I came across this very obscure video by the Tennessee Deardorff Co. - I hope the link works but there is a good chance it may not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_lVoGUeYNw
I came across this very obscure video by the Tennessee Deardorff Co. - I hope the link works but there is a good chance it may not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_lVoGUeYNw
Link works here. Thanks. E
Oh if it had only worked out. The artifacts and parts shown in the video makes me curious if that all was preserved? Just the wrong ownership and inadequate capital. Catlabs seems to have ended up with a lot of parts. Wonder what happened to the display items and the paperwork?
There are a lot of options out there for fine large format cameras and it would be fabulous to have this, one of the older companies with many decades of tradition and experience, still offering their fine products as one of our choices.
I used Deardorffs for several years, first an old NFS V8 that I bought as a basket case for $400 in the early 80s and completely rebuilt with new bellows from Western Bellows. I built a backboard to use it as an 8X10 enlarger with a Dual Circuline fluorescent light fixture "cold light head". Then in 1985 or so when the market crashed, I bought an new, unused V8 from a man in desperate financial straights for $1600. A few years later, ordered one of the first of Fred Picker's new 8X10s and sold the Deardorff to pay for it. Big mistake, and I returned the camera to him in a few days after initial inspection and try-out. Picker was furious at my analysis and took quite a while to refund my money. Meanwhile I had been assisting a photographer who had a Toyo 810M and it greatly impressed me. I bought a nice used one from KEH for $1100. It soon needed a new "lifetime" bellows (most Toyos do) from Western Bellows and I have worked that camera ever since. If I thought there was something better, I would upgrade, but I just don't see it. It handles heavy lenses like the 150mm SW Nikkor and the 600mm ED TeleNikkor with ease, something no woody can do. No bag bellows required for short lenses down to the 120mm SW Nikkor which works great on a flat board. Considering that I could probably sell today for $2500, it has been a good investment. Mr. Labin Deardorff was a genius, no doubt about that, and his sons inherited his talent. I made some pleasing photos with the Deardorff, but I feel the Toyo 810M is a more practical choice today.
I have a refurbed 1937 Deardorff 5X7 that is 'just right' as in the 3 bears fable
Tin Can
for the record, that TN video is terrible
Tin Can
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