Toyo 810 Belows issue.

[Barry Wilkinson]

I have a Toyo 810 field camera which has spent some time in the folded position. The front 5" of bellows are quite misshaped. Is there anything I can put on these to soften the material to allow me to reform them? They are the original Toyo bellows.

Thanks

Barry

[tgtaylor]

Barry,

I don't think they are made of leather so Saddle Soap won't work but you can remove the bellows from both standards and carefully fold them into the original creases and pace weight on top until they "remember" their place. This is my post in the Toyo Resource thread posted a few years back:

Tired of the hassle of folding the Toyo 810 M, MII, and G bellows correctly? Try unhooking the bellows from both standards and then folding it; all the little creases seem to fall quickly into their proper place. I hit upon this last weekend when out shooting with the 760 Apo Nikkor which requires you to use the long bellows (1200mm) and to reverse the front standard. The idea struck me when packing-up and BINGO everything fell neatly and quickly into place. If only I would have discovered this a few years ago when I first got the MII. I reattach the bellows to the rear standard and push the front standard (now in the standard position) up flush with the bellows without reattaching it and with a piece of foam to keep the standard off the bed. The seemingly incongruous big locking bar becomes plausible when folding the camera with the long bellows attached. The bellows (standard or long) on Toyo's 4x5 cameras don't have the same issues as on the 8x10's.

[Neal Chaves]

They are worthless as soon as they start to pinhole. Don't wast time or money on them. Send them to Dynatect to be duplicated in good modern, all synthetic material. Consider obtaining a front frame of the G2 type and having Dynatect size the bellows for that. These frames are larger internally and easier to use with recessed lens boards and lenses with large rear elements. Then don't look back and go make photographs.

[tgtaylor]

Pinholes are likely to be in the first 5 inches because that is the area that becomes deformed due to improper folding. About a month back I patched-up a bunch of pinholes in that area on an an older standard bellows with liquid electrical tape. Looks a mess but it works - especially if I keep that area covered with the dark cloth. I keep that bellows mounted on the G and the new bellows on the MII. Luckily I always removed the long bellows when packing-up so they haven't developed any pinholes yet.

[gypsydog]

When my original Toyo 810 bellows went, it went quickly. The bellows had no deformities and looked perfect. When last checked in total darkness it was like a show at the planetarium, tiny pinholes everywhere. Off it went to Custom Bellows for replacement, worth every cent! I had them replace one of my 8x10 Century Universal bellows at the same time, they do excellent work.

[Barry Wilkinson]

Thanks Guys. I do not have any pinholes (yet) so I will try tgtaylor's suggestion first. I live in the UK so if I have further troubles or pinholes I will speak to Camera Bellows.

[Cor]

One thing to add: I had some mysterious intermittent light leakage with my Toyo 810 M bellows. They were newly made by Custom Bellows, and I could not find any pinholes. Finally I could trace it down to the back frame, somehow light could peep through, even when I could see no bending of the frame, or off the clip which secures it in place. I taped the back frame after installing with black tape, no more light leaking.

Good luck,

Cor

[tgtaylor]

I bought my MII from the original owner who had black felt taped to both the lensboard and rear standard plate. The felt kept the boards snug against the plates but I could see no difference with or without the felt. I guess that he wanted to cover all bases when he bought the camera.