$69 eBay Bellows

[graywolf]

Well, the Chinese bellows arrived and the glue is drying.

I posted about it on my blog Toyo-View-45g-Bellows-3/

Tomorrow I will get to play with the camera, finally. It has only taken me 60 years to come up with a working view camera. In some ways that is misleading because I have had a couple of Graphics and a Super Technika, but I first wanted a monorail camera back in 1962. At the moment I only have stuff from my Crown Graphic to use with it, but that does give me a head start.

With the factory bellows costing about $400 it remains to be seen how well the Chinese one at less than 20% the price will work. I will report my findings.

 

[zsas]

Looks good! I don't own a LF so forgive my ignorance but what does this mean, "...Rube Goldberg rear adjuster in that photo."? Is it those levels I see?

 

[agfarapid]

Rube Goldberg was this madcap cartoonist/inventor of the '50's who hilariously made simple contraptions hideously complex. Try to imagine a steam powered abacus for example, or 15 trained parrots moving your film in your Nikon instead of a motor drive... You get the picture. Goldberg basically satirized our fascination with the “automated everything” of that era. Hope this helps.

 

[zsas]

Opps, should have been more clear, I know who Rube is, I don't see what he Rube'd on the back of the camera? Looks normal from what little I know about LF cameras?

 

[Klainmeister]

BTW, went to your blog and saw the CISS for the 1400. Great friggen idea...I've been thinking about my cartridges and the cost....

Awesome looking bellows too!

 

[Pioneer]

Chinese Bellows

I picked up one of these for my Cambo 8x10 large format camera and finished glueing everything together yesterday. Mine was closer to $169 but I figured that it was still a darned good deal. Right now I am impressed with the results. I bought the camera at a good price but had to replace the bellows. Now that I have finished the old girl looks almost brand new. I have some Ilford FP4 Plus in a few film backs to shoot in the next day or so to see how well my repair job turns out.

 

[Steve Smith]

Rube Goldberg was this madcap cartoonist/inventor of the '50's who hilariously made simple contraptions hideously complex.

And here is the English version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson


Steve.

 

[graywolf]

Looks good! I don't own a LF so forgive my ignorance but what does this mean, "...Rube Goldberg rear adjuster in that photo."? Is it those levels I see?

If you look at the rail adjuster on the rear standard you will see that it is an Allen wrench and a capscrew instead of the fancy plastic one like on the front standard. However, that is far nicer than the long bolt, stacks of washers, and wing nut that was on it when I received the camera. Parts are available but one of those levels you see, for example, which needs replacing would cost me about $60 shipped, while you can buy an accessory shoe level from China for a couple of bucks. Also, since I drilled out and tapped the stripped hole for the adjuster, then fitted a 3/8 to 1/4 tripod reducer in it, I could not even use the factory parts anymore. I will eventually replace the Allen wrench & capscrew with an adjustable handle screw. Those are fairly cheap, but the only places I can find to order one charge $9-10 shipping. However, $12-15 for a part that will look like it is a modification to make the adjustment quicker and easier to use rather than a cheap repair is probably reasonable. Of course the proper thing to do is find a good used rear standard and replace that one. If you browse back through the posts about the camera on my blog you will see some of the other things that are wrong with that rear standard.

 

[zsas]

Ahhhhh makes sense, outstanding info, and great MacGyver skills!

You have done such a great job getting her back in order! Do bump this thread when you get a scan of a perfect neg/chrome or whichever you use!

 

[graywolf]

I finally did some test shots, the new bellows seems to be working perfectly. My darkroom skills are not so good (Actually, I tried a couple of new things in the processing and got streaky mottled water splotched negatives for the effort.

 

[zsas]

Congrats on the transplant! Glad to hear you got it going! Hope you find your mojo in the DR again...