Oh Man! Plaubel Makina III! Back to RF.

Makina Focal Plane Shutter 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Makina Focal Plane Shutter 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is my trusty IIIR with a new cool addition. The Plaubel Makina Focal Plane Shutter, with speeds up to 1/1000 second. Aside from the action stopping ability, it will allow me to use high speed film at more wipe-open apertures. An advantage for me under some conditions. A rare item to be sure, probably the most difficult to find accessory in the Makina system. I know a photographer in NYC who has two of these, and he shares my enthusiasm for this shutter's use. the focal plane shutter release is just to the right of the rear optical eyepiece.

You crank the bellows back to the wide angle setting, and it focuses perfectly at infinity which I have confirmed with a Makina groundglass.
 
Handheld HRU 200th F6 Med Yello MicX by Nokton48, on Flickr

Made another couple tests yesterday, decreasing exposure by one and two stops.

Handheld Fuji HRU XRay film Plaubel Makina II 1/200 f6.0 Plaubel Yellow filter Mic-X 12 minutes 5x7 Aristo #2 RC print Omega DII Omegalite Diffusion head Multigrade dev. Plaubel Makina sheet film holder was utilized.

Key Day Full Sun. Great I can shoot handheld with XRay film. The Makina II is getting to be my favorite Makina. Plaubel used to market it as "The World's Smallest View Camera". I will agree with those sentiments after using it for a while.
 
Std Maki 120-125mm lens group by Nokton48, on Flickr

Back to the main topic the Plaubel Makiflex Standard. According to Plaubel the widest that would go on her was 125mm. On the right is my 120mm f6.8 Barrel chrome Schneider Angulon, in a Durst recessed enlarging lens cup. At infinity it strikes the mirror, but hyperfocal focus allows the shutter to fire. Classic Dagor rendering in a LF Reflex format.

On the far left is the modern Fuji GX680 125mm F3.2 hacked into a Peco Profia Jr recessed board. By shaving down the rear mount rim, removing a decent amount of material, she focused beautifully right out to infinity and the shutter neatly fires without issues. This is HOT! glass and is part of the GX680 F3.2 triad of high performance lenses.

On the Maki Std body is the 125mm f5.6 Fuji GX680 which is also on a Peco Jr recessed board. I also had to remove a couple mm's of the lens rear outer barrel (I use my bench grinder with care and a lot of blue tape). This lens is an excellent performer and can be found for not much money.

On both of these GX680 lenses I kept the original electronic shutter and simply very carefully removing the shutter blades, leaving the original mechanical iris mechanisms alone. I marked the f/stops using a fine point sharpie and a metal Sinar ruler marked in mm's.

I'm looking forward to using these in the upcoming shooting season. Pretty wide for a 9x9cm LF reflex camera!
 
Plaubel Peco Profia 6.5x9cm Makina Film Plate Back restored by Nokton48, on Flickr

I have over fifty of these 6.5x9cm Plaubel Makina Sheet Film Holders. I want to be able to use these plates in my Plaubel 4x5 Peco Profia view cameras. I like shooting single sheets, although these holders are surprising heavy when stacked together!

Yesterday I finished partially restoring this 70's vintage original Plaubel 6.5x9cm holder. I cut a piece of thick cardboard to go on top of the rear groundglass frame area, and secured it tightly with a lot of layers of black photo masking tape. I then taped the black Peco Profia Bag Bellows Viewer to the cardboard frame. This is good enough for now but next I will cut something out of some nice hard wood that I can paint black. I can see 100% ground glass at once and see more than enough detail to obtain perfect focus. I bought a 3x4" fresnel and cut it with bench grinder to precisely fit behind the ground glass and it works a treat. Good as new as far as I can tell.

Right now I have J Lane Glass Dry Plates, ORWO NP20 (very old from Bulgaria), FOMA 100, Fresh FP4+, and some other B&W emulsions loaded and ready to be exposed.
 
Makina II HRU Handheld by Nokton48, on Flickr

Plaubel Makina II Handheld Fuji HRU XRAY film cut from 8x10. RADA plate holder with film insert, Plaubel Yellow filter. 1/200 at f6. 5x7 Aristo #2 Omega DII 4x5 glass carrier Multigrade developer. I produced four perfect negatives from this shoot. Successful test with no scratches. This film scratches very easilty
 
Makina3 #2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Japanese Garden Innis Woods

Plaubel advertised the Makinas as "the worlds smallest view camera". Using a Makina in some ways is like that in terms of use.

