aletta lf camera (what happened?)

[eric mac]

I started building a 4x5 camera from plans for the aletta camera. I'm about 70% done and took the summer off. Now that I'm starting up again, I can't seem to locate them. Website is gone and my e-mail goes unanswered.

Anyone know what happened?

eric

[David Luttmann]

I'd like to know as well. I bought the plans a couple of months ago, and now that I'm ready to start and wanted to order the bellows....they vanish. The last I saw from their website was a google cache retriebal that was last updated on Aug 27. The site appears to have been down since then. I thought I recalled something about the fellow who runs it moving to another state....but I could be confusing companies.

I guess it's a wait and see.

[JohnnyV]

I too purchased 4x5 plans but was surprised "imrunningonempty" (their eBay id) was discontinued recently.

[Calamity Jane]

Alletta has gone out of business.

I built his camera last spring and bought a bellows from him. The bellows turned out to be made from a material that was NOT light proof. I had correspondance with him and advised that he not sell any more bellows made from that material. I also asked him to replace my bellows.

The last I heard from him, he was about to move to California.

After months of no responses and no replacement bellows, I contacted e-bay. Apparently they were not able to contact Alletta and "imrunningonempty" has been removed from e-bay.

He has dropped from the face of the earth.

If he owes you anything, I am afraid you are out of luck.

(And if I ever get my hands on him, I will feed him a defective bellows!)

[Michael Mutmansky]

Calamity,

That's too bad. I hate to hear about a LF manufacturer going under, especially whey product is owed to people.

I don't know what the bellows looks like, but it may be possible to fix it with that rubberized tool handle dip material that you can get at home centers (Plasticoat, I believe). There is a spray version, and a dip version. The dip version can be thinned down, and it might be possible to put a very thin coat on the bellows to make it light tight.

When I purchased an old, old 8x10 years ago, I used it to seal the light leaks in the corners of the bellows. That was a small scale application, and I didn't thin it, but it could work on a larger scale application.

It's worth a try if the bellows are no good otherwise.

---Michael

[David Luttmann]

Does anyone know where a matching size bellows could be obtained?

Thanks,

[Glenn Kroeger]

David:

Camera Bellows in England will build you any bellows you need, and of the absolute best quality!

[Calamity Jane]

I am in the process of making my own bellows. I have made one before (out of paper), so I think I've got the techniques down. I have found suitable blackout material, an adhesive that works, and I am just tying to nail down material for stiffeners and the proper paint to take the shine off the blackout material.

If it works out, I'll post the details on my Web site.

[azdustdevil]

Not sure if this thread is still read, but regardless, I would still like to have the plans for the camera.