Chamonix Universal Bellows getting in the way of the lens

[sully75]

Hey all,

So...I love my Chamonix 45n-2. Totally. Except: it came with the universal bellows. Routinely when I look inside the camera, the wide angle folds of the universal bellows are covering part of the rear element of the lens. I'm pretty sure this has screwed up a number of pictures from my last batch. Can't prove it but it looks like it.

Anyone else have this problem? I'd like to get some super wides for this camera at some point, so if I could make these bellows work, that would be ideal. But I don't want to have another thing I have to check for every picture, making sure the bellows aren't in the way of the lens.


Thoughts/suggestions?
P

[vinny]

Yes. I've posted pics of the issue on other threads regarding using short lenses on this camera. It's only an issue on my 90mm or wider. Take the back off, push the bellows out of the way, focus, and shoot. That works sometimes but I already owned a bag bellows from my shenhao so not an issue. Buy the shenhao leather bag bellows.

[Ari]

Probably use the UB for lenses 110mm and longer, that way you don't need to switch bellows when going from, say, a 115 to a 300mm.
Get a bag bellows for the rarer times you'll be using wides and super-wides.
This all depends on what kinda stuff you're shooting, though.

[Jim Peterson]

I had the same problem and asked about it in an earlier post and the best responses were that if the bellows was "in the way" you would see it on the ground glass either all the way open or more likely while stopped down. One of the folds of the universal bellows does indeed cover a portion of the rear element when I take a picture, but it hasn't effected any of my shots so I don't reach down in there anymore and pull it up off the rear element.

[Old-N-Feeble]

Wow... I was happy with my standard and bag bellows on the older 45N-1 but I fleetingly considered replacing them with the universal bellows to save bulk and a few dollars. Now I'm glad I didn't.

Thank you for sharing.

[genotypewriter]

It doesn't happen with all my lenses... just with the normal and long ones.

[sully75]

I don't know...I don't think I saw it in the ground glass but several pictures appear to have been ruined by it. I'm not sure why I didn't see it though. But they are dark on the bottom, whether the picture is in portrait or landscape. I don't know what else could have done it. I really can't figure out how I missed it in the ground glass though. I do notice the bellows are covering the element very often.

[Kodachrome25]

Darn, this is not good to hear, I plan on using a 90 a lot..

[sully75]

How wide can you go with regular bellows?

[Old-N-Feeble]

Sully... IIRC, something like 65mm with very limited movements.