Foma 200 developed in replenished straight Microdol-X. Exposure bracketed in half stops to give myself a choice. Plaubel Makina III with 100mm F2.9 Anticomar Plaubel 6x9cm back Arista #2 RC paper Omega DII laser aligned Multigrade dev Omegalite diffusion head
 
Standard Makiflex No.2 180 Xenar 6x9 Makina Back Makiflex Cable by Nokton48, on Flickr

This just arrived on our Thanksgiving table, A Makiflex Standard from Team Foto in Germany. Ordered in middle October just now arrived. Comes with Schneider 180mm f4.5 Xenar in barrel, 6x9cm Plaubel Makina Roll Film Back, original Makiflex Cable Release, and Waist Level Viewfinder. It is good to have two Makiflex Standards at this point. This camera is great for specialty lenses and anything really wide (around 120mm or so).
 
Two Good Shooting Tools by Nokton48, on Flickr

On the left my Makina IIIR with 100mm F2.9 Anticomar, Focal Plane Shutter attached, you focus with the small scale directly below the front optical viewer, it's on the backside. Never noticed it was there, heh heh. Geoff Berliner agreed with me that this is an important accessory, since you can shoot high speed 400 film at 1/1000 which is a distinct advantage, when you are trying to shoot wider open with a distinctive F2.9 speedo lens. BTW I have standardized shooting Ilford PanF+, it's the perfect speed for this 6x9cm photography. High speed film was like EI 100 back in those days. 1/1000 was a huge selling point. Using the focal plane shutter is really quite a hoot. You measure the distance using the reg camera rangefinder, then set that distance on the scale on the flip side of the bottom of the front finder bottom. 50 ISO film is the sweet spot with these cameras. The trigger for the focal plane shutter (which becomes the camera release) is the lever right next to the rear optical finder stack. So you hold the camera differently with the focal plane shutter.

On the right is my venerable and totally lovable Makina II stealth black camera also with 6x9cm back and Ilford PanF+. This one does everything I want and need very precisely. It like transports me back to the twenties it's a lot of fun to use and very intuitive in practice.

I am recently enjoying using both of these fine cameras. Folded up not too bad to carry around, even with the roll backs. Guess that was the real point of the design, to be stealthy in reportage. A blast to use, recommended
 
Scan-161104-0001 by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is the uber rare 100mm F4.2 Anticomar on the Plaubel Makina IIIR. Uber sharpness for reportage and commercial uses according to Plaubel The is "Ye Olde Ice Cream Factory in Utica, Ohio. Original mill millstone on display just to the left of the running mill. A good test in an architectural detail shot displaying the acuity of the F4.2 Anticomar Notice how prcisely you can compose at the edges of the frame. Impeccible. Leica quality MF RF!
 
Focal Plane Shutter Distance Scales Makina IIIR by Nokton48, on Flickr
  • Distance Scale on the Makina IIIR for use with the Focal Plane Shutter. Quite precise first you find your distance using the standard rangefinder setup, then transfer to this distance scale which compensates for the thickness of the shutter. Works perfectly in practice. Fits well on the IIIR as it takes all the lenses and attachments. Never noticed this scale until I got the shutter. There is a trigger button sticking out of the shutter box, that fires the FP shutter. Speeds from 1/100 to 1/1000 great for close range sports or reportage. Anything requiring stop action with fast film
 
Makina III F4.2 F2.9 Anticomar Modern Sync by Nokton48, on Flickr

The Plaubel Makina III moves into the studio with the Makiflexes. Two lenses, the speedo F2.9 Anticomar, and the uber sharp F4.2 Anticomar. Makina Yellow Filters and original Lenshoods . These will both get some more use. Glenn Evans had the original Makina Strobe Sync Plug with fires my 70s era Broncolor strobes just fine. Plaubel recommended the F4.2 lens for commercial product shooting. Shown plugged into my Paramount homemade Pulso Sync cord. With the F2.9 lens I'll be selecting Ilford Pan F at EI 50 which gives me about 1/125 wide open or so outdoors. If I want uber sharpness with the F4.2 lens I will switch to EI 100 Delta 100
 
