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brendanbarry
30-Mar-2016, 13:28
Hi there,

I need to make some bellows for a 20x16 inch camera I am building (inspiration came from this link ( http://petapixel.com/2013/02/12/building-a-20x16-inch-ultra-large-format-camera-by-hand/ )

I am following the guidance in this link ( http://www.instructables.com/id/bellows-for-large-format-camera/?ALLSTEPS ) but the measurements here are for a 5x4 camera.

Could anyone advice me on what size card I would need? Apparently I should use black Bristol board but not sure how big I will need to buy it in. Also what type of card is best? I have found some for sale here but there are a number of different types and not sure which to go for. https://www.artistpapers.co.uk/shop/drawing-and-illustration-paper/bristol-boards

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Brendan

photojeff3200
9-May-2016, 05:19
I'm definitely not a pro in bellows making but I have made two of them, one for my 12x20 and another for my 8x10. They're hard and vary labor intensive. I say this because you only want to make a bellows once. I see problems using the bistol board like accidental tearing or water/weather. I made mine out of cloth that I bought at Joanne's which is a fabric store. Materials cost about $30 for the 12x20 and, hopefully, I'll never have to make it again. I used this excellent pdf source as a reference;

http://www.jbhphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/bbuildingjbh2008.pdf

Just my 2 cents good luck

Jeff

MAubrey
9-May-2016, 12:01
I'm definitely not a pro in bellows making but I have made two of them, one for my 12x20 and another for my 8x10. They're hard and vary labor intensive. I say this because you only want to make a bellows once. I see problems using the bistol board like accidental tearing or water/weather. I made mine out of cloth that I bought at Joanne's which is a fabric store. Materials cost about $30 for the 12x20 and, hopefully, I'll never have to make it again. I used this excellent pdf source as a reference;

http://www.jbhphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/bbuildingjbh2008.pdf

Just my 2 cents good luck

Jeff

Thanks for the link. I've gone through a few bellows instructions, but I hadn't seen this one and I think I like it the most!