Plaubel Suprocomar 100mm F2.9 Compur Shutter

[Daniel Unkefer]

Yes I agree, this test is the full APS-C frame. Next I will try a 6.5x9cm Plaubel Makina Back with black and white film, on the same Peco Junior View Camera.

I'm so glad I found this lens. It's a keeper!

[Steve Burge]

Hi Daniel,

I've just stumbled across your post and have joined the forum in order to reply.

I have one of these lenses, on a c1929/30 KW Patent Etui body (pictures attached). I believe this was the original installation and the next post I have attached (I hope) a 1992 article from Wolfgang Krautwurst together with a Google translation to explain why.





It seems they are rather rare; a few (perhaps 50) having been made as a test series to convert the 3 element Anticomar into a 4 element lens.

Best regards
Steve

[Steve Burge]

Google translation:

The Plaubel Supracomar

Those of us collectors are not familiar with the cameras made by the Plaubel company in Frankfurt/M. Famous names such as Makina, Makinette, Peco and Roll-op are examples of precision mechanical and optical quality from the years 1910-1945 - even today, cameras from this company still have a good reputation.

The Anticomar was almost always used as a recording lens, which was a company-specific lens from Plaubel and was only mounted in their cameras. Of all the cameras built up to 1945 - and not from Plaubel - I was not aware of any that were equipped with the Anticomar as a "third-party product" - or with a Plaubel lens at all.

But as is often the case in life, you should expect that there are exceptions, even if you think they are unlikely. I could hardly believe my eyes when I discovered a lens from Plaubel in a patent case camera from KW (Camera Workshops Dresden, that bore the designation Supracomar 1:3.9 f=10cm Plaubel & Co Frank. furt/Main.

My first assumption was - and it was also obvious - that it must have been a subsequent installation or modification of the shutter/lens group,
as this modification is relatively easy for any skilled hobbyist to carry out.

The exact correspondence of the 00 (infinity) mark with the ground glass image made me suspect that this could be an original installation, and I began a correspondence with the Plaubel company, which (as we know), has since passed into Japanese hands.
The company readily provided information about the previous Makina models, but initially, based on my description, could not comment on the type of lens, nor say with certainty whether the lens was ever made by Plaubel.

Only after I sent in a photo did they give the following explanation:

“The patent case cameras were equipped with lenses from Carl Zeiss Jena, Meyer Görlitz or Schneider Kreuznach at the time - a Plaubel lens in connection with the patent case seemed unlikely to me. (See also Kerkmann - German cameras 1900-1945)”.

The name Supracomar was also new to me, the connection to Anticomar was given purely linguistically and from the type of engraving via the Plaubel company, but I had not previously seen it on other cameras or in the relevant literature. The lens was in immaculate condition. There were no putty areas, all surfaces were perfectly clean.

The Plaubel Supracomar in the patent case: Original -- or conversion?

"... As we already mentioned in our letter dated 28.2.92, the Supracomar is not a lens from the normal series production Makina models, the Supracomar was only manufactured in a few copies (test series) for the conversion of the 3-lens Anticomar (1:4.2 - 1936/37) to the 4-lens Tessar type, especially for color suitability (1929/30). Only a very few Makinas were equipped with the Supracomar. This was followed by the Anticomar 1:2.9 with 4 lenses. The designer and former owner of the Plaubel company, Mr. Schrader, would be happy to give you information..."

This made it clear that the Supracomar came from a test series and had replaced the previous three-part lens.

The question of installation in the KW Patent Etu camera was not yet cleared up. Thanks to a reference from the Plaubel company to the original owner and designer of the lens, Mr. Schrader, this uncertainty was also cleared up. When I asked by phone, Mr. Schrader readily told me straight away - and at the age of 85(!) - “that around 50 Supracomar type lenses were installed in the Patent Etui camera at the time. The customer was the Waucosin company - a wholesale company in COMPUP Frankfurt/M., which ordered the cameras from KW in Dresden and delivered them to Plaubel. There they were fitted with the Supracomar and delivered to Waucosin.”

That my example was one of these cameras - and thus an original/custom-made product from both KW and Plaubel - was thus proven.

My thanks for the willing support go to the Plaubel company and especially to Mr Schrader, who described my purchase as...
"You have purchased a piece of gold"...

©1992 Wolfgang Krautwurst

[Piplkan]

Very interesting Steve, thanks for sharing!

Daniel, do you have any 6x9 samples to show in the meantime?

[Daniel Unkefer]

Yes Steve extremely interesting! "You have purchased a piece of gold" indeed.

I've been busy test shooting with my Makina IIIR and the 190mm telephoto lens, having a great experience with this joining of camera and lens. Very enjoyable to shoot with, I've been using HP5+ and Kentmere 400 in order to gain faster shutter speeds and smaller apertures. Have some excellent negatives (developed in HC110B Replenished) which I will print and post soon.

I've packed up my long rail Peco Junior, as well as the 100mm F3.9, the 100mm F5.6 Symmar, and a modern Fuji GX680 100mm F4 in Seiko Shutter. My intension is not only to shoot with the Supracomar, but also to compare it to the other 100mm lenses I want to use as well. I think I'll use my Jim Galvin 120 Graphic Roll Back, with Graflex Wind Lever 120 Roll Backs. It will be interesting to compare the lenses in use, the backs are loaded with slower pan films for maximum quality. Shooting on a tripod is quite different from handholding a Makina in the same format. Plaubel used to call the Makina "The World's smallest View Camera". Using it for a while now, I see why they would say that

I can't believe how tiny the Patent Etui is folded up! No wonder they took it to Mt. Everest

[Steve Burge]

Thank you. You're most welcome.

Just to share some images from this lens from the native KW Patent Etui I ran a roll of Pan-F through them at a 'Sailing Tectona' volunteer's day yesterday. Please excuse the light leak (which I must fix) between camera and Plaubel Rada 6x9 roll film holder. All hand held @ f9 and 1/50th, with focus set at 2.5m. The scans have only been sharpened a little in Lightroom. 95 years old and still working (as is the camera...)







Take care
Steve

[Piplkan]

Thank you. You're most welcome.

Just to share some images from this lens from the native KW Patent Etui I ran a roll of Pan-F through them at a 'Sailing Tectona' volunteer's day yesterday. Please excuse the light leak (which I must fix) between camera and Plaubel Rada 6x9 roll film holder. All hand held @ f9 and 1/50th, with focus set at 2.5m. The scans have only been sharpened a little in Lightroom. 95 years old and still working (as is the camera...)







Take care
Steve

Great samples, thanks for sharing! I especially like the first one.