Gandolfi Website.

[Keith Tapscott.]

I have Googled for the Gandolfi website, but keep getting a page error.
Is anyone else having the same result?

 

[Bob F.]

The domain has [edit: NOT] expired (presumably by accident)...

Domain Name: GANDOLFICAMERAS.COM
Name Server: DNS1.WEBTAPESTRY.NET.UK
Name Server: DNS.UK.WEBTAPESTRY.NET
Name Server: DNS.NL.WEBTAPESTRY.NET
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 26-sep-2007
Creation Date: 25-sep-2001
Expiration Date: 25-sep-2008

Bob.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

Thanks Bob.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Bob- according to that, it doesn't expire for another year. Perhaps their ISP is having issues.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

I wanted to see what a 4x5 Variant Level 3 cost.

 

[Bob F.]

Bob- according to that, it doesn't expire for another year. Perhaps their ISP is having issues.

Whoops - need my eyes (or possibly something else in that general area) tested! I'll edit...

Possibly they left it a bit late and it will take time for their ISP to reinstate them. DNS is saying no IP address available.

Ta, Bob.

 

[geoff billett]

The Gandolfi website is still down. I telephoned Linhof studio several weeks ago, having noticed that they no longer advertise Gandolfi for sale. I was told that several orders placed by Linhof had not been fulfilled by Gandolfi and the decision to stop selling them was a business decision based on lack of confidence. I own 2 Gandolfi large format cameras; does anyone know whether they are still trading?

 

[Peter Black]

I was looking for it myself just in the past hour or so, but no luck. The business is/was run by Edward Hill and his contact details are on the Contact page at the site below. If you do get in touch with him, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would wish to hear how things are for the future of Gandolfi.

http://www.edd.me.uk/

 

[Ian Grant]

The Gandolfi site is back up and running . . . .

 

[geoff billett]

Good news. Despite having 2 Gandolfi cameras they are both second hand and 50 years old each. I retire in 4 years and will be looking to buy into a new probably 7x5 camera. I wish Gandolfi was better marketed and commercially upbeat; my interest is shifting to Canham for both lightness and its modular design. The current resurgence in LF photography looks to be passing Gandolfi by; it needs to compete or it will surely die.

 

[Ole]

My second (or third-) hand ex government 7x5" Gandolfi Traditional is a great little camera, combining the light weight of a wooden camera with a stability only found in heavy metal cameras like Linhof Technika.

I fear that if you buy any other camera after using a Gandolfi, you will be disappointed.

I'm also the second owner and probably first user of an 8x10" Traditional. It seems to have been on display only since Fred and Arthur Gandolfi made it as one of the last before they retired.

 

[geoff billett]

Dear Ole

I have handled a Canham ( recently went on a workshop with Tillman Crane in Orkney and handled Tillman's Canham) and enjoyed it. It was light, modern and functional. Apparently Keith Canham is very responsive to problems and repairs are rapidly done. I have long wanted a new Variant but am now reconsidering.

In contrast, Gandolfi seem presently unresponsive, its website looks dated, its second-hand equipment page has demonstrated the same kit for months now, the home page with its photograph of the Gandolfi Bros in 1950 suggests it is trading on past laurels; it just seems it is passively inviting trade with its existing client group who know its virtues, rather than enticing over new converts ie Gandolfi virgins

There should be a historical context somewhere in the website but not at the beginning. The beginning should, in my view anyway, be promoting its modern significance and advantages over super new cameras such as Shen Hao, Canham, Ebony etc which are stealing its market place. Gandolfi is not presently even competing in the market place.

I have taken my 10x8 traditional to Edward's house ( it is only 60 miles away from where I live ) and collected it again 1 week later following a service. Edward is a great guy. It is a cottage industry. Edward's interest and support for Gandolfi competes with his other engineering work which, I guess, really earns him money.

Where is his commercial outlet now? I know of no major dealer who promotes new Gandolfi cameras whereas it should be pride of place at Robert Whites; the crown jewels of English traditional camera design and manufacture.

Without this restructuring and investment the website ( and business) will be only a token to wonderful second hand cameras and Eddie will become increasingly difficult to contact and our cameras will become essentially museum pieces with no relevance to large format film photography as the 21st Century unfolds.

Roger Hicks tries his best to promote them. I can remember several articles he wrote about them in one incarnation of Camera and Darkroom I think ( the Ed Buziak magazine in the mid 1990s ). Why are articles not appearing in Black and White Photography, or Amateur Photographer who are quick to spread the Ebony gospel a la Jo Cornish.

Just some thoughts on Gandolfi 2007 with a newly restored, but greatly reduced, website. Perhaps Eddie is reworking it as we speak