Originally Posted by
pacviewcam
Some years ago I used to be able to buy blackout cloth from Freestyle Photo. Sad to say, they had to stop carrying it when the minimum order was changed to a container load -- you know, those containers that they load full of stuff and then carry on ships and semi trucks.
That stuff was .008" thick, and just thin enough; any thicker would have been too thick.
Then, I discovered on here someone recommending the Thorlabs stuff. It measures in at .005" thick and is really great. Use card stock for ribs. If you can get Weldwood contact cement (the toxic stuff, not waterbase) use that to glue the outer layer of Thorlabs material to the bellows. Barge contact cement works well too, available from shoe repair and/or leather suppliers.
I've never had a problem with light leaks from a single layer of the Thorlabs stuff.
For the liner (inner layer) I use cotton, the thinnest most flat black I can find. A good fabric store will have much to choose from. Bring your light meter and get the thinnest lowest-reflectance stuff they have.
Re Columbia Leather: I've often drooled over what they have, but the price is just too high for any large format bellows. I could see spending that much for a folding 120-film size camera, but for a view camera it'll break the bank.
I don't know how many bellows I've made, but doing so helped me make a living during a few recessions when I'd build the bellows for view cameras I was refurbishing to sell; would also sometimes build them to order.
The main thing is that the two fabric layers have to be thin enough to give you a good sharp crease, and all those folds have to compress into a very small space. So every thousandth of an inch makes a difference.
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