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1974: Gandolfi Brothers Handmade Cameras | Industrial Grand Tour | Making of... | BBC Archive
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10:19Now Playing"It's a bit of a worry until I get hold of a plane and the piece of wood - and then, all is peace."
The Kodak and the miniature camera may have transformed photography from the complex business of plate photography - as practised so magnificently by the Victorians - into the popular art form of today. Yet, even now, the fine hand-made plate camera is still the instrument of choice for the professional, and there is arguably none finer nor more desirable than the Gandolfi.
What might come as a surprise is that Gandolfi cameras are designed and manufactured by a pair of South London brothers - Fred and Arthur Gandolfi - in an unassuming Peckham workshop. The Gandolfi brothers are carrying on the legacy of their father, the late Louis Gandolfi, who started his camera making business in 1888.
This is a job requiring the highest levels of craftmanship, which Fred and Arthur demonstrate in this gently compelling documentary.
Clip taken from Industrial Grand Tour: The Camera Maker, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 29 July, 1974.
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