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Shorin' up my Makina kit for spring walking around. Makina IIIR with 100mm F4.2 Sharp Anticomar on the back left. On the right is stealth black Makina II with 100mm F2.9 Orthometar speedy soft lens. I have three Makina 6x9cm 120 backs loaded with my go-to film for these cameras, Ilford PanF+. On the slower interesting side is another Makina 6x9 loaded with ISO 25 MACO ORT 25. This is real slow orthochromatic emulsion, really contrasty but I like it and WOW uber sharp. For faster shooting especially with the sharp F4.2 Orthometar is one more Makina 6x9cm back, loaded with Delta 100 which is a new film for me to use, I do like TMAX100 and this is similar I believe. Should be good with the uber sharp F4.2. Plaubel recommended the F4.2 for travel, reportage, and commercial use. I'm going to wrap the extra backs in bubble wrap, then load into my Swiss Medical Bag. Grab a body and maybe a meter and that's it. Also my notebook
 
001 by Nokton48, on Flickr

My Swedish Medical Bag from the local military surplus store. The film backs are beeg and heavy but still work work well for their age. Take some getting use to. Roger Hicks hated them but I have warmed up to their uses. Space between frames increases if you go back to using the olde 120 wooden spool as a take-up inside each back. I picked up a good number and still use them
 
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here I've quickly adapted the Arca Swiss 4x5 Reflex Magnifying Hood to the Automatic Makiflex. Hollywood Gaffer's Tape and razor blade (many layers) makes a semi-permanent installation. I love it! No wonder Geoff Berliner at Penumbra modded his and sent me phone pix. What I like about is that it is uber high-eyepoint, there is a one inch wide black border around the 9x9 framing. All my other finders work better with 6x9cm. Geoff told me I am nuts to shoot 6x9 with this camera, square is it. It's rather unique in that aspect. Anyways I have a another of these finders coming from KEH, with the rubber eyecup :) For 9x9 shooting the groundglass grain is sharp to my eye and I always compose from the edges and move in. So this finder is wonderful to me and my square uses.

These are my shorter automatic iris lenses. On the camera the 150mm Maki Schneider barrel Symmar auto iris, in the center the 150mm Maki f4.5 Schneider Xenar auto iris. Then on the right, the 180mm Maki f4.5 Schneider Xenar auto iris. I have not used these shorter lenses much and am looking forward to this seasons work

Truly the camera for The Atomic Age.
 
Fuji 100mm F4 Makiflex Fp4+ Mic-X by Nokton48, on Flickr

To shoot this image of Connell's Hardware sign, I was crushed up against the front glass window, in order to shoot at this obscure angle with tripod. The Fuji GX680 100mm F4 optics, transplanted into a recessed Plaubel Peco Jr lensboard, then onto the Plaubel Makiflex Standard body. Ilford FP4+ 6x9cm rollfilm, processed in Legacy Mic-X straight and replenished. Scanned on an Epson 4490 scanner

The GX680 100mm F4 is a great lens on the Std Maki, but only for closer shooting, the rear group focuses to infinity, but unfortunately strikes the mirror, so the camera won't fire. But it works great for closer-in shooting and WOW it's wide on a Maki!

According to Plaubel back in the day, 125mm was as wide as you could go. Not so with modern Fuji optics :)
 
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

On the left is my Plaubel Makina IIIR, with 100mm F4.2 Rare Orthometar lens (their sharp lens), Makina Hood. Makina Yellow Filter. Also this camera has the Rare Focal Plane Shutter, with speeds to 1/1000 so high speed film can be used under bright conditions. To the right is my new Peco Junior, it's really not any bigger than my Makiflexes. I am delighted. Shown with Peco Jr Bag Bellows, and standard lens, late model 100mm F5.6 Schneider Symmar with Compur Shutter. There's a 6x9cm Makina 120 Back on the camera. Top right is the Magnifier (I think it is Plaubel!) Viewfinder I have tested it with all my Peco Junior lenses from 47mm to 210mm and it's becoming an important accessory. In right front is MX/521 Back for Plaubel Makina Double Rail Backs, I have three of these. A cool pop-up Viewfinder on the back I rebuilt and I also installed a nice fresnel behind the glass. Small and handy, slide the pop-up off, and attach a 6x6 or 6x9 Makina Roll Back.
Finally on the left front is the Standard Bellows, and the three parts (needs final assembly) of the Jim Galvin 120 Back. The board I got from Glenn fits the front of my Pecoflex, but not the Peco Junior. But I have a flat Rear Standard Plate original Peco that will be perfect for finishing this back. I made a spacer plate out of sawn alder wood in my shop, you see that on top. Peco Junior needs new front and back light seals, but in perfect working order. Like the Sinar Norma this camera locks down tight no play at all. And I have a number of original lensboards that need new light trapping.
 
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