I happened to win an Ebay auction for an 8X10 Deardorff made by the company re-opened by Jack Deardorff in Tennesse. Anyone have one of these and what have been their experience? In terms of quality, how do they compare to the ones made in Chicago? Will they keep their value as much as the ones built in the original factory? The other question I have is what is the image circle of a 10in Kodak Commercial Ektar lens? I would like to use it on the 'dorff. What's a reasonable price for one that is in excellent condition? Thank you.

Michael

-- Michael Defensor (mdefen1@umbc.edu), December 03, 1999

Answers

Ask Ken: http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/Deardorffcam/indexa.html

-- Alec (alecj@bellsouth.net), December 03, 1999.

Not to confuse things, but the plant in Athens, Tenn. was opened by the Japanese company that won the L. F. Deardorff company, name, logo, etc. from L.F. Deardorff & Sons, Inc. when they failed to deliver on a large order. It was operated by several former Chicago Deardorff employees. Jack lives in Indian and has made a few "Deardorffs" under the company name DPPI (Deardorff Photographic Products Inc) including a line of Deardorff clones he has had to call his "Signature" series for legal reasons.

The main differences were the low-gloss finish and the use of all stainless steel in the metal parts instead of nickle plated brass, aluminum etc. As far as function and value go they should be the same unless you're trying to sell it to an ardent Deardorff collector. Thier value is primarily as a user camera as is the case with most L.F. gear.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.

There was a review of the "new" Deardorff in a back issue of "View Camera" magazine some time ago, 1991 I think (and can find out for anyone who is interested). The gist of the review was that the "new" one was essentially identical to the "old" one except for a few minor improvements to the "old" one and the different metal finish.

-- Brian Ellis (bellis60@earthlink.net), October 01, 2000.