Plaubel Profia 4x51980

History

Plaubel was founded in Frankfurt in 1902 and is best known in the wider photographic world for the Makina press camera line and the rangefinder-coupled Makina 67 (produced in its Japanese-owned era). In the large-format space, Plaubel produced the Peco series of studio monorails from the 1950s onward; the Peco Profia was a modular, component-based system competitive with the Sinar P and Arca Swiss. The Profia 4x5 (distinct from the Peco Profia) appears to have been introduced around 1980 as a streamlined studio offering. Plaubel was acquired by Japanese investors in 1981, and the focus of the company shifted toward the Makina 67 medium-format camera. Large-format production wound down through the mid-1980s.

Why It Matters

The Plaubel Profia occupies a niche within an already-niche segment: a German monorail view camera made in small numbers by a company whose ownership changed mid-production. For collectors, it represents a late example of independent German large-format manufacturing before consolidation. For working photographers, a well-maintained Profia offers the full movement set of any competent monorail at a price well below comparable Sinar or Arca Swiss bodies, simply due to lower demand and lower name recognition. The relative scarcity of documentation and spare parts is the practical tradeoff.

The broader significance is as an artifact of the early 1980s large-format camera market, when a handful of German and Swiss manufacturers were each producing their own studio rail systems and the field had not yet consolidated around Sinar's dominant modular ecosystem.

Lenses & Accessories

If Linhof Technika-compatible boards are confirmed, the full range of large-format Technika-mount lenses apply:

• Schneider APO-Symmar / Symmar-S 90-300 mm range.
• Rodenstock Sironar-N / Sironar-S series.
• Fujinon-W / CM-W series.

Standard 4x5 film holders (Fidelity Elite, Lisco, Riteway). Polaroid 545/545i holders where Graflok back standard is present. Roll-film backs dependent on back standard - verify before purchase.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used in German commercial studios in the early 1980s.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Plaubel