I've found liquid electrical tape to be wonderful for minor bellows patching. That is, until you hit a hot, humid day, when you unfold the camera and watch in horror as the now not-so-dried L.E.T. sticks to itself and begins to resemble nothing so much as a slice of pizza trailing strings of long, black, molten cheese.
I'm dubious as to the long-term value of the repair, but if my replacement project goes well, the old bellows will probably be scrapped anyhow. I extracted (read: tore) out the old bellows from my recent find this morning, coating my desk and hands in fine black powder. I'm sure it's harmless. Hopefully.
Just got back from picking up some blackout fabric and black paint for Bellows Attempt #1 per the ultra-cheap directions. Just to keep things interesting, I'm also going to be running 120 film through a 122 camera. Why keep it simple?
I have decided, however, that I'm going to aim for substitute bellows, not replacement, the differentiation being that a replacement will be foldable, ideally professionalish-looking, and pretty. My substitute just needs to be good enough to keep light out and not dip into the frame. To properly replace the old bellows, I need to fashion a fearsome tool like this one spied on photo.net (scroll down to second picture.) Kodak was clearly not interested in serviceability of these old cameras.
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I've found liquid electrical tape to be wonderful for minor bellows patching. That is, until you hit a hot, humid day, when you unfold the camera and watch in horror as the now not-so-dried L.E.T. sticks to itself and begins to resemble nothing so much as a slice of pizza trailing strings of long, black, molten cheese.
Mmmm... cheese pizza... oh, sorry.
I'm dubious as to the long-term value of the repair, but if my replacement project goes well, the old bellows will probably be scrapped anyhow. I extracted (read: tore) out the old bellows from my recent find this morning, coating my desk and hands in fine black powder. I'm sure it's harmless. Hopefully.
Just got back from picking up some blackout fabric and black paint for Bellows Attempt #1 per the ultra-cheap directions. Just to keep things interesting, I'm also going to be running 120 film through a 122 camera. Why keep it simple?
I have decided, however, that I'm going to aim for substitute bellows, not replacement, the differentiation being that a replacement will be foldable, ideally professionalish-looking, and pretty. My substitute just needs to be good enough to keep light out and not dip into the frame. To properly replace the old bellows, I need to fashion a fearsome tool like this one spied on photo.net (scroll down to second picture.) Kodak was clearly not interested in serviceability of these old cameras.
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