It's nothing for a fierce discussion topic, we'd just thought we'd share this with y'all. (A little hapiness won't harm to counteract the general depression about Katrina).
We own a Pecoflex medium format SLR on a monorail. As the SLR housing is taking up quite a bit of space, we'd thought we'd get a wide angle bellows, so we can use a 150mm lens with movements. Now, as you might know, WA bellows for medium format view cameras are a hard find in general, let alone finding a Plaubel one. We'd figure what we need is the Peco Junior WA bellows, as this camera shares parts with the Pecoflex and with the Makiflex. No luck in months. So we broaden the search, as we are ready to contend with any medium format WA Bellows and adapt it to fit the Pecoflex. Finally, last week an Arca Swiss bellows shows up on eBay. Surprisingly enough, it looks like it could fit the Peco. We ask for measurements, and things are looking good. Even the lens boards would fit. Slowly suspicion creeps upon us. It might not be an Arca Swiss bellows, but in fact a Plaubel one. Even better. We buy it, with the garantee that we can return it if it doesn't fit (good seller).
Out of the box it went straight on the camera. Everything fits exactly as it should. Click, clack, shove, push and everything sits snuggly in place. We are convinced, 'it simply must be a Peco Junior bellows', even though there's no name on it. Only a small sticker with some numbers and letters scribbled in pen, starting with PX.
Hmm, PX....funny, same initials that are on the Pecoflex. Suspicion creeps up a little more... Could this be....and, yes, lo and behold! We bought a special Pecoflex Wide Angle Bellows. A Peco Junior WA Bellows would never have fit on this camera to start with. It sure was a stroke of pure luck to find this needle in the haystack! Needless to say, we wrote the seller an email asking if she happen to have more things with PX stickers on it. One never knows, perhaps she has more things we're looking for, like the special cable release that only fits on this camera and it's other sibling, the Makiflex.
We feel, sometimes the gods of photography make up for things that go wrong on other occasions. Anyone else ever feel that way?
We own a Pecoflex medium format SLR on a monorail. As the SLR housing is taking up quite a bit of space, we'd thought we'd get a wide angle bellows, so we can use a 150mm lens with movements. Now, as you might know, WA bellows for medium format view cameras are a hard find in general, let alone finding a Plaubel one. We'd figure what we need is the Peco Junior WA bellows, as this camera shares parts with the Pecoflex and with the Makiflex. No luck in months. So we broaden the search, as we are ready to contend with any medium format WA Bellows and adapt it to fit the Pecoflex. Finally, last week an Arca Swiss bellows shows up on eBay. Surprisingly enough, it looks like it could fit the Peco. We ask for measurements, and things are looking good. Even the lens boards would fit. Slowly suspicion creeps upon us. It might not be an Arca Swiss bellows, but in fact a Plaubel one. Even better. We buy it, with the garantee that we can return it if it doesn't fit (good seller).
Out of the box it went straight on the camera. Everything fits exactly as it should. Click, clack, shove, push and everything sits snuggly in place. We are convinced, 'it simply must be a Peco Junior bellows', even though there's no name on it. Only a small sticker with some numbers and letters scribbled in pen, starting with PX.
Hmm, PX....funny, same initials that are on the Pecoflex. Suspicion creeps up a little more... Could this be....and, yes, lo and behold! We bought a special Pecoflex Wide Angle Bellows. A Peco Junior WA Bellows would never have fit on this camera to start with. It sure was a stroke of pure luck to find this needle in the haystack! Needless to say, we wrote the seller an email asking if she happen to have more things with PX stickers on it. One never knows, perhaps she has more things we're looking for, like the special cable release that only fits on this camera and it's other sibling, the Makiflex.
We feel, sometimes the gods of photography make up for things that go wrong on other occasions. Anyone else ever feel that way?
