Thanks again for the help! It's been gathering dust for far too long! I saw that you mentioned that the GG focus plane differed very slightly from that of the rollfilm back on another thread. In that case how did you go about moving the front standard back to account for that?Happy to see it workedwell done!!
Hello All,
I'd like to enter this discussion by first introducing myself. I am Ares, and in the past couple of months I have developed what can only be described as an obsession with the Plaubel Makina Camera system, reading virtually all available resources found online and scouring through any and all photographs related to the system available. Obviously, this particular thread has been a great resource and is of great interest to me, which is why I would now like to contribute, since as if by allignement of the stars, 2 months ago an excellent Plaubel Makina IIIR outfit went for auction on Ebay and I just had to have it, for reasons I will explain below.
Here is the complete outfit I got:
View attachment 265177
Starting with the camera, it is a beatiful Makina IIIR in used but great condition overall, with what I can describe as a truly unique and rare feature. The front sports finder wireframe has been fitted in a dark green synthetic covering, similar to what is used on wires I imagine. In my research, this is the only example I haver ever seen displaying this modification. Upon inspection, the application looks too clean to have been an aftermarket thing. Perhaps it was a customization Plaubel offered, or maybe a unique customer request ? Besides giving the camera a beatiful highlight, especially in contrast to the brown flash connector point, it has served well in preventing rubbing of the bare metal wireframe against the chrome front plate, which would have resulted in brassing often seen in other well used examples. Below a closer look.
Next are the lenses. All 3 came with their original caps, which has ment they've been preserved in an amazing condition. The Telemakinar especially, as it also came with a bottom cap, is actually the cleanest second hand lens I haver ever purchased. Its in such prestine conditon I am allmost afraid to use it ! The other two lenses are also well kept, but the Anticomar has this weird brown gunk built up across the outer rimm of the front element. I do not think it will affect photography ( I havent shot it yet), but I am curious as why this has formed. The Orthar is probably the worst of the lot, has quite a bit of dust in it, or at least considering the small surface area of it, but as I am lead to believe it is the sharpest of all 3, it should not be an issue.
Moving on to the extra bits, probably the most helpful is the quite rare tripod mount, which is in 1/4 threading same as the camera, which by the way has all markings in feet as does the Tele Makinar. Infact without it, I do not think the camera would be able to be mounted on a tripod for an extended period of time without causing damage to the tongues from the leveraging force of the frontal assembly, especially if one was to mount the TeleMakinar, which is probably the only lens you'd definately want to mount the camera on a tripod for anyway.
In addition to the Wide Angle Viewfinder mask, I also got a highly unusual rendition of the TeleMakinar Mask. It is bronze "in the white" with no post processing, and also made out of bended sheet metal construction, unlike regular masks which from what I've seen online were probably milled. Again, this really raises the question if this is a genuine Plaubel article, or whether it was an aftermarket part. If it is genuine Plaubel, it could be that they tried to simplify the construction of these viewfinders, as indeed this one works just as well, and is propably a heck of a lot easier to make. So much so, that I am infact considering copying the design to reconstruct all the masks I am missing. Moving on, I also very conviniently got not 1 but 2 lens hoods, though one of them is quite rickety on account of the rivets of the hinges being on their last legs. This is probably the reason the previous owner got a second hood in the first place, but if they eventually give out installing new rivets should be a short task, and the hood is in great condition otherwise, infact even better than the fully working one. Yet another very curious attachment included in the lot is a universal flash mount. It is infact a Plaubel Flash mount, that has been modified with a piece of aluminium and a cold shoe on top, allowing any type of flash to be used with the camera, and in fact any other cold shoe attachement one might wish to use, like a light meter, level etc. I also can not tell if this a home job, an aftermarket offering or factory attachment, but the microscrews used to attach the aluminium piece onto the mount indicate to me its probably of factory fabrication. A normal person, or even after market dealer would have used normal screws, as the mount is more than capable of accomodating them. In combination with a direct modern flash socket that has been fitted on the camera next to the brown normal connector, the camera is ready to be used with a flash without having to find the Maki Blitz attachment, though it means having to lift the wireframe somewhat.
