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Swift & Son | The Challenge | English | Quarter Plate

1891 | ENGLISH FIELD CAMERA Best known as lens manufacturers to the trade, Swift and Son advertised as camera makers only around the late 1880s-early 1890s. Their "Challenge" double-extension camera was reviewed in the "Photography Annual" of 1891 and is illustrated in Channing and Dunn, p.123. It is of dovetailed construction in Cuban mahogany, with an elegant circular, hollow tripod mount into which the lens fits when the camera is folded. Lizars, Adams and Swift all used the "Challenge" model name, and cameras are sometimes found with no other identification; luckily this one is labelled with "Swift and Son, 81, Tottenham Court Road, London WC.", so my collection now includes one "Challenge" labelled camera from each maker using this model name.

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