Plaubel Makina 67 by Richard de Bulat
If the Plaubel Makina isn’t on your bucket list, you simply aren’t setting your aspirations high enough. Having said that, the camera is simple to use and old fashioned as hell! A man somewhat younger than me, watching me take a few shots, asked about the camera and was surprised it took film as if film was something his grandad used. But take note, the camera is a conversation piece and a well deserved one, but expect people to be curious.
As I said, it is easy to use; load film, set aperture and shutter speed, based on a light meter reading, and you are good to go, but don’t forget to pull the lens out of the body housing and remove the lens cap – it’s a rangefinder. Now, I like rangefinders – they are great for walking about and street photography or, as in the case of the Plaubel, a great travel camera. I made full use of this capability, walking down to the Millbay Dock where they are setting up for some boat racing. At the time, they were still in the early stages and I thought that I could get some reasonable graphic images of the Marquees which were just going up. I actually, went out twice as the first early evening stroll was beset by an irritating mizzle that wouldn’t settle on actual rain, or just stop. I over exposed with the intention of under developing in order to get some decent contrast, but was unsure of the results I might get, so went out the next day in better, but not by much, flat light. In the end, both rolls of negatives came out, but the first were slightly dense, though far from unusable.
Taking an unfamiliar camera out for a test shoot is always chancy and a test for one’s creativity as much as the camera’s usability. At the end of the day, light makes photographs, so poor light is a challenge for the camera and the user. I decided that the highly graphic elements of the marquees and the signage would make for photographs of good contrast and test the camera’s level of sharpness. The problem on the first day was twofold: very low contrast light and the necessity of shooting around f4 – very shallow dof for medium format. The second day’s shoot was better by at least two stops and that is, basically, the main difference between the two sessions, making for better clarity with the better light. Having said that, both sets of negatives are usable, giving a different quality to the different sets of images.
The handling of the Plaubel is good; it doesn’t feel front heavy, but balanced. Focusing via the wheel on the right hand side takes a bit of getting used to, but is far from difficult and, overall, it is a quick camera to use – focus, shoot, wind on, all in the one place and ideal if you are right handed. The 6 x 7 format means you get 10 frames on a 120 roll, with very large negatives; excellent optics mean you can always expect good results with competent use. After you have finished taking your shots, press a button on the left of the camera body to retract the lens, replace the lens cap and you have a camera you can put in a coat pocket. All-in-all, I had a very positive experience using this camera.