I also very interestingly got an extra rangefinder cover included in the lot, which to me means the camera has certainly been worked on before, which is certainly substantiated by the fact that the rangefinder works wonderfully. Very conviniently, the covers are of the two different styles, i.e. the fixed and telescoping viewfinder, which made a comparison between them possible. In actual fact the fixed viewfinder is much more convinient overall. While the telescoping viewfinder does allow to bring your eye closer to it with a camera back installed, it is about 0.7x the size of the fixed viewfinder, which means in effect the resulting image is the same, eventhough the fixed viewfinder is viewed from further back. Additionally, if you're using single sheets and there is no need for extention, the fixed viewfinder hands down wins with a larger resulting image, and add to this that the telescoping viewfinder provides a possible hazard in accidentally knocking said viewfinder and bending the telescoping pieces, the fixed viewfinder certainly is the superior choise. Very peculiarly, the rear wireframe viewfinder attached to one of the rangefinder covers is of the Plaubel Makina II "peep sight" style.
Moving to the backs, I was lucky enough to get both a 6x6 back & a 6X9 back with the very rare and often lost 6x4.5 mask included. Additionally the 6x9 back has the half way indicators between frames to facilitate use of this mask, which is not the case for most 6x9 backs. I have since bought an additional 6x9 and 6x6 back which are on the way, as well as a 35mm Back and Pack Film Back which are already here. Sadly the Pack Film back is for the Plaubel Makina IIs only I imagine, as the camera lock can not engage with this back installed, and the back itself does not have a lock of its own like the other backs. I have infact ordered the proper Pack Film Back since, which from the photographs does come with the proper lock attached. Why would I get the packfilm backs you ask, when theres no packfilm around, well I am planning to make my own as a future project, which would mean I could get 12 6x9 frames, for half the volume of a normal roll film back which only gives 8 frames. It is a long shot prospect, but hey ho, at least if anything the back will look pretty and complete the collectionOn the subject of backs, what really irks me is the fact that at least with my camera, even with the lock engaged there is a 3mm play from left to right when the back is slid onto the rails. The felt light traps provide enough friction that this is not really an issue unless you delibaretely move it, and it seems as if it would be light tight at both extremes anyway, but my OCD just kicks in and it bothers me. I am planning of making an aluminium L bracket to JB weld at the left end of the top rail, so that when the lock engages there is no more play. In fact if Plaubel could not make the rails precise enough to facilitate tight locking across the board (which to me seems very strange considering the otherwise high quality of the camera), this simple tolerance correction method is so rudamentary (honestly engineering 101) that it really buffles me they did nothing about it. In any case, I was also lucky enough to get a pretty minty focusing screen, with an extremely well preserved ground glass. The cloth coverings were a bit messy and overfolded, but I ironed them out using a kitchen iron and ironing glue, and now they are as good as new.
Unfortunately, not all was great. The camera can not be set to the 1/400th speed for some odd reason. All other speeds work perfectly, but as soon as the ring is set to the 1/200th speed it does not want to move any further. I cant even move it a mm further, its as if it hits a solid wall. Additionally, when the camera is set to the wide angle position, and the range is set close to infinity, the upper tonge locking tab becomes loose, so much so that if I were to depress the bottom botton locking the lower tongue, I could disengage the upper tongue without even touching the upper tongue locking botton, just by sliding the front panel back and forth. I am guessing the upper slotted spring tab in which the upper tongue locks has been deformed over time, and needs either bending back or replacing. This issue is not catastrophic, as the camera still locks from below, but again just knowing the camera is not perfect, and the left side corner might move if I assume the correct holding position, makes me uneasy. The felt light trap also appears to me thin at some points, but having not had experience with such light traps before, I'll need to shoot first before I can descern if it really is problematic. In any case the camera is in need of some looking at. Following the advice found on this thread, I have contacted wizcam, which has said he'll happily "fix" all these problems if I send the camera to him. However, his poor english, and the fact he is half a world away from me, with no way of monitoring his work as I can with my local camera technician, has put me off it for the moment. Any reasuring words from people with experience dealing with him would be appreciated.
I am looking forward to taking part in further discussion of this system, and seeing all of your guys collections and future acquisitions, as well as photographs. In regards to the last one, I too am hoping to post some photographs soon. I am also planning to acquire the "Buch der Makina" System Guide, to have a look at. As I am fluent in german, I am planning to translate and post any sections of particular interest here, once I've gotten and read the book of course, I am afterall still a student with a busy schedule.
Congratulations for finding your version of the perfect camera.
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