Plaubel Makina 67 Meets Its Maker (Part 1)

This post was originally published on 2014 April 7 on a now defunct blog.

By Paul del Rosario

I recently bought this beautiful camera from eBay – the Plaubel Makina 67.  Made in Japan.  I sold my Pentax 67II beast because it was literally breaking my neck, so I opted for the more compact Makina.  FYI: the Pentax was ripped apart in a sale – the Pentax body is now in the hands of the very talented LA-based photographer, Trevor Masid, and the 105mm lens is with Bay Area coolio, Brett T.

As soon as I received the Makina, I quickly shot a roll of TMAX 400, processed, and scanned the film.  To my satisfaction, I was really impressed with the quality of the un-interesting things I shot around the house including three selfies.

(Un-edited selfie)

Since then, I've been obsessed with the Makina in many aspects; particularly with its history.  I want to know everything about this quirky camera.  Quick summary of what I've discovered: body designed by Konica, lens by Nikon, later manufactured by Mamiya.

I don't know what possessed me, but I woke up this morning and thought to myself "I'd like to meet the designer of the Makina 67, and take his portrait with the very machine he created."  The camera was made in Japan, so the guy must be around.  And since I live in Japan, it shouldn't be hard to reach the guy.

After a few minutes of checking my iPhone for "history of Makina 67,"  Facebook, e-mail, etc., I got out of bed and rushed off to a morning meeting with a couple of university photo club students.  After some light chit-chat about their club activities and the quest that infected my head this morning, one of the students quickly found the name of the Makina 67 designer.  According to this article, the man's name is Mr. Yasuo Uchida.

TWO HOURS after searching for leads on Google, I was in my car driving to the place that had Mr. Uchida's contact information to make an appointment to meet him.  I GOT AN APPOINTMENT!

As I haven't confirmed 100% if he is in fact the person that designed the iconic Plaubel Makina 67, I will leave things here and blog about my findings in Part 2.  Stay tuned.