Arca Swiss 171-171 custom bellows design? Your suggestions & experience needed.

[l2oBiN]

I am thinking of ordering custom bellows for the arca 171-171 f Classic. I currently have the standard 38cm and wide leather bellows. The standard seem quite "rigid" compared to the leather bag and I would like a bit more extension. Initialy I was thinking of the long 70cm type bellows as per arca model number 072060, however I was thinking of larger pleats as per the pleats on the new 141 -6x9 bellows.


The idea would be to carry two bellows, the wide leather for wide (47-~150) and a second bellows for ~150-700mm. I would like the second bellows to be compact thus easily carried in the field, and not thick when left on camera..

What is the best material for the bellows? The black nylon material?

Is there any suggestions on the design and lenght of the bellows?

Is there any retailers you can suggest? I am speaking to a Chinese maker at the moment...

[jb7]

I have the same bellows, standard and bag-

I have idly considered, from time to time, simply combining them to give something around 600mm long. An intermediate standard would work, though it would be quite expensive- however, I'm sure it would be possible to bodge something that would work ok-

[neil poulsen]

The standard synthetic bag bellows will work from 47mm (with a recessed lensboard) to about 180mm with the same recessed lensboard. You can find these occasionally on EBay for a couple hundred dollars. The synthetic bag bellows is like that for the Sinar, it has a single pleat.

As a second bellows, one can carry the longest 700mm bellows that works from about 240mm lenses on up.

Both bellows can be found for the 171mm format frames.

[l2oBiN]

I was thinking of bellows more like these (I guess these are the new bellows?)



but for the 171 4x5 frames.The critical thing is I would like them to go from ~150mm to 700mm. I am hoping that the new nylon material can cope with that range???

[John Schneider]

Contact Custom Bellows in the UK (I believe they're still around) and ask them about making such bellows from the material that they use for KB Canham cameras.

[r.e.]

I have idly considered, from time to time, simply combining them to give something around 600mm long. An intermediate standard would work, though it would be quite expensive- however, I'm sure it would be possible to bodge something that would work ok-

This works. I have a 4x5, with two 38cm bellows, and an 8x10. By using the 8x10's 50cm block/optical bench, the 8x10's two 25cm rails, the 4x5's 30cm rail, three of the four function carriers, the two 4x5 standards plus the 8x10's front standard, and the two 38cm bellows, I can get 800mm of extension (theoretical) and 750mm practical, given that it probably isn't a great idea to use more than about 75cm of telescoped rail.

Complicated to describe, but easy to do.

[Rod Klukas]

The 141 style bellows might work, but you will need a Bellows support at intermediate extensions. Also a custom bellows will be higher priced and probably longer to obtain. You might just order the 141 long bellows and get SK Grimes to make 2 171 flat to 141 lens board adapters. Use one in back and one in the back of the front frame.
Just an idea to speed up process.