Extended or Closed for Storage?

[Kent10D]

I am in the habit of getting out my view cameras and extending the bellows to let them "air out" occasionally if I haven't used them in a while. It can be extremely humid where I live during the summer months, and there's good reason to fear fungus damage. (I have a dry cab, but use that mainly for lenses and smaller-format bodies).

Also, the bellows folds tend to stick a bit when extended after even a couple of weeks of being fully folded and compressed.

So, I got to wondering how other people store their view cameras. Is it OK to simply fold the things fully and keep them in the case, or is it better to, say, leave them sitting on a shelf with the bellows partly extended?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Skorzen]

I think it would depend on how big a camera we're talking about. I have a 4X5 Shen Hao that I don't think would have a problem sitting out for a little while. My old 8X10 Ansco on the other hand I wouldn't. My bellows are in good shape and I don't want them to start sagging.

[Kent10D]

Ah ... bellows sag ... I hadn't thought of that.

They're both 4x5 cameras (A Tachihara Field and a Horseman 45FA). The Horseman bellows seem to be really well built and hardly sag at all even at full extension, but you're right, I wouldn't want to leave the thing fully extended for a long time. The Tachihara, on the other hand, has much larger pleats and sags quite easily. Have to watch that.

Thanks.