Chinese made bellows?

[jmontague]

What experience have you had with the Chinese made bellows? I may need to replace mine on my Toyo 45G and B&H wants over $400 for the real thing. Thanks

[Peter De Smidt]

There's been a lot of posts about this recently. Search "Rudy" + "Bellows". That should pull up a bunch of info. To summarize what I've read: most people are happy with his bellows.

[vinny]

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=site%3Alargeformatphotography.info+chinese+bellows&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

[Mark Sawyer]

I bought a set for a KMV 8x10 from ecbuyonline, and was disappointed in the quality. The outside material was pieced together from smaller pieces, and there were wrinkles and bubbles showing from the adhesive underneath. Functional, but not pretty. :(

[Peter De Smidt]

Don't forget to get a quote from Custom Bellows.

[AuditorOne]

I picked up an 8x10 bellows from ecbuyonline a year or so ago for my Cambo 8x10 and it was well made. The camera itself probably isn't worth a high priced bellows but if I had to buy a bellows for my Deardorff I would almost certainly spend the money for a nice one from Western Bellows in California.

[Peter De Smidt]

Western Bellows is no longer in business, if memory serves me rightly.

[vinny]

I bought a set for a KMV 8x10 from ecbuyonline, and was disappointed in the quality. The outside material was pieced together from smaller pieces, and there were wrinkles and bubbles showing from the adhesive underneath. Functional, but not pretty. :(

Mark, did you contact him about making it right?
I had him make me a set about a year ago which arrived similar to what you're describing (bubbles, glue residue, different fabric than previous bellows, more than one section) and he explained that they were made by an employee of his who makes his bellows for the chinese market. Two weeks later I had a high quality bellows on my camera.

[David Karp]

Yes. I read recently on the forum that someone tried to contact Jim (Western Bellows) and he said he has retired.

[blueribbontea]

I put 99 dollar Chinese bellows on my wife's Technika 3 and they are just fine.

[Mark Sawyer]

Mark, did you contact him about making it right?
I had him make me a set about a year ago which arrived similar to what you're describing (bubbles, glue residue, different fabric than previous bellows, more than one section) and he explained that they were made by an employee of his who makes his bellows for the chinese market. Two weeks later I had a high quality bellows on my camera.

No, I just accepted that I'd blown $185 on a poor quality product. Maybe it's just his business model that the customer has to complain to get decent quality. And maybe others buying a bellows from him should be forewarned it may take some complaining and returns to get a decent bellows...

Anyways, it was six months ago, too late now...

[Cor]

I too got nice new bellows (Tech IV)through Rudy, no complains at all. When I ordered I did search this forum, and I got the impression that the majority of customers were quite happy, and in case of problems: Rudy was helpful and helped out.

Best,

Cor

[redshift]

I've bought 6 bellows from Rudy and every one has been perfect. One was a custom sized, extra long for a Wista 45SP.

Send the defect back to Rudy. I'll bet he replaces it when he sees it.

[Jockos]

I got one in red for my Wista cherry, looks lovely and works just fine. Installation wasn't to difficult either :)

[vinny]

No, I just accepted that I'd blown $185 on a poor quality product. Maybe it's just his business model that the customer has to complain to get decent quality. And maybe others buying a bellows from him should be forewarned it may take some complaining and returns to get a decent bellows...

Anyways, it was six months ago, too late now...
That's too bad. I'm sure the demand for his products is pretty high and shit happens. Rudy has great customer service.

[Mark Sawyer]

I sent him a message through ebay, although when I checked the records, I found it was actually May, 2014 when I bought it, farther back than I thought. (Yeah, I'm pushing senility as much as everyone else here! :rolleyes: ) I'll post his reply here...

[Old-N-Feeble]

Mark, that's nearly a year and a half. :(

[jesse]

Rudy is a nice guy, I met him before in Hong Kong.

[Mark Sawyer]

Mark, that's nearly a year and a half. :(

Yeah, I know, well beyond the statute of limitations for returning a crappy product.

[Liquid Artist]

Yeah, I know, well beyond the statute of limitations for returning a crappy product.
You are right there, however some business go above and beyond the expectations.

I know that if I was putting my name on some as visible as a view camera bellows I would want it to look amazing.

[Mark Sawyer]

Well, ecbuyonline offered me a 40% discount if I buy another bellows. I'm considering it, but don't know if I want to take another chance or not...

[Old-N-Feeble]

Well, ecbuyonline offered me a 40% discount if I buy another bellows. I'm considering it, but don't know if I want to take another chance or not...

Depends on the warranty offered...

[Lachlan 717]

Well, ecbuyonline offered me a 40% discount if I buy another bellows. I'm considering it, but don't know if I want to take another chance or not...

Well, we now know their markup...

[Old-N-Feeble]

Well, we now know their markup...

No, we only know they offered one person a 40 percent discount to mitigated a very old and previously unclaimed warranty issue.

[Lachlan 717]

No, we only know they offered one person a 40 percent discount to mitigated a very old and previously unclaimed warranty issue.

Ergo, their cost price. Pretty simple concept. Balance of customer satisfaction and mitigated loss.

[Old-N-Feeble]

Ergo, their cost price. Pretty simple concept. Balance of customer satisfaction and mitigated loss.

That's an assumption.:)

[Liquid Artist]

All that I know is if I tried making a bellows it would probably almost cost me their price in materials alone. Then I would be happy if it didn't leak light and the camera actually closed up. I know it would be as ugly as sin.

[lecarp]

The offer seems more than fair given the amount of time that passed without making a complaint.

[Jim Noel]

Don't forget to get a quote from Custom Bellows.

A huge second for Custom Bellows. Beautiful product and fast turnaround.

[AuditorOne]

A 40% discount, and you are just thinking about it. You must have gotten used to that patched up bellows. No matter how the new bellows turns out I am pretty sure you could resell it yourself for that much. If you end up liking it then sell the other one to help cover your cost.

[Mark Sawyer]

A 40% discount, and you are just thinking about it. You must have gotten used to that patched up bellows. No matter how the new bellows turns out I am pretty sure you could resell it yourself for that much. If you end up liking it then sell the other one to help cover your cost.

Well, the bellows that's on the KMV isn't that bad, it just had a few pinholes, which I've since repaired. The KMV is such a nice camera, I figured it deserved a nice new bellows. So now it has two workable sets of bellows, and I'm thinking about buying a third set, from a dealer who already stung me once?

Yes, I should have complained sooner, but I just figured he'd sent the right item, and he produced a crappy product, lesson learned. Maybe he sent a low quality bellows by mistake, but that it happened to two different people in the very small sample of this thread suggests it happens often.

I was going to sell the camera anyways, and listed it here once, (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?113009-Kodak-8x10-Master-View), so I'll just sit on it until a local college student needs a cheap 8x10 and be done with it.