Bellows for Canon EOS

[Macro_Cosmos]

I don't think those bellows come with caps when purchased new either. They do have nice foam cases for secured packaging, which definitely is missing on cheaper used models.

Gaffer taping a piece of paper does the job.

[enricosavazzi]

At present I am setting up my home office/photo lab in (hopefully) my permanent residence for several years to come, and this thread came at a time when I started to re-evaluate my options for equipment to keep or discard. For one thing, bellows in a lab setting are more efficient to reconfigure than stacks of extension tubes.

In addition to the modern legacy bellows (Canon, Pentax, Olympus OM etc.), there is an option that I intend to explore once more: the older "Vielzweck" and "Kolpofot" bellows made by Ihagee/Exakta, which are much stiffer than any subsequent types of bellows. For one thing, their massive standards glide along a prismatic rail with metal-to-metal sliders, and are therefore intrinsically stiffer than the nylon inserts of more recent bellows.

I bought one of these Ihagee bellows from eBay years ago, but unfortunately at that time I received a defective one that had been repaired with large amounts of a resin-like glue that blocked the camera attachment mechanisms. I got rid of these bellows soon thereafter, but I recently ordered a second one that is hopefully more functional.

This type of bellows may be a good alternative to the more common types mentioned in this thread, once one manages to adapt or replace the front and rear Exakta mounts. In addition, these bellows are not difficult to find on eBay and a little cheaper than more well-known brands.

I added a preliminary discussion of the Ihagee bellows to the page on my site that has already been mentioned in this thread, and will add information as I go on with this project:
http://savazzi.net/photography/bellows.htm

[viktor j nilsson]

... an option that I intend to explore once more: the older "Vielzweck" and "Kolpofot" bellows made by Ihagee/Exakta, which are much stiffer than any subsequent types of bellows. For one thing, their massive standards glide along a prismatic rail with metal-to-metal sliders, and are therefore intrinsically stiffer than the nylon inserts of more recent bellows.

The Ihagee bellows seems to work very much like my large Pentacon M42 bellows, see e.g. https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?p=37898

I read on Wikipedia that Ihagee was "taken over" by Pentacon in 1951 and "completely absorbed" by Pentacon in 1970, so the similarity is probably not accidental. Are there any specific reason you prefer the Ihagee-branded version? The M42-threaded bellows must be a lot easier to adapt.

By the way, is your new home in Borgholm on Öland? That's fantastic, I grew up in Gårdby on Öland and my father still lives there.

[enricosavazzi]

[...]
The Ihagee bellows seems to work very much like my large Pentacon M42 bellows, see e.g. https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?p=37898
[...]
Are there any specific reason you prefer the Ihagee-branded version? The M42-threaded bellows must be a lot easier to adapt.

By the way, is your new home in Borgholm on Öland? That's fantastic, I grew up in Gårdby on Öland and my father still lives there.

The M42 Topcon bellows are indeed easier to adapt, but the standards are of the hollow type. I prefer the original Ihagee design with standards of solid metal, for maximum mass and stiffness. Adding some length at the rear of the bellows is necessary in any case, to accommodate the bulky right-hand grip of most modern cameras.

The hollow standards are a subsequent change to save material and weight, and are already seen in some Ihagee-branded specimens.

The clamping mechanism may also be different in the two types of standards. The solid standards clamp against the rail against their entire length (a slot in the middle allows the two sides of the slider to flex slightly and press against the rail). I am not quite sure about the hollow standards, but they are not slotted in the middle and may have a smaller locking mechanism or set screw pressing against one side of the rail.

Indeed I live in Borgholm on Öland, since late last year. Only weeks ago we moved into a totally renovated, almost 100 years old house. We spent the past several months in a smaller guesthouse on the property while the renovation was completed, so I am only now unpacking and setting up my photo lab. The plan was to rent out the guesthouse to tourists in the summer, like many people do on Öland, but this year the pandemic is changing a lot of things. Covid-19 is not officially here yet, but is expected to arrive in force in May or June.