Lawrence had this camera built for him in late 1910, initially to take high-quality photographs of crusader castles. He used it throughout the Carchemish excavations.

In recent biographies there has been much ill-informed speculation about this possession of a telephoto lens. It has been suggested that there was no need for this in his work, and that he used it for secret Intelligence operations. In reality a lens of this kind is essential for architectural photography, as without one many inaccessible details of construction and decoration could not be recorded. Such lenses are also commonly used in archaeology to take undistorted photographs of small objects.

The camera has a rising and vertical swing lens-panel, used to correct converging parallels in architectural photography and in many other applications. There is a reflex viewfinder on the base board, and a ball-bearing levelling device with a metal plumb line. The shutter is timed for speeds from 1 to 1/250 of a second. The five lenses (four by Dallmeyer and one by Ross) include a wide angle and a telephoto.

Main camera body: 15 x 16 x 10

Case inscribed : Property of T. E. Lawrence, Pole Hill, Chingford, Essex.

Provenance: Given by A. W. Lawrence, 1969.