[LargeFormat] Dealing with Bellows Sag

[Tim Atherton]

You can, of course, always stuff something underneath in most cases - either
"custom made" or an old Tupperware box or something that you carry gizmos in
in your camera bag.

Also depending on the amount of extension, a good old fashioned piece of
string around the bellow, and another from there going back to the top of
the rear frame (to the handle or a suitable screw) will often provide enough
tension to raise the bellows (on the front of my copy of Westons Daybooks -
he's doing this, but ties the string to the front standard instead - low
tech, but it works). A hi-tech version of this that I made for the old
bellows on my Deardorff (no need with the brand new ones it has now) was a
little rectangle of the soft fuzzy side of some velcro glued in a couple of
spots along the bellows (sort of over the top of the fold of one of the
creases) then a long strip of the hooky side of the bellows fixed to the top
of the rear standard (there was a suitably placed screw that could be
removed and rescrewed to hold the Velcro in place). Then you just pull the
long trip of velcro taught and "stick" it to whichever velcro patch work
best - again, enough tension to stop the sag. I think if you look at the
Canham website, he uses this idea built into his cameras.

Obviously doesn't work well for really floppy old bellows or really long
extensions...





> -----Original Message-----
> From: largeformat-admin@f32.net [mailto:largeformat-admin@f32.net]On
> Behalf Of Les Newcomer
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 10:51 AM
> To: largeformat@f32.net
> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Dealing with Bellows Sag
>
>
>
> On Friday, April 4, 2003, at 01:23  AM, Clive Warren wrote:
>
> > Most larger cameras have hooks at the top of the bellows to allow some
> > solution to be put in place to deal with bellows sag when using lenses
> > that require a middle extension of the bellows.
> >
> > Now, I have never seen the gizmos that are supposed to be used to
> > support the bellows when sag is an issue. I am assuming that the
> > manufacturers originally supplied rods to be used in conjunction with
> > the hooks. The rods would presumably be balanced across the rear and
> > front standards.
> >
> > Does anyone have the original solution (rods?) or have any advice on
> > the best ways of dealing with the sag that would otherwise cause
> > vignetting?
> >
> > Cheers,
> >            Clive
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> I use a coat hanger for the rod.   Now on my RB cycle graphic the eyes
> were on the side and hooked to the front standard to limit the bellows
> movement to the rear when using short lenses. I've seen triple
> extension plate cameras without this feature and most of the time the
> front part of the bellows is shot from the weight.
>
> Les
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> LargeFormat mailing list
> LargeFormat@f32.net
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/largeformat
>