I was lucky enough to get a loan of the wonderful Plaubel Makina 67 camera, so I took it for a walk and test run. This medium format rangefinder camera is in a league of its own. Here are my impressions.
"You have a good eye", is what many photographers hear all the time, and with reason, as we tend to spend a lot of time observing the world around us. The more you look, the more you become aware of light, patterns, geometry, and moments to capture. However, aside from the romantic notions of artistic composition, most photographers also share something else in common: what I will describe as "childlike gear geekiness". I still believe that a good photographer is not made by the camera they use, but by knowing how to best use the tools they have available. That being said, there is nothing cooler than checking out a new camera and having a proper geeky session about its capabilities.
Enter the Plaubel Makina 67. Just by chance I found out that one of my Crossfit buddies, Jim, was also an analogue gear head, a category I firmly put myself in also. After chatting about film, gear and my 52 rolls of film project, his eyes brightened and he said "you're gonna wanna know camera I have - I got myself a Plaubel" (just one of many awesome cameras he has, I might add!). Before he finished his next sentence ("do you want to borrow it?"), I already said YES.
Not least because I thought it would make for a good post, I had heard about this camera but never actually seen one. It is a very elusive camera indeed, and for good reason...there is not much else like it out there.
A bit more about the camera
The Plaubel Makina 67 was designed in Germany and built in Japan, sporting a fixed Nikkor 80mm f2.8 lens. It is a collapsible medium format rangefinder, and it doesn't come more unique than this. The original Makina was manufactured in Frankfurt, from 1912 to 1953. At some point the company became Plaubel Makina, with construction moving to Japan.
View from the front with the lens collapsed into the body. Whilst not small by any stretch of the imagination, it is small in relation to other medium format cameras. It looks like an oversized normal 35mm camera. This was shot with my Hasselblad camera...although the "problem" with medium format shots is that they are always so big and detailed that you can every last spec of dust - I should've wiped down the camera a bit!
The camera shoots 6x7 images on 120 medium format film, so you get 10 shots per roll, compared to the 12 I get on my 6x6 Hasselblad. There is an extensive history around the development of this camera, if you are interested click here.
More technical specifications are below:
Lens: Nikkor 80mm f2.8, 6 elements in 4 groups, lens
Aperture: f2.8 to f22, 5-blade diaphragm
Focus: rangefinder
Focusing range:
Shutter: 1 to 1/500 second, Bulb, Copal shutter
Size: 162 × 120 × 56mm
Weight: 1,360g
Material: metal
Flash: x flash sync at 1/500
Film: 120 film, automatic film advance and lever
My photowalk
I went for a long walk around the block, looking to shoot a few rolls and play around with the camera for a few hours. The photos are nothing special, I just took what caught my eye and tried out some different lighting situations to see how the camera faired. All photographs taken with the Plaubel Makina 67 were shot on Fuji Pro 400H film, and the shots of the camera itself were on Kodak Ektar 100 film.
First shot: sunset. Looking very good to start, impressed by the sharpness.
Shot 30 mins later, really nice colours in this one. I might frame this shot.
Out for the photowalk. I always like taking photos of shadows, they are so fleeting. Makes for some fun composition too.
Nice and sunny but quite cold to row, the rowers didn't look very happy I can tell you.
I couldn't resist taking this shot, fun!
This shot is insanely sharp. So sharp it looks like it came out of a digital camera. Very impressive.
Another very sharp shot. This is easily the most photographed spot of Frankfurt, the skyline as viewed from the "Flößerbrücke" bridge.
Reflections are always fun things to photograph.
I took this shot in black and white during one of the week's of my 52 rolls of film project, this shot is much sharper though. I like the colours too, I usually opt for Kodak Portra 400, but Fuji's Pro 400H is a strong competitor.
As I was composing this shot, luck had it that an ICE train passed over the bridge, making for a nice intersection.
I usually leave the "pixel peeping" to the real geeks on the internet, and I never worry about it for film, given that film's imperfections are where it shines. However, just to reinforce how sharp this Nikkor lens is, here is a cropped shot.
Frankfurt may get some bad wrap as a city (usually from people who only know the airport / convention centre), but it sure does have a nice skyline and river walkway.
Yes I did go to a transport museum (my geekiness knows no end). More sharp photos of old trams.
St. Patrick chilling in the sunshine.
Even they took an interest in the Plaubel!
Shots of the camera
Of course, a review of a camera wouldn't be complete without some close up shots. All shot with Hasselblad 501c on Kodak Ektar 100 film and using a tripod.
The camera with the bellows fully extended. Curiously, the focusing knob is on top of the camera (on the right). It takes a while to get used to, I kept on trying to focus on the lens. The camera can take both 120 and 220mm film.
Front shot of the camera. As it is a rangefinder it means you are not looking through the lens for the final photograph. There are framelines within the viewfinder so you can see what is going to be in and out of the shot. When you change the focusing the camera automatically adjusts the framelines to compensate for parallax error. If you are really interested to know what that means, just drop me a note.
View from the back. The film loads similarly to a 35mm camera, of course with much larger 120mm film. After each exposure you have to wind the winding crank twice, which can get confusing if you forget to do it. I don't think the camera will fire the next shot unless you wind it twice though.
Close-up of the focusing ring.
Overall observations
I have never been one for overly technical write-ups, and to be honest the internet is awash with technical reviews. I thought I would just go for a walk and see how this camera handled. The Plaubel also has an inbuilt light meter, but I found it just as fast to use my external handheld Sekonic light meter and take readings every now and then. Unless the light changes drastically (which it did not), it is fairly easy to gauge exposure.
I really enjoyed taking the camera out. Whilst relatively small for a medium format camera, once you extend out the bellows to take a photograph, it turns out to be quite big. It is also built like a tank, so not exactly on the light side. It does also attract quite a lot of attention, which I don't mind, but this is not a camera you can be stealthy with.
The Nikkor f2.8 lens is SUPERB. One of the best lenses I have ever shot with. This camera / lens combination must be fantastic for outside portraiture. It would be interesting to see how the shots of a black and white film came out, I can imagine some super sharp and high contrast images under the right lighting.
Pros
Relatively small for a medium format camera
Rangefinder
Superb optics
Wonderfully designed, built like a tank
Let's face it, it's just cool!
Cons
Whilst small when the lens is not extended, it is a bit awkward when bellows are fully out
Requires some getting used to, focusing ring is in a strange location
Light meter is not as bright or simple to use as for example in a Leica M6
Double wind for film advance is a bit annoying
The pros clearly outweighs the cons here. It is a superb camera, with one of the best lenses I have ever tried. You feel like a legend when walking around with it hanging around your neck. I am glad I have only tried it briefly and will give it back before I get any silly ideas that I need to buy one. If you ever get a chance to try one out, you will not be disappointed!
I hope you enjoyed the shots and writeup about a really unique camera. Thanks for stopping by, and thank you most of all to Jim for loaning me his Plaubel!
Cheers,
Neil
