How do you store your Folding Camera?

[newfilm]

So eh, here's me with my obsession with seemingly trivial stuff again, how do you guys store your folding camera when not in use? Fold it up in a drawer vs Open and stand in a cupboard?

also, do you think is it a good idea to apply some leather cream (I think I can steal some from my wife' leather bag cream) on the bellow to treat some potential old fold that might develop into a dry crack?

as usual, any input are welcome 🙂

 

[sevo]

I keep mine folded up. It is pretty irrelevant in which position they stiffen up, if they happen to do so, and in expanded state they are more exposed to pollution and mechanical damage...

Unless you have a seriously old camera (or some "genuine leather" boutique large format item), the bellows will be a layered composite and the "leather" layer may be vinyl, paper or some other leather imitate. It is hard to predict how the glues and materials involved will react to the often secret ingredients of leather cream - in my experience, leather treatments are quite likely to cause long term functional damage, for the questionable benefit of a short term optical improvement.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Open and standing behind glass door.
I used regular cleaning, protecting/shining tissues for vinyl and lexol of leather.

 

[nikon_sam]

One is folded and in it's original carrying case...another is folded and in it's original box...none are currently being displayed...

 

[Fixcinater]

Retina II (Ektar 47mm model): closed
Super Ikonta 532/16: open

Sometimes I switch them around but I think cleaning dust off the lens (I haven't found UV filters for either, yet) is probably worse for the camera than bellows issues.

 

[citizen99]

Folded, in plain, stackable ex- ice cream boxes, labelled for contents on side and end.
The same goes for any other cameras, accessories and spare parts that fit ;-)

 

[Dralowid]

Folded, and the less one messes with bellows the better!

 

[rick oleson]

I'm not religious about it either way, I have some open on display and some folded. However, my experience would suggest that open may be the better choice as long as you keep the camera protected from light, dirt and physical damage. When closed, the folded layers can stick to each other (I expect this takes quite a few years to happen), and this is likely to be a very difficult, if not impossible condition to recover from. As noted above, there are many different bellows materials, and this problem will affect some more than others.

 

[Hatchetman]

In a big pile in the bottom of my closet along with all my other cameras.