Plaubel Makiflex Standard.

[Nokton48]

Geoff Makiflex Arca Swiss Finder 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Makiflex Arca Swiss 3 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Makiflex Arca Swiss 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Makiflex Arca Swiss 5 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Makiflex Arca Swiss 4 by Nokton48, on Flickr


Hi Dan,


Nice talking with you today. Please find attached pictures of the Arca Swiss 6x9 reflex chimney finder I modified for my Makiflex. I made a frame out of masonite that allowed me to affix it with copper wire through its existing holes at the base. The holes were designed to lit the finder be snapped into the original Arca base so it could be easily removed from an Arca 6x9 view camera to allow direct access to the ground glass.


I afixed Velcro to the bottom of the frame so I can easily remove it from the frame I made so that different finders can be mounted.


All best, Geoff

 

[Nokton48]

Hi Dan,

I purchased a Durst recessed lend board with the idea of mounting my 150/2.8 Xenotar in barrel. I also pulled out another Makiflex with slow speeds, what do you call that, the Automatic Makiflex? It had a shutter that sticks but I removed the back and naphtha-ed and lubed the rollers and gears behind the shutter knob and it works great now. I also found some accessories I had tucked away, a compendium lens shade, Polaroid back and right angle viewer, nice but it flips the image upside down.

I spoke to the repair guy in my building and he said he would look at your camera:

http://www.cameradoctornyc.com/

All best, Geoff

 

[Nokton48]

Geoff with his Big Bertha. He tells me he has fifteen-hundred Speed Graphics!

Geoff Big Bertha by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[Nokton48]

Here's a YouTube featuring Geoff. You can see Makiflexes on his shelves!

 

[Dan Fromm]

Back around post #245 in this thread I posted pics of my 4x5 Arca Reflex, the 6x9 one you posted Dan is the baby version of that (with the addition of the monorail). cool stuff. I wish there was more of it around, it's hard to find spare bits for the Arca Reflex gear. Fortunately lensboards and such are not hard to fab up from scratch, I made at least 3 so far including a recessed one.

Ed, thanks for the reminder. This is a long, long thread.

IIRC Emmanuel Bigler, who lives in Besancon, has a 6x9 Arca Reflex. Also a 6x9 Arca, I'm not sure which model but I've played with it and it is cute. Anyway, I believe he's told me that Arca, who also live in Besancon, won't repair his reflex. They're pretty, though.

The Arca Reflex and the Pecoflex were inspirations for my failed Graflex RB-based Baby Bertha. If I still thought I needed a 2x3 Bertha I'd be fascinated by that offer on leboncoin. But how much does the seller want? The street I live on isn't paved with gold.

 

[EdSawyer]

Emmanuel is a great resource for Oschwald-era Arca stuff, no doubt! No surprise they aren't interested in repairing it. Fortunately I was able to do a CLA on my own arca reflex, after some effort to study how it worked. It's a nicely made mechanical camera, not overly complex compared to some things, so it was DIY-able to CLA it for someone with reasonably capable mechanical aptitude.

I think there is an arca 6x9 reflex on ebay now too, and I think it's the one with the focal plane shutter that goes up to 1/500 (there were a few different versions, some without a FPS at all, just a mirror-based shutter. )

 

[Dan Fromm]

Ed, you are a dangerous source of evil temptation. I just took a quick look. There are two 4x5ers on offer. A 6x9er sold last month for $165. Oh, my!

Thinking of Emmanuel's kit, his 6x9er has the binocular reflex viewer. Its beautiful, just beautiful.

 

[Nokton48]

How about this one, Guys? From the "Golden Age of Photography"

Arca Swiss 4x5 by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[EdSawyer]

That's a nice one! (https://www.ebay.com/itm/183032418954) I am tempted to buy it just to harvest some things from it (that viewer in particular). A couple caveats about it - it doesn't have the focusing bellows attachment piece, so can't be used without that rail (e.g. not easy to use handheld in this configuration). 2nd it has a few condition issues.... but it does have the focal-plane shutter. All in all a good package for the price, for someone who wants to invest a bit of DIY to bring it back to top condition.

That 6x9 one for $165 was an amazing deal, I saw that and was tempted too.

The arca reflex focal plane shutter was not too hard to work on, the biggest thing about it I think is it's sensitive to temperature (at least mine is), it likes to be warmed up by running it a dozen times or so, before it really wants to run fast/smooth. Also the curtains take a fairly tight turn around the rollers which are small diameter (3/8"?), smaller than the graflex rollers, which I think makes them a bit more finicky. But still, a great piece and nice design, no doubt.

