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swifty63
11-Apr-2011, 13:19
Hi,

I've been looking at a few wista 45DX on E>>>y, a lot of cases of "wrinkled " bellows. Is this a commom thing with these wooden folders? Why do they do this? I like the specs of the wista, (I am newbie) but is this a long term problem? I notice that they are "permanent" belows for this particular model.

Thanks

lindy
11-Apr-2011, 15:44
Is this a commom thing with these wooden folders?

Not that I'm aware of. Just a few victims of unfortunate accidents.

TheDeardorffGuy
11-Apr-2011, 17:54
Typically a bellows is built with an inner lining, some sort of rib. Made of cardstock or railroad board and an outer layer. Wista and a few others have no ribs. They are made and embossed to make a line in wich to fold on. Good or bad?
I think bad since once a wrinkle develops it usually gets worse and really wrinkles and loses strength. Bellows these days are not made with anythought to being self supporting. The side and bottom ribs do this. Bellows now are symetrical. The same spacing between the folds since there are no ribs. Did I make it clear there should be ribs?

jloen
11-Apr-2011, 18:15
I bought one with a wrinkle (probably from folding up improperly), which was not a problem although I ordered a new bellows on eBay and changed it easily in less than an hour.

Brian Ellis
11-Apr-2011, 20:49
A few minor wrinkles aren't all that unusual with a folding camera. Wrinkles usually result from not folding the camera correctly. If it happens often enough and the wrinkles get bad enough they can eventually cause the bellows to sag so badly that the bellows material gets in the light path between the lens and the film. At that point the bellows have to be replaced. If you're thinking of buying a camera with wrinkled bellows you'd want to make sure that it's possible to fold the camera without adding any new wrinkles or causing the existing wrinkles to get worse (and of course that the existing wrinkles haven't caused the bellows to sag so badly that they interfere with making a photograph).

john biskupski
12-Apr-2011, 10:33
Bellows crinkling can arise with the little Wista due, as Brian says, to incorrect folding. See this thread http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004PSj. It's a very tight fit when folded, and ensuring the front standard is slack and aligned is vital to avoid crimping the bellows. You can check by removing the back and looking. If the crinkling is not too bad, and you're careful, it need not get worse. On the other hand, used Wista DX's are plentiful and not expensive to find good ones. It's a great little camera, don't be put off.

Doremus Scudder
15-Apr-2011, 09:17
Probably too late for your purposes, but here's my experience:

I own a couple of Wista DX cameras. Both have wrinkled bellows (one is kind of hard to fold up and I'm thinking of replacing bellows). In my experience, the Wista bellows wrinkle easily; the wrinkling is usually due to using extreme movements with shorter lenses. I kink the bellows routinely when using my 90mm out to the edge of the coverage. I think this is more likely the cause of the creases you see in used Wistas than improper folding of the camera.

FWIW, if you kink the bellows carefully and in the same place every time when using a lot of front rise, you get permanent but manageable creases that run at an oblique angle to the bellows folds. As long as you fold the camera up carefully, the bellows can stay this way for years and present no problems, providing that the bellows folds up on the original folds. Once you get the bellows cramming into the closed camera by folding the bellows across the original folds, the situation gets uncomfortable.

If purchasing used, it is a good idea to get a good look at the bellows if there are creases or kinks. A good photo may be enough to tell you that the bellows will still fold up along the original folds.

Hope this helps.

Doremus Scudder