L.F. Deardorff, Cleveland, TN

[Steve Hamley]

Folks,

I bought a lens from Barry Cochran who now owns the L.F. Deardorff ans Sons name, and is doing all things Deardorff. Living in Knoxville, he's about an hour away so I decided to drive down and do photography along the way in some historic areas.

Barry intends as noted in other posts to re-introduce the V-8 this year, a 12x20 next year, and the "baby" is about 2 years off.

He does refinish work (also on cameras besides Deardorff), supplies parts, and may even do lenses in the future. How about a reasonably priced Pinkham and Smith copy?

So lets look at little digital pictures.

DD-2 and 3 are new and vintage wooden camera parts from the "baby to 12x20.

DD-4,5 Need a screw or knob for your Deardorff? Call Barry.

More in subsequent posts

Cheers, Steve

[Steve Hamley]

Folks,

DD-1 shows studio stands in the shop. There's a portrait stand that probably can't be easily seen too.

DD-6 shows a studio camera.

DD7,8 shows a refinish job in progress for a customer. Let me add that the young lady holding the part is Monica, Barry's wife, and she does the refinishing, and she has that nailed. The parts they're doing look great. The grain shows like the best vintage Deardorffs and doesn't look cloudy or dark. The mahogany is very, very nice.

Cheers, Steve

[Steve Hamley]

Folks,

DD-9 shows the three bed plate styles; wax cast, sand cast, and CNC milled for the new 2011 V-8 Deardorff.

DD-10 is Barry and Monica with a vintage L.F. Deardorff sign. They have a lot of vintage signs, adverts, and the original artwork for the Deardorff book on corrective photography.

DD-11 is Barry and Monica with a new 12x20 Deardorff rear frame.

Cheers, Steve

[Steve Hamley]

Folks,

DD-12, 13, and 14 are original L.F. Deardorff and sons artwork. Take note of the 1916 date in the final jpeg.

Cheers, Steve

[Steve Hamley]

Finally, Barry has made some changes to the camera because of available modern techniques and is interested in hearing from users about what might be good to do without changing the historical nature of the cameras, or even features for a new Deardorff camera.

For example, he showed me the new CNC baseplate, and nickle pleated aluminum knobs that look great and are reportedly more durable. He not surprisingly doesn't use hide glue, and Monica said the new lacquer is catalyzed and more durable.

I suggested "witness" marks to show when the front standard is centered on the GG with standard and Tech boards (like the Ebony), an optional bail like the Wehman, and possibly sizing the 5x7 and 12x20 to take whole plate and 14x17 backs respectively.

Again, reasonably priced portrait and casket set lenses may be coming.

Please give Barry your feedback and suggestions for future models.

Cheers, Steve

[cdholden]

I made a similar visit when I was working in the area a few weeks ago. I got a tour of the facility, a history lesson and some great conversation over lunch. Barry and Monica are very nice and are making a strong effort to bring the Deardorff name back to being a source for new LF cameras, as well as supporting thousands of users and their older cameras needing bits and pieces to stay functional, or even needing restoration.
They are very open to input from the large format community. If you should be in the area, call ahead and schedule a visit. It is time well spent.

Chris

[goamules]

This is great! Every little bit counts when pulling ourselves out of the recession. I hope they have lots of interested buyers for their services.