> >>Flexible Products bellows are rather thick compared to Universal I was
> >>told by a friend who used them - had trouble in closing the camera.
> >>
> >>John
> >>
> > I had a replacement bellows made by Flexible Products for an 8x10
> >Ansco/Agfa camera. The bellows work OK but the workmanship was sloppy;
> >wrinkles in the surface and rather irregular sized sections. They are not
> >terrible and they are on the camera but I would not go back for another
> >one.
They will also sell bellows fabric, but when I talked to them about this
it didn't sound like something they really wanted to do. Just getting
this far took about three phone calls. They were also supposed to send me
some fabric swatches to look at. I got a catalog for pre-made bellows
instead.
> Some others on the large-format forum reported similar experiences.
> >Western Bellows does a good job, he is used by Patrick Alt, so I have seen
> >the work. But, Western doesn't, AFIK, use leather, only synthetic
> >materials.
I've been trying to locate a source of sufficiently thin leather. As far
as I can tell 1 oz or approximately 1/32 inch thick leather is the
thinnest commonly made in the U.S.. I did find a company who said they
could import thinner leather from Italy, but this required a large minimum
order and was fairly expensive. It appears that suitable synthetic
materials are easier to obtain, and less expensive. I'm still looking for
a suitable leather. Actually, I'm still looking for good materials in
general. What I've found so far seems to work fairly well, but
improvements are always welcome.
> > Its possible to make your own. It looks more tedious than anything else.
Yep!
- Wayde
(wallen@boulder.nist.gov)