Plaubel Makina IIr1936

History

Plaubel introduced the original Makina in the early 1920s, establishing the strut-folding bellows design as the company's signature format. The Makina II, introduced in the early 1930s, brought improvements to the body construction and lens options. The IIr of 1936 added a coupled rangefinder -- a significant upgrade that distinguished it from the basic Makina II -- along with refinements to the shutter and focusing mechanism.

Production of the IIr continued into the late 1930s and was disrupted or halted by the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Post-war production of the Makina line resumed under the Makina III and, ultimately, the Makina IIIr (1958), which incorporated the lessons of the prewar designs into a modernised body that remained in production until 1970.

The IIr represents the highest point of the prewar German Makina tradition: a professional 6x9 tool with a coupled rangefinder and the best available optics of the period, built to serve working photographers in press, portrait, and commercial roles.

Why It Matters

The Plaubel Makina IIr demonstrates the state of the art in German precision camera manufacturing in the mid-1930s. The strut-folding mechanism, which Plaubel had refined over more than a decade by 1936, gives the deployed camera a rigidity that conventional folder designs rarely achieve. Combined with the f/2.9 Anticomar -- fast by 1930s standards for a medium-format folder -- and a coupled rangefinder, the IIr was a capable professional instrument in the era before 35mm cameras had fully displaced medium format in press and documentary contexts.

For collectors, the IIr is historically interesting as a working ancestor of the Japanese-revival Plaubel Makina 67 of 1979: a completely different camera mechanically, but one whose commercial premise -- a fast, compact, coupled-rangefinder medium-format folder -- echoes the IIr's original design intent.

The Anticomar 100/2.9 renders 6x9 negatives with the characteristic drawing of a Tessar-type design: clear, moderate contrast, slightly warm in tonality on orthochromatic and pan films of the period. On modern ISO 400 films it performs well from f/5.6 onward.

Lenses & Accessories

The IIr uses a fixed non-interchangeable lens. Original accessories for the prewar Makina line included:

• Series VI filters -- slip-on or bayonet filter holders compatible with the 100mm lens diameter
• Lens hood -- slip-on shade
• Close-up supplementary lenses -- diopter attachments for close portrait distances
• Coupled rangefinder calibration tools -- service items; rangefinder accuracy on surviving examples should be verified and adjusted by a technician

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used by German and Central European press and commercial photographers in the late 1930s as a premium professional tool.
• The 6x9 format on 120 film was standard for press portrait and location work before postwar 35mm adoption.
• Collected today as a representative of the highest level of prewar German precision optics manufacturing.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Plaubel Makina