Gandolfi Variant 4x5 inches / Level III - Photo Gear (12)

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If I would shoot this self-portrait today, my face would be rather sad...

I am sad!

Checking up the web about the Gandolfi Variant, I came to understand that Gandolfi Cameras seems to have ceased production.

Bear in mind that the company was founded in 1885!
Sad news for the Large Format Photography world.

Not long ago, I still could order some lens panels and an adapter from Mr. Edward Hill. Lets hope that somebody out there decides to keep the flame alive.

Even in the United Kingdom tradition is no longer what it used to be...

Super Angulon 75mm + wide-angle Bellows + Horseman 6x12 roll film holder
(equivalent, in 4x5 inches, to 24mm in 35mm Photography)

Without focusing screen and with the 6x12 Horseman holder installed

Apo-Symmar 150mm + Linhof Rapid Rollex 6x7
(equivalent, in 4x5 inches, to 45mm in 35mm Photography)

Without bellows and without universal back + Apo-Symmar 150mm (zero position)

The Variant closed (with Apo-Symmar 150mm inside)

Symmar-S 210mm
(equivalent, in 4x5 inches, to 65mm in 35mm Photography)

Maybe you shouldn't try to photograph with such extreme movements: they only demonstrate the flexibility of the design.
Actually, you mostly just need minor adjustments for picture taking.

Schneider G-Claron 305mm
(equivalent, in 4x5 inches, to about 95mm in 35mm Photography)

Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 480mm
(equivalent, in 4x5 inches, to 145mm in 35mm Photography)

The Variant is (was...) made in various types (levels) and finishes.

Mine is made out of MDF (medium-density fibreboard, a resin bonded fibre with selected hardwood reinforcement), and offers, being a Level III, the most adjustments / movements that one can wish for this type of camera.
Obviously, it is the heaviest of the three possible Variant levels to choose from.

It is (was...) possible to convert and upgrade the different models and formats, all the way up to 8x10 inches.

Some people regard with a certain disdain the MDF version, prefering the looks of the walnut finish. As a "working horse", I think that the MDF material is very satisfactory: sturdy and stable, it surely is strong enough for the adventures one encounters on the road.
The black color is discreet and doesn't call the public attention (if that is possible to say about such a camera on a tripod...).

The Gandolfi Variant is without doubt a rather versatile piece of gear. It allows nearly the same adjustments, as the best studio monorail cameras (maybe I could use sometimes a little more rise capability, and I could wish a somewhat longer bellows to cope with even longer focal lengths, but that's about all!).

Let's hope to see someday these very fine cameras back in production...

I really dig them!

Yes, I will say it loud: Gandolfi forever!


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The Paris Sessions - March 1977 (The Minolta Years)

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In a way I still seem to believe on those words...

All my life I have felt like a kind of "cosmic clochard": I am nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

I am home wherever I feel at home!




























What do I have to say about these images?

I took them 34 years ago, how could I remember?

From my notations, I used a Minolta 303b for the snaps (my first serious camera, a true revelation after my Olympus Trip 35...).

I fed the apparatus with either Ilford HP5 or Kodak Tri-X, developed in Tetenal Emofin and in Kodak Perceptol 1+1, respectively.

From looking at the photographs, I would say that I have used my Minolta Rokkor 21mm, and most probably, also the Minolta Rokkor 80-200mm.

The rest are very vague memories.

The passion for Photography still remains...






Me at the end of the film, looking like a "Spiegelei".

I was so young and hopeful back then, I still had such a long road ahead...


Technical data:
Camera - Minolta SRT-303b
Lenses - Minolta Rokkor
Films - Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X
Developers - Tetenal Emofin + Kodak Perceptol 1+1
Location - Paris, France
Date - March 1977
Scanner - Epson Perfection 4990 Photo


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The River (Part 3) - Rio Tejo, Lisbon, September 1994

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Technical Data:
Camera - Hasselblad 500 C/M
Lenses - Carl Zeiss Distagon-C 3.5/60mm + Carl Zeiss Sonnar-C 4/150mm
Film - Kodak T-MAX 100
Developers - Kodak HC-110 + Tetenal Neofin Blau
Location - Lisbon, Portugal
Date - September 1994
Scanner - Epson Perfection 4990 Photo


XXXIV

Acho tão natural que não se pense
Que me ponho a rir às vezes, sozinho,
Não sei bem de quê, mas é de qualquer coisa
Que tem que ver com haver gente que pensa…

Que pensará o meu muro da minha sombra?
Pergunto-me às vezes isto até dar por mim
A perguntar-me coisas...
E então desagrado-me, e incomodo-me
Como se desse por mim com um pé dormente...

Que pensará isto de aquilo?
Nada pensa nada.
Terá a terra consciência das pedras e plantas que tem?
Se ela a tiver, que a tenha...
Que me importa isso a mim?
Se eu pensasse nessas coisas,
Deixaria de ver as árvores e as plantas
E deixava de ver a Terra,
Para ver só os meus pensamentos...
Entristecia e ficava às escuras.
E assim, sem pensar, tenho a Terra e o Céu.


Poemas de Alberto Caeiro – Obras completas de Fernando Pessoa
(Lisboa, Edições Ática, 1979), pp. 57


XXXIV

I find it so natural not to think
I start to laugh sometimes, all alone,
I don’t really know why, but it’s about something
To do with knowing there are people who think...

What is my wall thinking about my shadow?
I ask myself this sometimes until I notice
I’m asking myself things...
And then I get mad at myself, and feel uncomfortable
Like when my foot falls asleep...

What does this think about that?
Nothing thinks about anything.
Does the earth have consciousness of its stones and plants?
If it did, it would be people. . .
Why am I worrying about this?
If I think about these things,
I’ll stop seeing trees and plants
And stop seeing the Earth
For only seeing my thoughts...
I’ll get unhappy and stay in the dark.
And so, without thinking, I have the Earth and the Sky.

Translation from Fernando Pessoa: Alberto Caeiro: Complete Poems


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The River (Part 2) - Rio Tejo, Lisboa (October 1994)

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Technical data:
Camera – Rolleiflex 3.5F
Taking lens – Carl Zeiss Planar 75mm f/3.5
Film – Kodak T-Max 100
Film developers – Kodak HC-110 & Tetenal Neofin Blau
Location – Lisbon, Portugal
Date – October, 1994
Scanner – Epson Perfection 4990 Photo



Não basta abrir a janela
Para ver os campos e o rio.
Não é bastante não ser cego
Para ver as árvores e as flores.
É preciso também não ter filosofia nenhuma.
Com filosofia não há árvores: há idéias apenas.
Há só cada um de nós, como uma cave.
Há só uma janela fechada, e todo o mundo lá fora;
E um sonho do que se poderia ver se a janela se abrisse,
Que nunca é o que se vê quando se abre a janela.

Poemas Inconjuntos

Poemas de Alberto Caeiro - Obras Completas de Fernando Pessoa



It’s not enough to open the window
To see the fields and the river.
It’s also not enough to not be blind
To see the trees and the flowers.
It’s also necessary to not have any philosophy at all.
With philosophy there are no trees, there are only ideas.
There’s only each of us, like a wine-cellar.
There’s only a shut window and the world outside it;
And a dream of what you could see if you opened the window,
Which is never what you see when you open the window.

Detached Poems (1913-1915)

Fernando Pessoa: Alberto Caeiro: Complete Poems



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