Gandolfi whole plate camera

[Antanas-Lukosevicius]

I posted these on the APUG site, but thought they may be of interest here too. There are more on that forum.

Hi
here are some jpegs of my Gandolfi Whole Plate camera which I bid fanatically for on a well known auction site. It belonged to a commercial photographer who had lots of funny stories about life as a photographer in the 1950's. He bought the camera from the Gandolfis in 1958 in delightful Peckham, London, notable for being where William Blake saw an angel once..... Anyway, it works, is used, but not abused, and a joy I must say. I cannot stretch to the 8000 dollars + for a new Ebony(!). It has a lot of movements and is very solid and smooth to use. Much more sophisticated than my Kodak 2D and Korona 5x7 cameras. It also comes with a fine 5x4 back made especially by Gandolfi and is also only 3.5 inches think when folded up. Lastly, it is not heavy at all. Thought people would be interested given the current flurry of interest in whole plate. I'll upload some images taken with it soon, just waiting for the multi-million expensive film holders to come.............
So there you have it.
Anton

[Sandeha]

Very nice, too. Looks like you've got a good set of bellows there as well.

I've repaired, but will soon be replacing, the bellows on this whole plate Houghton Triple Victo. However, having just received a quote for a little over GBP200, I think I'll be making my own again !!

www.sandehalynch.com/restoration.htm

[Rob_5419]

Ooh - so that was you!

Guess you're fortunate we didn't all bid in for that too. Looks really beautiful although not as mint as mint of course.

My half-plate Gandolfi is just under 2kg - I find this heavy enough to carry around with the half-plate film holders so it didn't leave the country with me on vacation.

There is the cheaper Chamonix whole plate option which would look very much at home complementing your Gandolfi.

Welcome to the forum

[audioexcels]

Ooh - so that was you!

Guess you're fortunate we didn't all bid in for that too. Looks really beautiful although not as mint as mint of course.

My half-plate Gandolfi is just under 2kg - I find this heavy enough to carry around with the half-plate film holders so it didn't leave the country with me on vacation.

There is the cheaper Chamonix whole plate option which would look very much at home complementing your Gandolfi.

Welcome to the forum

Awwww...come on now...I certainly plan to take my 2.5kg WP w/4X5 reducer on travels and hikes with me

Then again, 1/2 plate isn't quite the same image size to remember a trip by as is the Full plate contact eh?

[Rob_5419]

Mike,

3 weeks holiday in Bordeaux with 4x5" kit was hard as it is. Not just photographic kit I had to bring. You realise in Europe, we more or less have to check EVERYTHING in for the flight, except for a tiny little handbag which we can take on the plane? That space went for all the 4x5" film and lenses.

It wasn't so bad with 4x5" - we did the vineyard/coastal walk routes. It's harder work without a car. Every kg counts. It makes more sense to do the whole plate thing imho. The wife likes to bring her sketch pad and paints so we pretty much have a full travel kit. Next year it's just going to be a camper van.

I'm on the list for a Chamonix WP in 6 months already. So what's happening now that you've learnt Nagaoka no longer sell second-hand WP cameras anywhere in the world?

[audioexcels]

Mike,

3 weeks holiday in Bordeaux with 4x5" kit was hard as it is. Not just photographic kit I had to bring. You realise in Europe, we more or less have to check EVERYTHING in for the flight, except for a tiny little handbag which we can take on the plane? That space went for all the 4x5" film and lenses.

It wasn't so bad with 4x5" - we did the vineyard/coastal walk routes. It's harder work without a car. Every kg counts. It makes more sense to do the whole plate thing imho. The wife likes to bring her sketch pad and paints so we pretty much have a full travel kit. Next year it's just going to be a camper van.

I'm on the list for a Chamonix WP in 6 months already. So what's happening now that you've learnt Nagaoka no longer sell second-hand WP cameras anywhere in the world?

Hehehehehe...well...I do things the good old antique way, and put backs onto them...well...I do not do the backs stuff...I leave that to the maestro man Scott!!

I gave up on my search for Toho or Nagaoka 8X10. I talk to people and they say, "sure, I can find one"...they say, I have to go on a trip for a couple of days and will get back with you...after that, I contact again, and there's no further response. So I keep contacting...nothing....They are out there, I just decided it was time to forget about finding one and stick with the plan of having the Whole Plate, 4X5 and 8X10 extension back on the good ole India based cam...

[Bill_1856]

As soon as i hit the lottery, I'll have Gandolfi build me a brother for it. It's beautiful! Congratulations!

[Ole Tjugen]

Gandolfis are nice, aren't they?

I don't have a whole-plate one, but I do have a 7x5" and a 10x8" Traditional. And a 5x4" reduction back for the big one, and an incomplete whole-plate back too. And another incomplete 7x5" back for it...

The 7x5" one was bought as a replacement for a 13x18 Linhof Technika III, which got the weight down by several kilos without losing rigidity. Then when a 10x8" one turned up on ebay I couldn't help myself.