Old Familiar Memories - Photo 48

Bellow Camera

Bellows cameras get their name from the folding box of pleated material That forms the light tight seal between lens and film. The folding camera exists because of the desire to take cameras into the outside world and the requirement to keep them as small as was practical. The earliest form of collapsing the camera for storage was to make the camera from two boxes, one sliding inside the other. The bellows offered still greater shrinkage, and also flexibility to move the lens off centre. Early lenses and films required the use of a fairly sizable negative - which in turn led to a fairly sizable camera. The folding bellows camera evolved very early in the development of the camera and the principle stayed in widespread use for over a century, even today new models for studio photography are being created - as a result there are literally thousands of different models.