never seen a Gowland PocketView in person, but looking at images online, it looks like one way size/weight is optimized is making the back not much bigger than the film holder. Is that correct? And, if so, can the back still be rotated between landscape and portrait?

How rigid is the Gowland? One issue I'm noticing with my camera is flexure in the horizontal members of the standards (the bits that attach to the focusing sliders). Needs re-engineering to be more of a truss and less of a plank. Carbon fiber's stiff, but not that stiff. Also intrigued by the tubular vertical members in the Gowland and (I believe) some Calumets. Using 8 or 9mm CF tube for a similar design might be interesting.

[DDrake]

Just a question about those magnets - I'd think that they'd need to be pretty powerful to inspire confidence while inserting/removing dark slides (which can, depending on age/condition of holders, present a bit resistance). With this in mind, have you verified that the act of removing a particularly stubborn dark slide would never cause a light leak?

Also...given that these magnets are powerful - can you pull the back off to change (Horiz/Vert) orientation without affecting/changing back adjustments? Seems that with such a light camera this might be an issue, further indicating the use of mechanical (not magnetic) means of securing the back.

Or perhaps you've incorporated some sort of lever lift mechanism to facilitate smooth detachment? Just curious!

Good questions.

Magnet strength: about 2.5# max pull each X 8--back is being held by about 20# total pull, plus light trap keeps back from sliding up, down, or sideways. The springs holding the film holder are a lot weaker than the magnets--so far, I haven't noticed any issue loading film holders or pulling dark slides.

Pulling off the back: Biggest issue at the moment is there isn't much to grip--it takes some effort to get the back off, and there's not much finger purchase. Worried I may drop the back at some point. It *is* likely pulling the back off will affect back adjustments, but I figure deciding on orientation would be one of the first steps, with focusing and movements likely coming after.

Lever is a good idea--the Mk II version I'm designing now will have a rotating back, with magnets locking orientation at 90° intervals--no need to pull the back off to change orientation. In the meantime, some fabric pull tabs added to current version might be an easy fix for the grip/purchase problem.

FWIW, there at least two commercially available cameras I know of that use some sort of magnetic attachment system for the back.

Thanks for looking!

[Audii-Dudii]

So I'm curious about where things as of today, more than six months later:

Are you using the camera or did you decide view cameras aren't for you?

If you are using it, do you have any plans to improve it or at least better tailor it to your personal taste and preference or are you happy enough with it as-is?

Inquiring minds need to know!

P.S.: I'm in the finishing stages of my latest camera project and will probably post something about it here in the next few days or perhaps next week ... stay tuned!