Thought I'd let you know: There is a very fine looking sample here: Plaubel Makina 67 on ebay. The seller is Germany based - the irony of it: I bought one on ebay yesterday (Buy it Now) and have to bring it in to Switzerland from the States...

I'm very excited about this purchase. Are any of you Makinaphiles?

Cheers.

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), September 06, 2001

Answers

Most of the foibles of the 67 model were corrected with the 670.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), September 06, 2001.

Such as...?

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), September 06, 2001.

Lutz

Tell us what is so great about it. What about the Mamiya 7 (or 6 for that matter)? The M7 is a stop slower than the Makina, but it has a nicer construction and interchangeable lenses.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), September 06, 2001.

Lutz,

You may have seen www.kenrockwell.com which has quite a bit of information about your camera.

I have had a Plaubel Makina 670 for about 3 months now, buying it as an alternative to a Mamiya 6/7. Why did I do this?

1. It has a through the viewfinder spot meter, the size of the rangefinder spot. Like the Leica wide-spot, I figured I would be able to use this quite well.

This has been borne out in practice, though the meter is somewhat blue sensitive.

2. It has an f 2.8 lens, which I figured would come in handy in low light people photography. Also correct, you don't lose much depth of field relative to shooting at 2.0 with a 50mm lens.

3. I figured I'd standardize on 400/640 speed print film for all those people/family pictures I otherwise take with my Leica.

This has actually worked decently-the print quality is unimpeccable. Corner resolution of the Nikkor is much higher than I thought it would be (subjectively speaking).

4. It folds flat, unlike the Mamiya.

In practice, this has made it very portable. Fits in a briefcase, or under a Winter coat.

Downsides?

5. The focusing knob is around the shutter release, which makes for poor ergonomics and slow shooting.

6. The shutter release is nowhere as butterfly-light as the Mamiya 7. Lubrication may fix this, but its still somewhat less responsive, overall than the M7 or M6. The shutter is also noisier ("ka-chunk- chonk") though not objectionably so. Its no Rolleiflex TLR leaf shutter.

7. Its heavy. Around 3 pounds which north of Nikon F5+50/1.4mm territory and way more than a Rollei TLR, or for that matter the Mamiya 7 +80.

Net net?

I'm still shooting with my Leica M6, mostly.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), September 06, 2001.

The biggest downside of the Plaubel Makina is that they break frequently and are fairly expensive to fix. I have yet to find one that didn't have some winding problems, and gave up. They usually sell for at least as much as the much newer Mamiya 7 with the 80mm lens (used).

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 06, 2001.

Mani

Thanx for the valuable insight. I share part of your pros (at least I'm expecting to share them...) - as for the cons and the comparisons made to the M7 - I really feel attracted by the single lens concept and by the reputation of that specific Nikkor (I read about Plaubel giving up production of the Makina because on the long run they couldn't afford to keep up their high quality standards at that price tag, within the restricted market share they were trying to re-conquer...).

On the other hand I like the idea of being "focussed" (or restricted, if you prefer) on just one view. The bulk of a full-fledged MF system with bodies, lenses, filters and don't-know-what would keep me from getting the shots I'm after. And since accessorizing is my Achilles' heel (as you might know...;o) I'm trying to restrict that passion to the 35mm format, where I can still lift my toolbag.

Last not least there is the design factor. For my likings black metal pots have an edge over errrr... (I was going to say tupperware, but I didn't...) modern designs. Voilá!

Will keep you posted on how my expectations are met. But as Jeff points out, the Makina being a collector's item will easily sell again, if they aren't. Cheers.

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), September 07, 2001.

Impeccable or unimpeachable. Take your pick ;-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), September 07, 2001.

Lutz:

Makina = great optics, poor ergonomics, questional reliability with large expense to repair, non-interchangeable lenses, and still a fairly high cost.

Mamiya 7 = great optics, great ergonomics, very good reliability, interchangeable lenses, and Leica-high cost.

The one stop faster speed of the Makina is not worth the other negatives over the M7 IMO. Plus, if you think the Leica M is smooth enough to gain a couple of stops over an SLR, wait untill you try out a M7! The first few rolls you'll be wondering if the camera even fired!

Lastly, adapt one of your slings to the M7 and I bet before long you'll be launching a Mamiya 7 "MUSENET" site!

Cheers,

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), September 07, 2001.

The Mamiya 7 isn't that expensive if you buy from Robert White.

I would agree with the handling comment too - I can handhold it (and most leaf shutter cameras except the Fuji rangefinders) at far lower speeds than any focal plane shutter camera.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), September 07, 2001.