Sagging Bellows on Deardorff 8x10 Camera

[Brian Ellis]

I recently purchased a Deardorff 8x10 front swing camera with a new bellows. When using the camera for the first time I made a photograph of a building with the lens panel raised to its top position, the camera tilted up about 15 degress, and the front and back tilted forward to bring them parallel to the front of the building. I was using a 400mm lens. I discovered that I have a severe bellows sag problem in that configuration. I lose about an inch off the bottom of the photograph. Holding the bellows up as far as I can with my hand from the bottom reduced but didn't eliminate the problem.

Is this something that is just endemic to Deardorff cameras when used in this configuration or is this particular bellows perhaps too flexible? I can't tell what material it is but it feels like it might be leather. I owned a previous Deardorff that had an old (maybe original) but much heavier bellows and didn't encounter the problem though the longest lens I commonly used with that camera was 330mm.

The seller has very kindly offered to return the purchase price. If the problem is with this particular bellows then I'll take him up on the offer and look for something else. OTOH, if this is something all Deardorff owners experience regardless of the bellows material then I'll just live with it and try to come up with a work-around.

[RichardRitter]

All bellows sag to some degree. The longer the lens the more likely the bellows will sag. That is why the corners of the ground glass are cut off. It is so you can look it to the bellows at the cut corners and see if you can see the whole round of the lens is visible. If the bellows is sagging the top would be cut off. Some photographers will hold the bellows up with their hand other use rods and clips on top of the bellows.

[Francis Abad]

One of the nicest things about the Wisner Expedition 8x10 I own is that the bellows has 3 tabs on 3 different locations on top that connect to a pin on top of the front standard. This allows securing the bellows for different extensions and/or movements. I was wondering if you could attach something with velcro or similar to achieve the same effect.

[Mark Sampson]

It's possible that you have reached the mechanical limit of the camera. Did you use the sliding front panel or the whole-standard rise, or both?

[Tracy Storer]

Brian, I have had a similar problem with my 5x7 Deardorff. I didn't feel I was using very extreme movements at the time, but ended up with the same "clipping". Mine was not so much a matter of "sag", but the rear-most inside folds being in the image path. Let others chime in, but I think it's a Deardorff thing. Tracy

[John Kasaian]

FWIW, I rarely encounter this problem unless I've racked the bellows all the way out to their limit, deploying the part of the bellows that usually nests in the back standard. 'Dorff bellows---mine and many I've seen anyway---don't have a uniform taper to them=the smaller, more tapered portion towards the front standard is more flexible than the boxy end that fits into the rear standard. Anytime I extend the bellows out to where the "union" of the two dimensionally different ends are hanging out there, I risk some drooping. As others have said, thats wat the clipped corners of the gg is for. A piece of card stock folded like a tent, resting on the bed and fitted into one of the pleats should offer needed support. When closing the camera, take care to "finesse" the boxy, larger dimiension rear portion of the bellows firmly into the rear standard and everything should be in order again. I stress that this occurs rarely and if your bellows sag most of the time something may be wrong with them

[Bill_1856]

Brian, what happened to your new Ebony?

[Donald Miller]

I regularly use a 450 Nikkor M on my V8 Deardorff without the problem that you mention. I do have bellows sag on my 12X20 with the same lens however. On the 12X20, I afixed a tab to the top of the bellows that allow me to support them from the front standard.

Deardorffs have two different bellows designs that I have encountered. The first and supposedly the original design were linear in their taper from front to rear. The more recent design has the taper extending to a point forward of the rear standard and the bellows extend straight out of the rear standard to that point. This is supposedly to allow better camera operation with wide angle lenses. My 12X20 has this same design and hence the bellows droop. Western Bellows will build them with either design.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

As mentioned above, Wisners such as mine have three tabs on their bellows with a small brass ring that can go over a small post attached to the top of the front standard to prevent any sagging. This works well. You could attach something like this to solve the problem. Or you can try putting something below the bellows to support it during exposure. Another alternative would be to get some bellows Viagra...

[Arne Croell]

The velcro solution works. I had a similar problem with my Technikardan at some intermediate setting after being set up in the extended position for a while. I got some self-adhesive velcro strips, glued two small pieces of the "loops" part on the top of the bellows (testing with the hand where pulling had the best effect) and on the back standard. A long strip of the "hooks" part can then be used to pull the bellows together. It always rests in my camera pack, which has velcro lining anyway so I can't loose it.