-Ed

 

[Nokton48]

One more YouTube showing Geoff and his Makiflexes. One of my cameras is headed to Penumbra in NYC so that Frank Rubio can take a look at it. Needs some adjustments.
Geoff has given one of his Makiflexes to Frank (one not working) for him to learn on.




Geoff Big Bertha 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

BTW, the "Big Bertha" is a 1000mm F8 Lens on a 5x7 Graflex. I used to collect Graflexes myself.

 

[Nokton48]

Moebius Watch Oil by Nokton48, on Flickr

Pin Watch Oiler by Nokton48, on Flickr

I bought some watch oil and some pinpoint oilers so I can lube my Makiflex Standard. I'll shoot some pictures when I take off the back. Geoff says it isn't hard to do. 50% watch oil and 50% lighter fluid.

 

[EdSawyer]

I think if I was going to make a big bertha, I'd use the Nikkor-T series lenses. I've used the 360T on my 4x5 RB SuperD and it works out great. I have the longer rear-cells also (500 and 720) but haven't tried them yet. The longer Nikkor-T (600/800/1200) would be even better for a real reach, though they are a bit slower at f/9/12/18 or whatever.

 

[Nokton48]

Some of my Makiflex stuff down in the studio. I like the metal Metro shelving with wheels to hold a lot of heavy stuff securely.

DSC05742 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Frank Rubio "The Camera Doctor" NYC has one of my auto Maikflexes now. Geoff Berliner of Penumbra Foundation convinced me to send it to Frank. Geoff has six Makiflexes, and says he also gave one of his to Frank to "study and learn on".

Frank worked for over twenty years as a repair tech at Lens & Repro in NYC. If Frank can learn these cameras inside out that will be a great benefit to our Makiflex community.

 

[Nokton48]

Sneebot (Matt from Massachusetts) is back and is asking me about recessed boards for his Auto Makiflex. He likes Voigtlander Heliars (so do I but they are sooooooo expensive usually). Anyway he has a 150mm Heliar in a shutter, that he needs to put on his Makiflex. I suggested he look at the Durst recessed enlarger boards. The IXOTUB is in the left, and the other on the right (not as recessed) which holds my teeny tiny Rodenstock 150mm F9 Apo Ronar. An incredibly sweet lens! With this Durst setup the Apo Ronar focuses a bit past infinity with the bellows racked in, which is perfect for my uses. Tiny brass hobby model making screws hold the whole thing neatly together.

Durst recessed boards and 150 Apo Ronar by Nokton48, on Flickr

Matt has access to a CNC computerized milling machine and builds wonderful stuff for his Makiflexes. He's going to build a recessed cup for his Heliar 150mm on the CNC, that will be cool. Geoff Berliner picked up some IXOTUBs for all of his massive collection of stuff.

Here is an old test of the 150mm F9 Rodenstock Apo Ronar. This was during my "struggling" period with the Plaubel roll film holders. First of all, fifty or sixty year old holders are incredibly dusty inside! Also frame spacing problems abounded, which I have since completely sorted, by using film spools of the wider original diameters (duct tape or the original wooden 120 film spools). I do like the curved corners of the Plaubel backs. Neg flipped for scanning.




Agfa APX 100 in Mic-X, 150mm F9 Apo Ronar. Columbus Camera Group "White Church" exterior detail. Auto Makiflex.


D300_06872Rot_1280Px by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[Nokton48]

I just got off the phone with Frank Rubio and he has my Makiflex ready to ship. The issues I was having were all related to cleaning and lubrication. So he is confident that I will enjoy the camera. Most excellent I will look forward to checking this one out! Quick turn around!

 

[Nokton48]

Hi Dan,

Nice hearing from you. Glad Frank was able to repair your camera. I did see it when it came in.
Thanks for the tip on the Foma film. I have tons of film, I shoot 4x5 film in my Makis.
I like the shot of the fish with the Xenotar. That's a special lens.
Attached are some photos of my Maki adaptations, and universal iris.
Yes, waiting for spring so I can get out there and shoot!

All best, Geoff

Geoff Berliner Makis 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Berliner Makis 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Berliner Makis 3 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Geoff Berliner Makis 4 by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[gorbas]

I have plans to use smaller Universal iris to make lens adapter for my Hasselblad but......So far I managed to mount all interesting lenses on adapted Pentacon 6 bellows I'm using for focusing and mounting weird lenses on it. One day....

