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Old 28th September 2019, 01:47 PM
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Default Any Gandolfi experts out there?

I have just acquired an almost mint Gandolfi Universal, dating from around 1900-1920, stamped with Louis Gandolfi's name inside. It has a perfectly good original Ross Xpress 6 inch f4.5 lens with no shutter, plus original Gandolfi dark slides.

It has provenance going back to its early years as the sole camera used by the University of Cambridge's Sedgwick Museum and Department of Geology photographer Albert Barlow in the early to mid 20th century. His successor bought it from the University when the department finally closed its photo unit, around the same time all the other in-house University photography departments were closed down (I used to work for one of them in the 1970s). I have bought it from him.

I am in the process of restoring it as it's a bit grubby having been been packed away for over 20 years unused. It has a new bellows, fitted some time ago, but is original in every way, including the lens.

I know my way around most large format cameras but can't quite work out what the two knurled knobs on the top of the rear standard are meant to do (see photo). Does anyone happen to know?

My initial thought that they were to lock and release the swing back, but they appear not to do this as the back still swings whether they are loose or tightened.

Can anyone help out?
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Old 28th September 2019, 02:29 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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Perhaps they are for attaching something like a viewfinder frame?
Alex


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Old 28th September 2019, 02:44 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is online now
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They allow the back to be moved to differing positions, there should be rods that have a plate at the end that locates under a brass strip either side of the track bed. You'd need to move the back forward for a WA lens.

On field cameras the same system is sometimes used on front standards.

What format, quarter plate or 5x4 ? That's based on a 6'' lens maybe it's larger . : : :

Ian

Last edited by Lostlabours; 28th September 2019 at 02:52 PM.
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Old 28th September 2019, 07:06 PM
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Roy, shutters aren't an issue I restore Thornton Pickard roller blind shutters and they can work well.

I've just restored an 1880's camera for someone and tested the TTH Cooke triplet with a TP shutter initially on a DSLR and then on the field camera with HP5 and results are excellent .

With some of my wood/brass cameras I've made adapters to use either a roll film holder or modern DDS. For a Houghton Victo quarter plate camera I made an adapter to use a Graflex RH10 - 6x7 roll film holder.

The restoration mentioned earlier has a 5x4 adapter and plate/film holders. It pays to be practical.

Ian
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Old 30th September 2019, 04:13 PM
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On removing the rear standard from the guide rails it was immediately obvious where the problem lay.
The rods that go from top to bottom of the rear standard are made of steel and were well and truly rusted. The expansion of the rust against the mahogany meant that there was absolutely no freedom to move at all, so the rear standard could not be locked in place along the rails.

After applying a small amount of WD40 and leaving overnight, I was able to gently tap the threaded end with a soft hammer and gradually free them enough to get a grip on the locking plate sufficient to twist back and forth until they started to move. They put up quite a fight!

The first two photographs show what I found...

The third shows one rod after restoration next to the one still to be done.


I also took the opportunity to restore the brass guide rails while I was at it. No signs of wear and they come up as new (Last photo - left side: before; right side: after).

The rear standard now locks in place perfectly and I marvel at the design ingenuity that allows this simple mechanism to provide a reasonable degree of back swing as well.
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Old 30th September 2019, 04:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lostlabours View Post
What format, quarter plate or 5x4 ? That's based on a 6'' lens maybe it's larger . : : :

Ian
Forget to mention, it is a half plate camera, with reducing inserts in the dark slides for quarter plate and 2½x3½ plates.

I used to have quite a lot of quarter-plate film inserts for use in plate cameras but foolishly disposed of them a while ago - now looking to replace! I do still have a few 2½x3½ ones though so can at least use the camera.
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Old 30th September 2019, 07:56 PM
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The rod system works better with backs on tail board camera like this one than with front standards on field cameras.

Tail board cameras typically have a fixed front standard and a re-positional rear standard on the focus rail, (this is for the benefit of others Roy).

Most US pre WWII LF cameras are based on tail board cameras, some companies copied British field cameras before WWI but
only Deardorff continued this until it's very recent demise.

The Continental equivalent of Roy's Gandolfi camera is the Reiskamera mostly made in Germany, the name is the style of camera, this style of camera continued into the 1990's with FKD in Russia.

Tail board cameras were mostly used for copying and portraits, they typically have few movements.

Ian
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