Chamonix 4x5 Bellows

[Two23]

I've been entertaining myself lately by taking a lot of photos in the many abandoned farm houses that dot the Northern Plains. I'm using my trusty Chamonix 045n and lenses 75. 90, 135, 180, 300mm. I have the standard bellows. I find that I have little movement with my Nikon 90mm f4.5 because of bellows restriction, and virtually none with the Nikon 75mm f5.6. I see there is a Universal bellows available for $120. It should definitely handle my 300mm, but just how much movement will I get with a 75mm? There is also a bag bellows (wide angle) available but it's $180. I had a bag bellows for my Shen Hao 4x5 and liked it. Will I get that much more movement with universal bellows? I doubt I'll ever go any wider than 75mm. If I do it would be the 72m XL but at this point I think that's unlikely.



Kent in SD

[Corran]

A recessed lens board will help. I have the 45n1 with standard bellows and I have no problem getting plenty of rise on my 90mm with a recessed board. I don't generally use my 72mm on it - for extreme movements found in architecture, I always use my Toyo GII monorail, which can be found for almost as cheap as the new bellows...so perhaps that is another option. A Technika board adapter makes it simple to use with the same lenses too of course. I think I saw one FS in the Classifieds recently.

[Doremus Scudder]

+1 on the recessed board if your camera will accept them.

A recessed board and the "universal bellows" will likely offer you more movement than your lenses can cover. I have a similar bellows for my Wista SW; half pleated, half bag bellows. When using short lenses, the pleated portion just stays compressed inside the camera body; only the bag part is really being used. I find this compromise, i.e., universal-style bellows, to be even better than bag bellows for field cameras, where the bag bellows can get in the way, need to be changed to use with longer lenses, etc.

Best,

Doremus

[Pat Kearns]

Doremus, did the "universal bellows" come standard on your Wista SW, if not, where did buy it? I have a Tacihara 4x5 and face the same issues using my 90mm. I recently found numerous pin holes and need to replace my bellows. That universal bellows might kill two birds with one stone on my Tacihara.

[devb]

I have a Chamonix 045n-2 and use a Caltar 75mm f/6.8 on a flat board. I get full movement out of the universal bellows, but I need to check carefully at full shift to make sure a stray pleat isn't sticking out into the frame, because it does happen. There's some friction in the bellows when shifting at infinity focus, so you should pay attention that there isn't too much pressure on the front standard in any direction from the compressed bellows. I haven't noticed any unintentional tilt in my photos, but I do worry about it sometimes.

[Doremus Scudder]

Doremus, did the "universal bellows" come standard on your Wista SW, if not, where did buy it? I have a Tacihara 4x5 and face the same issues using my 90mm. I recently found numerous pin holes and need to replace my bellows. That universal bellows might kill two birds with one stone on my Tachihara.

Hi Pat,

Sorry about the delay getting back; I haven't been monitoring this thread closely.

Anyway, to answer your question: My camera was purchased used and came with both the standard 300mm bellows and the wide angle bellows. The bellows are interchangeable, which means there's are clips and spring locks to hold the bellows frames in place. These latter are stamped sheet metal. I'm not sure if the bellows can be fit to a Tachihara that has the bellows just glued to the wooden standards (I'm assuming this...). However, if you're good at improvising and cobbling things together to make them work, it might be an option. Here's a link to the wide-angle bellows that I have from B&H: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...Wideangle.html

The bellows new seems pretty expensive. You might be able to get a "universal"-style bellows made custom for you by someone like Custom Bellows, etc. for less.

Best,

Doremus

[Two23]

Received my Chamonix 4x5 Universal bellows today. That was fast! I put it on my camera, attached the Nikon 75mm SW lens, and checked it out. LOTS of movement! Problem solved. Thanks to all.


Kent in SD

[mitch.goddard]

Looks like i'm a little late but I'll chime in anyway and say that you should have no issues with that universal bellows on lenses even wider than the 75. My 045N2 came with the universal bellows and I had no problem at all using it with my 58mm XL.