Plaubel Makina W67 repair...camera now shooting in strange way

[zachman]

Long time listener, first time caller. Realize how it is to just come in with a question, but I haven't found anybody who has had the same issue or can diagnose this, so this felt like a good place to turn.

I recently got my Plaubel Makina W67 repaired and CLA'd by a reputable repair person - and the camera came back in somewhat questionable conditions in some ways, but seemed fine and operable. I finally got the first few rolls I shot developed and the images are perplexing. Every image is canted, rarely in focus, and often nowhere near the composition I shot.

I can't seem to understand what's happened. All photos taken mostly f/8 and with 1/500 shutter speed.

Any ideas? I'm going to send the camera back, but I don't even know what happened.....

For example, this was shot as a center-composed group photo of these people.


This was supposed to be of the subject's head.

And then there's just tons of photos that were of entirely different subjects that just look like I accidentally fired a frame off.

 

[boojum]

OK, you are here where help exists. The people on this board are knowledgeable and helpful. Someone will know the answer or be able to guide you to it.

And welcome aboard. Stay, and show us how that camera works when it is tuned right. 👍

 

[Godfrey]

I bought a Plaubel Makina 67 a year and some ago. It had some problems ... I sent it to my usual camera repair service folks (who have repair a dozen or more cameras for me with super quality...). They examined it and said they could not guarantee a proper repair as they did not have any parts source for it.

I hunted around for a while. I finally found seller "wizcam" on Ebay who offers a repair service for the Plaubel Makina. I bought the repair service and sent the camera. It needed more than just the viewfinder repair ... the meter circuit was damaged too ... so the total repair was higher than the initial cost of the service from Ebay. A month and some later, I received my camera back in perfect condition.

Some photos with the Makina 67: Plaubel Makina 67 (ongoing)

So far, I haven't found anyone else I would trust to work on a Plaubel Makina W67. I'd hunt for "wizcam" on Ebay...

G

 

[TenEleven]

There are a couple of things going on here.

First of all I have to ask why are there sprocket holes in the scan of the first picture?
The Plaubel Makinas are all 120/220 film cameras and that film has no sprocket holes.
What kind of film are you shooting in this camera?

Also there are light leaks at the bottom of several pictures with the light leaks being blue-ish - which if you did use negative film (did you?) is *not* a good sign. It means light is leaking in from the front (lens or bellows side).

Secondly, I have to preface this with the fact that remote diagnosis of any sort of technical trouble is difficult.

That said, just a guess, but from what I see in the pictures and what you describe it does not seem likely that the front standard of the W67 would be that off kilter.
The front standard would have been severely and easily visibly misaligned to the body to alter the composition and focus this drastically.

So, what I think is happening instead is that the shutter is firing prematurely or after the fact when you are either in the process of raising the camera to your eye or lowering it back down. This of course then also explains the misfocus.

 

[WoodallP]

I do not know the Makina at all which leaves me ill qualified to give advice, but the first things I would be doing with any camera is making sure the lens scale agrees with the RF and viewing through the back of a camera with a ground glass (I am supposing this is possible and that it is not somehow prevented).

As TenEleven said, if the front was so wonky as to give those pictures it would be obvious. His suggestion on shutter release sounds plausible and this could also be checked with the back off.

I am supposing the sprocket holes are due to it being respooled 70mm. This may be the cause of the apparent light leaks as I have seen respoolers add disclaimers on this.

Good luck.

 

[brbo]

Just by looking at you camera you should probably be able to establish whether (a) the lens is pointing down when it should be pointing straight or (b) is the viewfinder tilted up.