Bag bellows problem on Arca

[Herb Cunningham]

I have not used my Nikon 75mm lens much, but yesterday i tried to take a shot of a building that was difficult -taking it required I have the camera very close, hence the 75mm.
My Arca leather bag bellows on the 4x5 kept getting in the way I putzed with it for a good 30 minutes, trying to fold the damn thing out of the viewing circle, to no avail. I finally chose another angle, and used the regular bellows with a longer lens.

Any tricks to keep vignetting down with this bellows? I don't have that problem with larger formats and Arca bag bellows.

[jb7]

The pleats can be a problem-
they need to be stored folded correctly to help to train them,
and even then, they can be stubborn-

I've got an odd fold in mine,
and I have to remember to put that end towards the lens,
so that the folds nearest the film are regular-

I'm talking about a 171 Arca, by the way-


joseph

[Phil Hudson]

I also experienced this problem with the Arca 171mm leather bellows. I ended up trading back for the synthetic bag bellows for lenses under 150mm, and standard 38cm bellows for longer stuff. No problems there.

Perhaps the newest ones have softer leather?

[Archphoto]

What could help is a couple of office-paper clamps to keep the extra bellows part out of the way........
Or have something flat black metal inside the bag-bellows to weigh the obstructive part out of the way.
I had a similar problem with my Sinar 8x10 bag-bellows, never had any with the 4x5 one.

Peter

[mandoman7]

I found that things worked a lot better with the bag bellows AND a very recessed board (2"+). Then I got tons of movement. Alone the bag only offered slightly more than the normal bellows.

[neil poulsen]

I have the 171mm Arca with the leather wide-angle bellows. I use an adaptor lensboard that I made from a 1" Arca recessed board. I don't have any problem with a 75mm, except that it's a little snug. I LOVE this bellows. Works for my 75mm up to 180mm.

For my recently acquired 58mm lens, I'll probably use the synthetic bellows that I picked up a few months ago. Of course, I won't have to worry too much about movements with this lens.

[jb7]

I should have mentioned, I use a 25mm recessed board for a 47mm,
for all other lenses, including a 72mm, I use a flat board-
I used to use a standard 13mm recessed board,
but I changed to a Linhof to Arca adapter board.

It works ok, but as I mentioned, the bellows must be stored folded,
in an effort to train them-

I'd be interested to hear if anyone uses anything to treat the leather;
mine haven't been fed since I got them, about six years ago...

Still look good though-

[Herb Cunningham]

Plan on training my bellows asap.
Thanks

Herb