Deardorffs made after original factory closed.

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.

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Michael

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.

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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.

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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.