> As I mentioned in an earlier post there are definitely two methods of
> folding bellows. Many older large format cameras and seemingly all
> Deardorf cameras have right angle corners rather than the truncated corners
> usually found now.
Since I've never seen any bellows like this, I'll have to keep my eyes
open. I'm hoping we are talking about the same thing. Namely square
corners:
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rather than truncated corners:
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Straight rather than tapered bellows is a different thing entirely. From
some of the posts I've received I think there is a bit of confusion here.
> The only reference to this kind of bellows is in a very
> old book: _The Book of Photography_ Paul N. Hasluck, 1907, London, Cassell
> and Company, which has a short section on making bellows.
I have a Xerox of the bellows making section from this book. It gives a
nice method for laying out the bellows folds using a compass and geometric
construction. From what I remember though the construction method is
fundamentally the same as what you will find on Doug Bardells web site.
Nevertheless, I'll take another look.
> I am partly
> guessing but it appears that this kind of bellows is folded out of a
> continuous piece of lined leather without stiffeners. The truncated corner
> bellows have stips of stiffener, often a thick manila card stock, in
> between the inner and outer covering. I don't have a camera with the
> square corners to examine to be sure of how its made. It is difficult to
> believe that a large bellows could be stiff enough without some sort of
> reinforcement inside.
The use of stiffeners is really optional if you have a material that
can hold the crease. They also help with the folding by giving you guides
for where the folds should go. This really shouldn't affect the kind of
corners that one could achieve.
I've been tinkering to try and get the kind of fold that I believe you are
talking about (right angle, with no truncation). So far, I have only
succeeded by making a seam in each fold. You'd have to make each side of
the bellows separately, and join the the folds. I haven't been able to do
this from a single, continuous peice of material. Perhaps I'm missing
something?
> Someone out there must have a Deardorf or other
> camera with the right sort of bellows they can look at.
Yes, I'm curious. Perhaps you could scan a picture of the bellows and
send it to me as well?
- Wayde
(wallen@boulder.nist.gov)