 

[Nokton48]

Back to my Plaubel Makiflex project. Since accessories and lens boards are rare and difficult to come by, I decided to mount an adjustable iris lens clamp to one of my boards. This will allow me to mount lenses directly to the camera without board or flange. I used as large an adjustable iris that would fit on the board so I can mount large diameter speed lenses. In the first pic is mounted a 7” f4 C.C. Harrison New York City, Daguerreotype Petzval Portrait lens. This camera makes 9x9 cm images on 4x5 sheet film. 7” / 180mm seems to be the right focal length for this format so I’m pulling out fast lenses in that focal length, though I’m pulling out some shorter ones as well. I pulled out a ca. 1890 Steinheil Portrait Antiplanet 7” f3. This was a redesign of the classic Petzval Portrait lens that was formulated to be flatter field. It’s quite an interesting lens worth reading about if your a lens geek like me. I also pulled out a Astro-Berlin Tachar 150mm f1.8 lens. It’s quite fast but doesn’t reach infinity on this camera due to the reflex mirror but works at portrait distances. Still lots of experimenting to do. -Geoff

 

[EdSawyer]

Some of the RZ67 lenses woudl likely cover, at least at portrait distances.

 

[Nokton48]

Geoff and I have been conversing about Maki lensboards and replacing Maki bellows. He has one with pinholes and wants to replace the bellows. He's quite anxious to start shooting with this camera. He mainly shoots 9x9cm handheld portraits onto 4x5 film with his Makis. It still amazes me that he has 1500-2000 LF lenses to play with. I thought I had a lot.


Hi Geoff,
As I recall I used a small jewelers screwdriver and a small thin flat bladed spatula like you use for mixing oil paint, and slowly and carefully pried off the front bellows using those. It wasn’t too clean a job and there was residual material left over, I presume Ken cleaned that all up before regluing the new bellows. Naptha might work, Acetone would be my next choice. Perhaps Frank might have some ideas. Normally I use Pliobond for gluing bellows back down. I wonder if there is anything better to use?



Hi Dan,
I had another non working Maki so removed the bellows from that. I made a new cardboard frame for the front standard and glued the bellows to that using Pliobond. It's drying overnight with a weight on it. I have the old bellows which I'll hold onto if I ever need to send the to Customs Bellows.
All best, Geoff

 

[Nokton48]

Some of the RZ67 lenses woudl likely cover, at least at portrait distances.

Thanks Ed. That is a good idea. I've been buying broken RB67 lenses to get the Seiko shutters for my Fuji GX680 to Maki lens hacks.

 

[Nokton48]

An update......


Hi Dan,
I was able to successfully transplant the bellows from one Maki to another.
It was work but worth it. I needed to cut a new cardboard front standard bellows frame but basically it was straightforward.
All best, Geoff



Good to know it is possible to do this!

 

[gorbas]

Dan, How many different shutter sizes Mamiya RB lenses uses? Interesting that you can easily swap Fuji GX 680 electronic shutter for mechanical one from Mamiya!
You must have nice collection of lose Mamiya lens elements around you?

I've been buying broken RB67 lenses to get the Seiko shutters for my Fuji GX680 to Maki lens hacks.

 

[Nokton48]

Hi Goran,

I tend to buy RB lenses with nasty glass, the prices are dirt cheap. After stripping them apart the broken bits go into the trash. A few might be worth saving? Actually I am not using the shutter itself (it's a Seiko #1 inside the RB's), with these broken lenses I am after the lens barrel, and the iris mechanism. The Makis are focal plane cameras so no shutter is needed. Usually I remove the shutter blades leaving just the iris which I can calibrate to the GX680 glass with close enough f/stops.

I also sometimes buy Seiko shutters with Fuji LF glass (a few Fuji lenses came with the correct Seiko #1 shutter), if the glass is nasty, and the shutter is clean and functional. Also then I usually toss the front and back cells, I have no need for them. Sometimes they are scratched or badly separated. This gives me a working Seiko #1 shutter with f/stops marked on the shutter. So I do it both ways on the Makiflexes.

 

[Nokton48]

Everything fine here, just super busy. Need to take time to make more photos.
Just bought this 120x120 to 95x95 Plaubel Peco Jr Lensboard Adapter.
I will clean it up when I receive it.

Plaubel Adapter Board 120x120 to 95x95 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr
Plaubel Adapter Board 120x120 to 95x95 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr
Plaubel Adapter Board 120x120 to 95x9 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Peco Jr Boards restored 95x95 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here I am restoring some 95x95mm Plaubel Peco Jr lens boards. I bought these by mistake, but now that I have the 120x120 to 95x95 Adapter Board coming, I can utilize them. I cut out circles of adhesive foam rubber (redoing the board light trapping). And with some flat black Krylon, and some liquid aluminum to fill in screw holes, these are now good as new, ready for the new adapter board.