Goetz Schrader

Logo of the Optical Works Plaubel & Co.

Goetz Schrader (born November 1, 1908 , † March 2, 1997 ) was a German pioneer of photo camera technology. As the son of Hugo and Ruth Schrader, he took over his parents' business Plaubel & Co., also known as Plaubel Feinmechanik und Optik, a German camera factory based in Frankfurt / Main in 1940 after the death of his father.

His developments include the famous camera models of the MAKINA or PECO series.

Early years

Goetz Schrader was a grandson of the lens and camera manufacturer Dr. Rudolf Krügener from Frankfurt-Bockenheim. His father Hugo Schrader was an authorized signatory in this company and married the daughter Ruth Krügener. Goetz started his commercial and technical apprenticeship in 1926 in the company Plaubel & Co. founded by his father in 1902. As early as 1930, after completing his degree in electrical engineering in Friedberg, he took over the technical management as well as the development of the camera program.

developments

Just one year later, the MAKINETTE amateur camera for the 3 × 4 cm film format is ready. His idea was that roll film cameras would provide better image quality than the 35mm cameras favored by Leica at the time and would be easier to operate.

The MAKINA (developed by his father) has been around since 1926 . Schrader upgrades it to a press camera in film format 6 × 9 cm, equips it with a Compur shutter and an optical viewfinder for easy focusing. In 1936 there were already three quick-change lenses for this.

After the Second World War, Schrader constructed the single -eyed 6 × 6 cm reflex camera MAKIFLEX , which was a hit at Photokina in 1956 , but was not built. At that time it was the only competitor to the established Hasselblad .

The PECO view camera followed in 1952 with an optical bench (from 1953: 10 × 15 cm) and many adjustment options. As PECO PROFIA (from 1966) with recording formats from 9 × 12 cm to 18 × 24 cm (from 1967), Peco conquered the specialist studios of the world. The only competitors to be taken seriously were the TECHNIKA from Linhof in Munich and SINAR view cameras from Koch. According to his own information, Plaubel had a market share of around 80% in 1966/67 in the portrait studios, in which at that time portraits were still taken in large sheet film formats of 9 × 12 to 13 × 18 cm. That changed suddenly with the introduction of special roll films for portraits by the Kodak company , together with the development of studio flash systems (e.g. from BRAUN, BRON or ELINCHROM), which replaced conventional incandescent lamp lighting and ensured a color temperature matched to the type of film , and the introduction of efficient and inexpensive production of "portrait prints" in the large color photo laboratories. These in turn ensured that the color negative films were processed more evenly and largely replaced the photographers' home laboratories.

Schrader also constructed various special models, such as a special camera with various lenses for the Swedish Navy in a number of 50 pieces. A roll film camera with a viewing angle of 100 degrees and special cameras for the police identification service were also created on Schrader's drawing board.

In 1958 Schrader developed the MAKINETTE 16 , a pocket camera for 16 mm cinema film that was too far ahead of its time. It was not until 14 years later that this development was to establish itself in the market with the 110 film format developed by the Kodak company .

The company now has around 100 employees. Ruth, the mother, acted as authorized signatory.

Because there was no one in his own family to continue the company, Schrader sold the company on May 1, 1975 to the Japanese photo dealer Kimio Doi and from then on ran the company as managing director until 1984.

• 

  Mercedes-Benz 500 K.

Now he designed the Makina 6 × 7 cm medium format camera . However, this type of camera could not prevail against the 35mm format .

Private

Goetz Schrader was considered a "gentleman driver" and owned a Mercedes 500K as well as various Jaguars. The family grave is located in Frankfurt / Main, on the Bockenheimer Friedhof , near Max Braun (Braun AG, NIZO).

Sources and Links

• Company archive of the Plaubel GmbH company
• Plaubel
• Camera listing