Replacing Rittreck 5x7 bellows

My Rittreck's bellows have seen better days. I could patch the few holes but more will form, and I'd prefer to just replace them. Chinese made bellows are available inexpensively on eBay, so thats not a problem, but before I order, I'm trying to figure out what installation looks like to ensure I have what I need to perform the instllation. If anyone has done this themselves I'd love to hear details. What I think I've figured out so far is this:

• As best as I can tell the rear is just going to be a simple cut, scape and glue. I can't see and evidence of clamping pieces holding the rear bellows in place, but I assume I'll see better once I cut most of the old bellows off.

• On the other hand the front of the bellows is attached to a square metal plate, with cut corners. There seem to be flat metal clamping plates to two sides (top and bottom) that are attached to the square plate by three screws, and clamp a part of the bellows between the main plate and the clamping plate. The problem at the moment is that I can seem to access the heads of the screws because they're hidden between the main plate and the lens board mounting frame on the standard. If I loosen the rise/fall knobs, I can rise the entire frame off the standard and the frame can then rotate infinitely, but I cant figure out how to disconnect the bellows plate from the frame. I need to know how to remove that plate from the frame/standard?

thanks.

I did this more than 20 years ago. If I remember well, it's all glued. I bought bellows fron Japan with a front plate already glued to the bellows (you had to send in your plate afterwards). So there were only some tiny scews to unscrew, take the plate off and rescrew the new one. If you unscrew your plate, you can have a look if it's feasable without destroying anything.

The back part is just glued. It took some time to get all glue and material off the frame. You will need quite some clamps to hold the bellows in place until the glue has dried. I cut myself 4 pieces of wood that fitted tightly into the frame, put the glue, the bellows and the pieces of wood and then put the clamps and waited until dry and hardened. 20 years later the bellows are still fine.

Thanks for the details! Do you remember how you disconnected the front plate from the front standard? I can’t for the life of me figure out how.

As far as I remember, there was no trick. I cut the bellows off the rear, then I took the front standard off the camera (by sliding it up and taking it off) and I unscrewed the plate which then came off. But it should be possible to unscrew the plate with the camera back off without cutting the bellows. Sorry, this is long ago...

No worries, it does help--it means I have to look closer.

abruzzi said:

My Rittreck's bellows have seen better days. I could patch the few holes but more will form, and I'd prefer to just replace them. Chinese made bellows are available inexpensively on eBay, so thats not a problem, but before I order, I'm trying to figure out what installation looks like to ensure I have what I need to perform the instllation. If anyone has done this themselves I'd love to hear details. What I think I've figured out so far is this:

• As best as I can tell the rear is just going to be a simple cut, scape and glue. I can't see and evidence of clamping pieces holding the rear bellows in place, but I assume I'll see better once I cut most of the old bellows off.

• On the other hand the front of the bellows is attached to a square metal plate, with cut corners. There seem to be flat metal clamping plates to two sides (top and bottom) that are attached to the square plate by three screws, and clamp a part of the bellows between the main plate and the clamping plate. The problem at the moment is that I can seem to access the heads of the screws because they're hidden between the main plate and the lens board mounting frame on the standard. If I loosen the rise/fall knobs, I can rise the entire frame off the standard and the frame can then rotate infinitely, but I cant figure out how to disconnect the bellows plate from the frame. I need to know how to remove that plate from the frame/standard?

thanks.

Click to expand...

I've done the Rittreck bellows replacement twice in the past few years on two different Rittrecks. These are really useful and affordable 5x7 field cameras.

The off the shelf bellows work fine assuming careful positioning when you are gluing the new bellows.

It will be important to remove the screws holding the the front plate as part of initial bellows disassembly and then remove the small metal; bellows front plate from the front standard.

IIRC, when you start attaching the bellows, first glue the removed front plate on to the bellows, but do not mount on the front standard at this time. Then glue the rear of the bellows to the camera in the normal manner.

After everything has set, you can then reattach the front plate to the front standard using the same screws.

Also, IIRC, the rear of the ready-made Rittreck bellows may be a bit small, so be really careful to position them correctly to avoid misalignment and light leaks. The rear of the bellows glues directly to the camera - there is no separate rear bellows frame.

I strong suggest a few dry runs first with the ready-made bellows once you have them. Better to work out the attachment process before there's wet glue <GG> Due to the difficulty of working in the confined spaces, the reattachment is definitely much easier starting front or rear.

I forget which side to start from for easiest overall access and reattachment - it's been a bit. My recollection is to glue the front of the bellows to the screwed-on front frame, then glue on the rear of the bellows to the camera back, then finally, working from the much larger rear opening, attach with screws the front plate with its already glued on bellows front..