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Captain_joe6
28-Jan-2014, 07:22
Hey all,

I've got a restoration going on a 5x7 Deardorff, early WWII construction, without front swing, and it needs new bellows. I had planned, some time ago, on using Western Bellows for the replacement, but he's closed down. There's an outfit in Japan that offers bellows for the later model with front swing, and their quality seems good, but for my camera they'd have to do a custom job and it would run more than their stock product, and they would not be able to start until march.

So my question to you is, if I wanted to have a new set of bellows in my hands and ready to go in a reasonable amount of time (I'd like to use the camera for as much of spring and summer as I can, since they're so nice in the PNW), who do I need to contact to get a good bellows made?

Jim Noel
28-Jan-2014, 10:05
Send the bellows and frames to Custom Bellows in UK. (http://www.custombellows.co.uk/)
They can duplicate them in every aspect so they will fold in upon themselves as si required to get full length bellows which allows the camera to fold correctly.
Their prices are reasonable, work is superior and turn around time is amazingly short.

Kevin Crisp
28-Jan-2014, 10:18
Is Western Bellows truly closed down? I thought someone recently said he was still doing work with a different contact number.

Lffbug
28-Jan-2014, 12:11
Is Western Bellows truly closed down? I thought someone recently said he was still doing work with a different contact number.

I recently got a set of 5x7 bellows from Jim Ormond. It took a while (months), so take that into consideration. Price was reasonable.

His number:
909-980-0606

Daniel Stone
28-Jan-2014, 12:17
What Jim Noel said.
Having used both Western Bellows(Jim Henbane) and Custom Bellows UK, I'd happily spend the extra dough to get them made by C.B.U.K. again. Hands down.

-Dan

brucep
28-Jan-2014, 12:27
I can say that custom bellows UK make superb bellows and have a fast turnaround time. My last set took less than 3 weeks. I've just got a set back from Rudy in hong Kong which took about 6 weeks from me sending my old bellows to him,to getting a new set back fastened to my original frames. Quality wise, I would rate these bellows as an 8 to 9 compared with a 10 for custom bellows UK. Price wise custom bellows are about %50 dearer, but have a wider range of colors available.

I think you have to way up whether top quality, cost or color choice is your priority, but neither are a bad choice.

Bruce

Kevin Crisp
28-Jan-2014, 16:40
Before Jack Deardorff passed on, his last cameras had a bellows that was tapered as per usual, then went down to a square untapered tunnel as it approached the lens board. It was really handy for using lots of movements because it was so flexible on the lens board end. Any idea who made that one for him?