bag bellows material

[Kirk Gittings]

I want to remake the "bag" portion of my bag bellows. What I have now is thick rubber crap that is not very flexible especially on a cold day. I was thinking I could use two layers of a tight weave black nylon. Any thoughts?

[Doug Dolde]

I'd buy a new one myself or have it made.

[Kirk Gittings]

Can't buy a new one, they are all the same crap, even if I could find one new. None of the bellows manufacturing companies seem to list bag bellows......

[Doug Dolde]

What kind of camera is it anyway?

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Kirk,

If I recall correctly you use a Zone VI, if so, you might try Richard Ritter as he probably has a bag bellows for the camera. Worth a shot.

[400d]

Try gaffer tape (professional grade stands up to winter) or bike tube patch.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7244918271&category=7295

[Colin Graham]

I used this stuff from Porter's for mine. http://porters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PCS&Product_Code=221125&Product_Count=&Category_Code It's a nylon with a very very thin rubber backing. It's almost too thin as is for bag bellows, but with a lining material works quite well.

[Frank Petronio]

Time to get that Arca...

[David E. Rose]

Kirk,
I started in large format with a Bender 4x5 kit that I assembled. An optional accessory that I also built was a bag bellows. The material for this was a thin black woven cloth with a black coating on the inside that made it lightproof. It was light and flexible, but stiff enough to hold it's shape, and worked well for the bag bellows. You might try to contact Jay Bender to either obtain some of the material from him, or at least find out what he uses. He did have a policy of not selling parts/materials unless you had previously bought a kit from him. By the way, I found his bag bellows kit easy to construct. I don't think I would ever try a pleated bellows, but after the Bender experience, I wouldn't hesitate to make a bag bellows.

http://www.benderphoto.com/

[Kirk Gittings]

Yes all, I use an old Zone VI for a field camera. I definetly do not want a new Zone VI bellows, unless the bag part has been redesigned with better material. The Porters material looks like it might be the ticket.

[Bruce Pottorff]

Kirk...I use a 14 yr. old ZVI with the factory bag bellows. The rear frame of the bag bellows has developed a warp that makes insertion of the ground glass back difficult. Have you seen anything like this?

[Kirk Gittings]

Bruce,
No I have not, but Calumet still stocks the frames, I believe, and it is simple enough to pull the old one off and glue a new one on with contact cement.

[fotographis]

I have made several sets of bellows over the past few years, both pleated and bag. After much frustration finding the right material for making a bellows, I have started to purchase and sacrifice a new large size film changing bag for each bellows I build, the changing bag material is usually thin and pliant, and of course light tight. I use the changing bag material as the inner face, and use a very thin faux leather material I get from our local specialty fabric store as the outer "public" material. Since the inner material from the changing bag is light tight, the outer material does not need to be, so it can be thin and decorative. This is especially true when making the more common pleated bellows with cardboard ribs placed between the two sets of material. I have often used my bellows out in the winter cold, and they stay pliant, never brittle (unless coated by sea spray which freezes!). Good Luck...

[Ralph Barker]

. . . I have started to purchase and sacrifice a new large size film changing bag for each bellows I build . . .

A practical, albeit expensive, solution, Britt. With a bit of Velcro, the exterior could even be made interchangeable - psychedelic paisley one day, and a Navajo pottery design the next, depending on one's mood. :cool:

[robc]

you could make your own double layer material using black velvet for inner and a light weight black canvas for outer. Glue them together using cold cure liquid latex. Probably need to apply latex to both surfaces liberally and when its starts to go tacky put the pieces of cloth together. Place in dry mount press with no heat and let it set.
Very cheap to do and should give the correct stiffness and light tightness for the job. And you have very non reflective inner surface and coating will not flake off inside your camera like some coatings do.

Lquid latex is usually water based and can be found in any good craft store. You can also colour it black if required.

[Geert]

I want to remake the "bag" portion of my bag bellows. What I have now is thick rubber crap that is not very flexible especially on a cold day. I was thinking I could use two layers of a tight weave black nylon. Any thoughts?


no, but use two sandwiched layers of moleskine aka skai

It allows for long exposures in high noon sun.

G

[Geert]

no, but use two sandwiched layers of moleskine aka skai

It allows for long exposures in high noon sun. Apart from that, it is also very tear-resistant.

G

oops, looks like I quoted myself and not edited :-)