13 researched events, 1902 to present. Each is dated as its sources date it and carries the references it rests on.
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Hugo Schrader founded Plaubel & Co. in Frankfurt after training at Voigtlander and working for Dr. R. Krugener. The business began as a dealer-maker of cameras, lenses, and accessories, taking the more memorable Plaubel surname from Schrader’s brother-in-law.
Plaubel-Kameras aus Frankfurt (2x aktualisiert) · Plaubel · Plaubel GmbH 1902
After several years of lens activity, Plaubel introduced the Precision Peco, the first camera identified in the researched chronology. The Peco name later became the durable center of the company’s professional view-camera business, although the 1909 machine was not the postwar monorail system.
Plaubel-Kameras aus Frankfurt (2x aktualisiert) · Plaubel & Company Camera Listing
Plaubel showed its new Makina in 1911 and introduced it commercially in 1912. Crossed scissor struts let a compact plate camera extend into a rigid working position. Conventional and stereo forms appeared, beginning the product name most closely associated with Plaubel.
Plaubel-Kameras aus Frankfurt (2x aktualisiert) · Plaubel · Plaubel GmbH 1902
Goetz Schrader joined the firm in the mid-1920s and soon directed camera development. The Makina I and II matured into 6.5x9cm press cameras with rangefinding and interchangeable lenses, while Makinette and Roll-Op models extended Plaubel into smaller plate and roll-film formats.
Plaubel-Kameras aus Frankfurt (2x aktualisiert) · Plaubel Makina I (6,5 x 9 cm) · Plaubel Makina II · Plaubel Makina II by Jo Lommen
Goetz Schrader assumed leadership after Hugo Schrader died in 1940. Wartime production shifted toward precision military equipment, and bombing seriously damaged the Frankfurt works in 1944. The rebuilt postwar company resumed camera making while redirecting much of its energy toward technical view cameras.
Postwar Peco cameras moved Plaubel toward modular studio and technical work. Supra, Junior, and Universal bodies offered monorail focusing, movements, revolving backs, interchangeable bellows, and multiple formats. The German Makina continued through the IIIR before ending around 1960.
Plaubel-Kameras aus Frankfurt (2x aktualisiert) · Plaubel · 100mm lens for a Plaubel Makina IIIR camera
The Brooks-Plaubel Veriwide 100 combined an American wide-angle concept with manufacture by Plaubel in Germany. Its fixed Schneider Super-Angulon 47mm f/8 covered seven 6x10cm frames on 120 film, creating a specialized panoramic camera rather than a new interchangeable system.
Plaubel introduced the Makiflex and Pecoflex large-format reflex cameras in the early 1960s, then launched eight Peco Profia format/model combinations across 1967 and 1968. The Profia platform’s movements, posts, rails, bellows, boards, and backs defined the company’s mature professional system.
Current registry-derived data lists Plaubel GmbH in Frankfurt as active under HRB 15086. That status shows legal continuity but does not demonstrate present camera manufacture after the 2017 end of documented sales and repair. Any publication update should recheck the official register.
Plaubel GmbH (GmbH) - Frankfurt am Main · Plaubel ist Geschichte
Goetz Schrader sold Plaubel to Kimio Doi’s Japanese group in 1975 and remained involved in management. The Frankfurt professional-camera business continued, while the new ownership also prepared a Japanese revival of the Makina name rather than simply restarting the old German press-camera line.
A Goetz Schrader scissor-linkage patent was filed in 1977, and the Japanese-designed Makina 67 reached the market soon afterward with a fixed 80mm Nikkor. W67, 670, and 69W Proshift variants followed. Japanese contract production ended in 1986 amid disruption at Mamiya.
Plaubel-Kameras aus Frankfurt (2x aktualisiert) · Plaubel · Plaubel Makina 67 Instruction Booklet · Plaubel Makina 670 Instruction Booklet · Patents Assigned to Plaubel Feinmechanik und Optik Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung
Parts production for German professional cameras was reportedly transferred to Wilhelm Gutmann in 1979, while Plaubel continued assembly, distribution, and service. Late Profia PL1, PL69D, NT, and ZT models kept the view-camera system available into the 2010s.
A contemporary report stated that Plaubel ended sales and repairs for Plaubel, Toyo, and Horseman products on May 31, 2017. This is the best-supported endpoint for the operating photographic business, not proof that the registered legal entity dissolved on the same date.
