HOLEY BELLOWS BATMAN!
THE PROBLEM
Folding medium format cameras like the Kodax Vigilant six-20 or the Voigtlander Perkeo II are fantastic machines. Some of them have great lenses and give you huge negatives from a machine that literally fits in your pocket. One problem that arises from their design and their age, however, is the dreaded Holey Bellows. This biblical beast will sneakily, silently wreck your negatives. Fear not, however, for in this article, I'll show you how to slay this demon.
Over time the constant folding and unfolding of the bellows can lead to the fabric wearing thin at certain points and developing small pinholes. This can be hard to see unless you illuminate the bellows from the inside:
The blue dots show the location of the pinholes. It is, unfortunately, easier to detect on the ruined negatives:
This contact sheet shows that not only are the images all completely washed out, but you can see a distinctive shape repeated on every frame (in the red ovals). The edges of the frame also show a multiple exposure effect (green rectangles).
THE REPAIR
Completely replacing the entire bellows is required if there are actual tears in the fabric, but if the problem is only pinholes the solution is, fortunately, a lot simpler. The idea is to cover the holes with a flexible black paint that will block the holes, strengthen the fabric, and handle the constant folding and unfolding. You will need the following:
1. The camera or cameras you want to repair. If you have multiple bellows cameras it is worth checking them all just in case you have some sneaky holes starting to appear which haven't found their way onto your negatives yet.
2. Some black artist's acrylic paint. Other flexible paints like fabric paints might also work, but I would avoid oil paint since the long drying time will turn this from a single day task into a multi-month marathon.
3. Some matt acrylic medium to thin the paint with. You could use water if the paint is already matt.
4. A very bright battery powered LED lamp that is small enough to fit inside the camera with the back closed. Mine has a magnet on the back as well which means you can snap it onto the pressure plate and it won't move around inside the camera. It also has a bottle opener which can be handy for a post-repair beer.
5. A fine paintbrush and something to mix the paint and medium (and/or water) in.
6. A dark room. Or a darkroom. You'll need to be able to turn a light on from where you are doing this without moving too much.
Once you have all the stuff together, and you are all set-up, you are ready to start. We will be putting multiple (5-10) coats of paint over the holes, leaving the paint time to dry between coats. Once you are ready to go, open the bellows, put the lamp inside the camera, turn it on to its fullest brightness and close the back so the lamp is inside the bellows. Turn the room light off and slowly rotate the camera in your hands scouring the bellows with your eyes looking for tiny dots of light. Allow your eyes time to adjust to the dark. Depending on the state of your camera you may have a hard time spotting them or you may be greeted with a Milky Way of tiny stars in your hands. If you have areas with multiple holes then the fabric is thin in this general area and you will be painting all of it. If you have just one or a few pinholes, you will be covering them individually. In the dark, put your finger gently on the area of the holes, then turn the room light on (dimly, if possible). Take your paintbrush and paint a very thin layer of paint over the holes. Now repeat this, turning the light off, scanning for more holes, turning the light on and painting over them until there are none left.
Take the lamp out and leave the paint to dry completely with the bellows open, then repeatedly open and close the bellows multiple times. Now repeat the entire process. You will find that some holes have reappeared as the paint has dried.
Repeat this entire process multiple times. The key here is to put multiple very thin coats of paint over the holey areas. If the paint is too thick it will impede the folding of the bellows. Remember to open and close the bellows multiple times (only once the paint is dry!) before checking for holes and adding the new coat. This will ensure that the layers are remaining flexible.
Once you have done a few cycles where no holes have reappeared, your camera should be fully light-proof once more. The Holey Bellows Beast is slain!