Camera set up for hiking

[Vaughn]

My Gowland PocketView 4x5 is the same idea, but a monorail metal version weighing 2.5 pounds with the Caltar II-N 150/5.6 on it.

Hiking with it on the tripod with a shoulder bag for the holders and meter is a sweet way to work. A close friend, photo teacher and photographer once told me that carrying the camera on the tripod was worth the risk. In changing light, the ability to set up very quickly can make the difference between getting the image or not....and if the image is worth it and will result in sales..it will pay for a new camera (or repairs) if needed. An interesting viewpoint -- and one I do not follow if I am overseas and I can not immediate repair or replace the camera...but often do locally.

[John Layton]

I also have a Gowland Pocket View. Great little camera!

Now to address Tin Can's question about the Minimalist camera infinity stops:

To begin…I cut the front focus “slot,” which runs from just in front of the quick release plate and extends to a out 3/4 inch from the front end of the bottom “rail.” Then, with front standard mounted to this rail and the back/bellows assembly resting loose on top of the rear of the rail, I pulled the front standard back against the rear of the focus slot…while using a machinist’s square held at the rear of the lower front standard crosspiece to hold it square with the focus rail and locking it in place with the front lower thumbscrew. Making sure this squareness was maintained, I then drew a witness mark into the top of the focus rail, using the front bottom edge of the front standard crosspiece as the straight edge. I drew the mark using a fine point pen, with enough hand pressure to make a “dent” in the wood of the rail.

Then, with the front focus securely locked at the witness mark, I mounted a 90mm lens and slowly moved the film/focussing back, while holding the machinists square agains the lower mount of the focus back to keep it square with the rear rail…until infinity (something far away) came into focus. At this point I very carefully held this focus while drawing a witness mark across the rear of the bottom film back mount. This mark would then become the rear line defining a slot that I would rout across the rear rail, this slot being exactly wide enough to hold the film back mount firmly.

I repeated the above procedure with my 150mm lens, then my 210mm, using the same front witness mark described above. I could not use this front witness mark for the 305mm lens (as the rail does not extend rearward far enough), so I simply created a locating shelf at the rear of the rail and secured the back to this, while bringing the 305 into infinity focus, again with the use of the machinist’s square…finally drawing a witness mark on the front focus rail to use exclusively with this lens.

After creating the rear slots, I carefully created centered holes in each, which, in combination with a 1/4” threaded brass insert installed in the bottom of the film back, facilitate firmly fastening the rear standard to a chosen slot.

A further change (not indicated in the photos). I wanted to create a rear slot for use of the 120mm (SA) lens - but being so close to the 150 slot, I simply enlarged the 150 slot forward, so that the front edge of this defined infinity for the 120. Separate locking holes then hold the film back firmly at the chosen location.

Yet another change was to create further front witness marks for 90, 120, and 150mm lenses - indicating 12 and 6 feet distance (in addition to the original infinity mark…in anticipation of occasional handheld use with these focal lengths. I used different color pens for this, each matched to a specific lens to avoid confusion.

Planned changes/additions: I do plan to fabricate a couple of additional focus rails - a “shorty” version for use with 90/120/150mm lenses, a “stretch” version in anticipation of a future 450mm lens, and a folding focus rail which will facilitate quicker setup/breakdown of the camera. Finally, I’d like to replace the rather stiff bellows with something a bit more supple. As is, the bellows is quite mashed together when the 90mm lens is focussed at infinity.

Hope this helps!

[Vaughn]

Don't know why I did not see that yours is a 5x7. My present 5x7 is an Eastman View No.2 which I use the same way as the 4x5. A lighter version would be sweet. Not many Gowland 5x7s out there...and my wood-working skills are not up to making something as sweet as your 5x7!

[Tin Can]

John, Thank you for detailed explanation!

I hope many see this and try it

I plan to make one for a single lens first, baby steps

There is great joy in DIY

[Greg]

I have hiked with other photographers who have carried their cameras mounted on tripods carried over their shoulder. Once when hiking up wet gorge rocks just south of Rochester NY, my friend slipped and "totaled" his Bronica S2a. Years later I was walking carrying my Sinar mounted on my tripod over my shoulder in the middle of a field. Stepped into a hidden woodchuck? hole and tripped from my balance being top heavy. When the camera and tripod hit the ground, fortunately the GG back did get detached, but amazingly no damage. Just yesterday was hiking down a wet muddy trail (forgot my walking stick) wearing a photo backpack and slipped and skidded a couple of times but always caught my balance. With having both arms and hands free, was able to avoid falling down. With a lot of the trails I take require scrambling (3rd and 4th class in places), it just wouldn't make sense to carry a camera and tripod over my shoulder. In a park many a time I have and still do carry a tripod with camera attached over my shoulder. No universal rule of thumb here for sure.

[Vaughn]

For sure! Fortunately I can one-hand the tripod and camera with no problem, which makes it easier to walk on un-even ground with. But it does limit ones mobility in certain situations.

Hiking down on one of Zion's trails I hear a strange metal clunk behind me -- the lens (on a matboard lensboard) had fallen off behind me and hit a rock (nothing by rock around -- at least it did not end up bouncing the couple thousand feet to the canyon floor!). Bent the rear of the lens (straighten with pliers) and it is still good to go. I duct-taped the lensboard onto the front standard after that...actually gaffer's tape. I used it last week in Yosemite. I tend to carry the camera lens-down to reduce the strain on the back's springs.

[Greg]

Hiking down on one of Zion's trails I hear a strange metal clunk behind me -- the lens (on a matboard lensboard) had fallen off behind me and hit a rock (nothing by rock around -- at least it did not end up bouncing the couple thousand feet to the canyon floor!). Bent the rear of the lens (straighten with pliers) and it is still good to go. I duct-taped the lensboard onto the front standard after that...actually gaffer's tape. I used it last week in Yosemite. I tend to carry the camera lens-down to reduce the strain on the back's springs.

Wasn't so lucky one time on a steep section of a trail in lower western Mass. Took my 135mm lens off the camera and placed it on a rock next to me. Next thing I heard was it "clinking" down the steep scree slope... Wasn't worth hiking down to recover it, it had to have fallen and bounced for 200 feet plus. Photo Gaffer's tape always an absolute necessity to carry. One time even helped out a passing hiker whose water bottle had sprung a leak.

[Vaughn]

And I usually have a few rounds of electrical tape around one of the tripod legs of my old Gitzos...came in handy when one of the legs snapped off at the threads. (I exceeded the weight limit). I had the lens cap of my meter bounce down the cliff face at Pinnacles National Monument (now Park) -- I hate littering.

[Drew Wiley]

Don't feel guilty, Vaugh - some climber probably found that lens cap handy as a malleable piton or chock; at least it's stronger than using the usual beercan pop-tops. But I do like the colored chalk rule at Pinnacles if climbers must be allowed to do their thing. And now there a few California condors around to clean up the climbers whose pop-tops or lenscap innovations failed.

[Vaughn]

The colored chalk rule has been around for awhile -- was required the last time I photographed there in the late '80s.

One must deal with hardware left in the rocks everywhere these days...Yosemite, of course, but even in some of the rocks down along our coast here in NoCal. One can usually point the camera up a little to exclude the skeletons of the no-so-good climbers.