to talk about the bellows on a 4x5 view camera, right now. These little accordion type, looking

things are called the bellows. O.k. On all large format cameras, have bellows. They are

an essential function of a large format camera. When you are buying a large format camera,

you are in the market for one. The first thing I look at, is the bellows on the camera. The

bellows on this particular camera are in perfect condition. Something, I really don't see too

much. But with this camera, someone who had it before me. Took great care of it. There

are no holes in the corners of these bellows. If there were holes, it would be a real problem

to use this camera. Because the holes would get into the camera. And thus, light would

leak in and cause light leaks on my image. Or maybe even, possibly fog my whole negative

image, in the back. So whenever I look at camera, I'm looking of wholes in those bellows.

Now some cameras that I have, that I've bought have little tiny holes in them. Which is really,

a repairable thing. I get some Gaffer tape and I just sort of, tape them up. It's not

ideal but it can work. So it's not such a problem. The other thing, what the bellows

really do. Is they work as how your image, gets to be focused. And that's a pretty interesting

thing. Certain cameras have different bellows extensions too. When I'm using a very wide

angle lens, I might use a bad bellows. If I'm using a lens for closeup photography,

I'm going to need a bellows, that extends out really far. So those are the functions

of the bellows, on a 4x5 camera.