How to Carry Gowland Pocket View

I am a new owner of a very light Gowland Pocket View 4x5 (thanks FrankR!), that I intend to use on backpacking trips. I am curious how others have broken this camera down for carrying. I have a few soft sided cooler bags that I have used to pack my camera gear, and I suspect that I will continue to use those.
What have all you Gowland users found to be the best compromise between compact packing and quick setup?
Thanks all,
Mike

Not backpacking, but sometimes I've carried the Gowland set up and ready to shoot in a boxy but not too large hard leather case.

When I've taken it birding, I usually pull out the rail and put the camera in one pocket of my ScopePak (the other camera being a 35mm with 600/4.5), rail and maybe a lens and a couple of Grafmatics in another side pocket, or distributed among two pockets. Here's what the ScopePak looks like--



If you have a backpack with generous side pockets or that can take add-on pockets, something along these lines can work.

Another mode that I've used is to break it down this way and carry it in something like a Domke with a folding medium format rangefinder as a handheld camera.

You can use a really light tripod for this. For birding, I just use the big tripod that I'm carrying for the big lens. For travel, I have this little Linhof tripod with legs that snap out for very quick setup (the top legs have twist locks for adjustment) and a small Linhof ballhead with an Arca-style QR clamp.

My Gowland lens kit has usually been a 90/6.8 Angulon and 135 Symmar convertible or Caltar II-N (Sironar-N)--all three take 40.5mm filters or Linhof slip-on 42mm filters.

Thanks for the ideas David. I'll probably get a chance to try out some packing methods on a hike tomorrow.
I'm also planning on the 90/6.8 Angulon, but with a 150mm/6.3 Fujinon, and a 240/9 Germinar. I'm excited to see how it goes.

I have done extensive bicycling and backpacking with my Gowland (2x6" rails). I have a standard on each rail, seperate the rails, loosen the swings and fold it flat. I made an open-cell foam case for it, and slipped that into a water-proof stuff sack.

It is light enough to keep on the tripod while walking/hiking around if there are immeadiate photo opportunities. I did not do this on my 6-month bike trip over-seas, as a trip and fall would potentially ruin 5 years of saving money for the unique adventure...just too risky.

The set-up time was a bit longer, but it forced me to see better w/o the camera and worked well with my shooting style (less exposures with a higher return rate -- I exposed about 70 negatives on that 6-month trip and got a solid portfolio of 20 prints.)

If I remember right, your camera is very much like mine -- bail handle, very simple design. I love it...others hate it (an Ebony-user probably would look down his nose at it!)

Have fun!

Vaughn

Not to change the sujbect. I want to know, "how are you gettng the correct exposure using your Norman 200B on manual?

For the night shots on Halloween, I was using a 200C pack and GVI Vari-strobe on auto.

In the image where you see me with the 200B, manual LH2 head and tele-reflector, I'm using the strobe mainly as fill. I've tested it using all my diffusers and reflectors with a flash meter and with film and made an exposure table. I have a set of tables taped to the tele reflector and another table taped to one of the heads I usually use with other reflectors and diffusers. I determine the subject distance by looking at the focus scale on the lens.

Here's a shot I made in Central Park using the setup you see there with the strobe as fill--



That's a fairly accurate scan of the original 35mm slide, cropped a bit if I remember correctly. It has a bit of a "flashed" look from the fill being fairly close to the daylight, but the heron was in the shadows, and a longer exposure (for more sun as the main light) wouldn't have yielded a sharp image.

i left the gowland rail attached to tripod. The camera folds flat without the rail inserted. I wrapped the camera in a domke wrap and placed it in a square padded case.

The Gowland, roll back(s), extra lens, meter, etc. fit very nicely in one of the original white Zone VI bags, which occasionally turn up on EBay.