What do you think of leather bellows vs non leather for 6x6 folders?

[68degrees]

I have seen some 6x6 folders online with leather bellows. How much better if at all are bellows of leather vs other materials?

 

[Jojje]

I've wondered that myself.
The bellows of my recently acquired Graflex Speed Graphic from 1949ish look like new but are clearly some synthetic material. My older folder's leather bellows seem better quality than after WWII, meaning Voigtländers, ICA and Zeiss.

 

[Pioneer]

Historically synthetic materials don't seem to have held up well, with the obvious exception of the Graflex line of cameras. Not too sure what they used but it does seem to hold up very well.

On the other hand, though leather does seem to have a better track record, I have had older folders with leather bellows that also needed patching/replacing. I think that treatment and storage conditions over time can have a lot to do with whether or not a bellows is still in good condition today.

I do feel that there are synthetic materials that seem to hold up pretty well today, my Intrepid is an obvious example of this. However, only time will tell.

 

[Vaidotas]

My Ica Favorit and Ikonta 531 are with original leather bellows ir perfect condition.
I think manufacturing such quality items would be pricey today.
And contemporary technogy gives a lot of advantages as price, weight, resistance to humidity etc.
So today I'd choose synthetic materials.
Keep in mind that artificial leather or other plastic technology was introduced to mass consumption only ~ 70 years ago with a lot of bad examples of implementation.

 

[jim10219]

Historically synthetic materials don't seem to have held up well, with the obvious exception of the Graflex line of cameras. Not too sure what they used but it does seem to hold up very well.

Outside of the paper and asphalt (or whatever it was they used) during WWII on their Anniversary cameras. The Pacemaker bellows seem to hold up much better.

Leather can make a great bellows matterial, but it will wear out quickly if not properly cared for. It's also going to be expensive because your regular top grain cow hide is usually too thick and not soft enough. But a good set of leather bellows, properly maintained can last over 100 years, which is pretty impressive.

If I were buying a 50 year old camera, I'd look for one with leather bellows in good condition. If I were designing a new camera from scratch, I'd use a modern synthetic fabric to keep the costs down, since those can still outlast the original user.

 

[Marco Gilardetti]

I have to agree in full with the above. I own a near-mint Linhof Technika IV and a Graflex Pacemaker Speed workhorse, which originally belonged to the US Army so was really overused (and it shows). Despite of that, the Linhof bellows do show signs of wear and, although there are no pinholes, some corners are smudged and there is some white flake coming off from below. The Graflex synthetic bellows instead look like they just went out from factory.

Summarising it, while the Linhof is technically superior to the Graflex under almost every aspect, I still wish it had the synthetic bellows of the Graflex.