John Alfred Prestwich (1874-1952) founded the Prestwich Manufacturing Company in 1895. He was an engineer of outstanding ability who constructed some of the finest cinematographic cameras during the last few years of the nineteenth century. He is best remembered today outside of film circles for the JAP motorcycle engine which takes its name from his initials. He collaborated with William Friese Greene, another film pioneer, to make a camera and projecter that reduced flicker.

The Prestwich Model 4 was one of four different models introduced in 1898. It was constructed on an entirely different principle from previous cameras. It was equipped with the newly patented claw movement (patent no. 17,831 of 1898) and had a single centrally-placed sprocket, moving continuosly and acting as a combined feed and take-up sprocket, a function generally performed until then by an upper and lower sprocket. John Barnes describes it as a beautifully made high precision instrument which could also serve as a printer. It had a film capacity of 500ft, the magazines could be detached and attached in daylight, focussing was directly through the film, and was so advanced in design that it was the pride of the company who featured it predominently in most of their advertising.