Thoughts on the Plaubel Makina 67

jankap said:
What about a picture of your acquisition? Of course in both meanings!
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f.hayek said:
Have you shot and developed a roll to confirm all is well with the film advance mechanism, frame spacing and light seal integrity?
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Finished a first roll today. I will report results once scanned. A picture of the camera itself tomorrow.
So far, it seems fine. The lens release button feels a bit vague but works fine. The meter button doesn’t have a defined pressure point - not sure whether this is normal.
Light seals “look” fine in the back door.
Film advance feels fine, I will need to check the frame spacing, of course.
Setting the lens to a defined focus distance and checking the rangefinder against an object placed at that distance shows a perfect match. Need to see the corresponding image.

I will certainly do more rolls and see whether anything suspicious shows up.
 
That seems to be a fine item. Of course you will find something suspicious. Perhaps a dead fly or something. Think positive please!
I almost have a lifelong thought of buying a veriwide, never decided for it. Now I am very happy with digital hardware and software. My profession....!
 
Deardorff38 said:
Since it's an electronic camera, i'd also be concerned about the GF670 becoming a very expensive paperweight.
I have a perhaps unhealthy leaning towards mechanical cameras that can be repaired.....
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Eschewing all cameras with electronics is a bit extreme. Yes, they might fail. But all of us will assuredly fail one day. I bought an R9 and it is a fantastic camera. It’s also not the only one I own and until the day it might give up the ghost, I will enjoy it. Life’s too short.
 
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Canyongazer said:
As I was about to inquire if the Fuji GF670 would be a good alternative camera to the Plaubel I checked the Fuji USED camera prices. Yikes!
OK, theoretically (or not, depending on your camera budget) GF670 vs Pla
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f.hayek said:
Eschewing all cameras with electronics is a bit extreme. Yes, they might fail. But all of us will assuredly fail one day. I bought an R9 and it is a fantastic camera. It’s also not the only one I own and until the day it might give up the ghost, I will enjoy it. Life’s too short.
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Well FH, That may be true, but on the GF with it's proven fragile folding mechanism as well, I'm not willing to gamble $2500-3000 USD. I accept that the R9 works for you, (clearly the Fuji doesn't have the reliability of the Leica) but my needs are covered by a Leica M4, Rolleiflex and a 4x5..... none of which require electronics.....perhaps if they did i might chance it. The only camera i own with electronics is a Pentax 645.... which is easily and cheaply replaced.
It's not that i'm inherently opposed to electronics.....more like i don't have a need for them. For example, if i were choosing a siren camera today that i've never owned, i'd be more likely to buy a Nikon F2 Titan, than a Contax T3 but.....
to go back to the GF670, the known fragility of the folding mechanism which puts the lens out of alignment, plus the history of Fuji USA not being able to repair my friend's virtually new camera really prevented me from going down that road.
 
Deardorff38 said:
to go back to the GF670, the known fragility of the folding mechanism which puts the lens out of alignment, plus the history of Fuji USA not being able to repair my friend's virtually new camera really prevented me from going down that road.
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It’s really a lovely bit of kit that was sold new for a princely sum and should have been designed without such a glaring flaw. Fujifilm’s neglect is one thing, but its maker Cosina—who sold their identical version for even more money—should have picked up where Fuji dropped the ball.
 
Braaamer said:
Finished a first roll today. I will report results once scanned. A picture of the camera itself tomorrow.
So far, it seems fine. The lens release button feels a bit vague but works fine. The meter button doesn’t have a defined pressure point - not sure whether this is normal.
Light seals “look” fine in the back door.
Film advance feels fine, I will need to check the frame spacing, of course.
Setting the lens to a defined focus distance and checking the rangefinder against an object placed at that distance shows a perfect match. Need to see the corresponding image.

I will certainly do more rolls and see whether anything suspicious shows up.
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This is it. If technically there are no nasty surprises, I will be a happy camper.

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Remarkable! I am looking forward to seeing the negatives of my first roll. I am not expecting anything too beautiful as it was primarily experimentation, and 10 frames are gone quickly, but more to come.
 
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Some first images from my Makina 670. I also did a focus verification image - spot on. What is much more difficult for me to assess is whether the shutter speeds are ok. Densities on the negatives looked ok but I would like to employ a more structured way to checking this. If anyone has ideas, I am all ears. :)
 
Braaamer said:
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Some first images from my Makina 670. I also did a focus verification image - spot on. What is much more difficult for me to assess is whether the shutter speeds are ok. Densities on the negatives looked ok but I would like to employ a more structured way to checking this. If anyone has ideas, I am all ears. :)
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A roll of Ektachrome 100 should do it, short of any high-tech shutter tester. Meter, then shoot the same subject in the same light, on a tripod, running through each speed and adjusting the aperture accordingly. Transparency film is very unforgiving and will point out any variation. But do keep in mind that, at very small apertures, the effective shutter speed will be slightly slower, resulting in slightly more exposure.
On the other hand, given the price of film and processing, you might find a local repair tech with a shutter tester. It's very quick and simple to test a camera, and you will have accurate, definitive results. A good shop shouldn't charge more than $30.00 for this service, and can probably do it on the spot.
 
Thank you. The advice with a local camera repair shop is worth investigating. I guess even if I find one that has the test equipment, that leaves the question how you can advance the film counter to 1 so you cam fire the shutter - when the back door is open and no film inserted. I haven’t found that little lever or latch that will enable that.
 
Braaamer said:
Thank you. The advice with a local camera repair shop is worth investigating. I guess even if I find one that has the test equipment, that leaves the question how you can advance the film counter to 1 so you cam fire the shutter - when the back door is open and no film inserted. I haven’t found that little lever or latch that will enable that.
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Virtually all repair shops have a shutter tester, but call ahead to check. As for firing the shutter, techs have access to a lot of obscure info that's not in owners' manuals. Again, call ahead to check on that, too.
I've never even seen one of these cameras, but I'll wager there's a tiny reset pin somewhere that can be pushed in to trick the camera. If there is one, it will probably be somewhere along the path of film travel. Good luck!
 
I suspect it’s a combination of a little pin that checks whether a film is loaded and another pin checking that the back door is closed. Need to investigate that once again.
Real repair shops in my area is the real challenge. I may just go for a slide film as a first step.
 
I have a Makina 67 and it's shutter can be fired without film in the camera, with back door open or closed, lens pulled out or collapsed.
 
I can’t figure out how I could fire the shutter without advancing the frame counter to 1 which in turn seems to require a film to be inserted.
I have identified two pins but even awkwardly pressing those and advancing the lever doesn’t move the frame counter.
 
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