Exakta

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The Exakta is a pioneer brand camera produced by the Ihagee Kamerawerk in Dresden, Germany, founded as the Industrie und Handels-Gesellschaft mbH in 1912. Highlights include:

First SLR for 127 film came in 1933.
First wind-on lever in 1934.
First built in flash socket, activated by the shutter in 1935.
First SLR for 35mm film came in 1936, the Kine Exakta.

Though originally, Kine-Exaktas incorporated fixed waist-level finder, their successors (starting with the Exakta Varex) featured interchangeable viewfinders, accepting either waist- or eye-level finder. Examat and Travemat TTL-metering prisms came in the mid-sixties. A certain peculiarity of Exaktas is that most controls -- including the shutter release and the film wind lever -- are on the left-hand side. The film transport moves opposite the direction found in other 35mm SLRs. In classic Exaktas -- made between 1936 and 1969 -- two film canisters can be used, one containing unexposed film and a second into which is wound the exposed film. A sliding knife built into the bottom of the camera can be used to slice the film so that the canister containing the exposed film can be removed while preserving the unexposed film in the main canister. (The cutting-knife was omitted in the Exakta VX500, one of the last "official" Exakta cameras.)

As noted, the shutter release on classic Exaktas is on the front of the camera, not on the top. It's pressed with the left forefinger. This is quite similar to the Praktina design (which adapted it from Ihagee's product), the shutter-release of which was located on the right-hand side of the camera-body front. Most later Exakta lenses — known either as "automatic" or "semi-automatic" lenses — included a button in an extension that would align over the camera body's shutter release when the lens was mounted. On such lenses, when the button was depressed halfway the lens iris would be stopped down to shooting aperture; pressed farther, the lens button engaged the camera's shutter release button, tripping the shutter.

Equipment is fully compatible between all models manufactured between 1936 and 1969. The spelling found on cameras has traditionally been Exakta, but some early Kine-Exaktas were incorrectly marked,Exacta. A related line of smaller, simpler cameras was the "Exa" line; these, too, existed in several variations. The Beseler Topcon line of 35mm cameras used the same lens mount as the Exakta. In the early 1970s, a new Exakta model appeared as the "RTL 1000." It accepted the older models' lenses but had its own line of viewfinders, which included a model with through-the-lens light metering. Because of this lack of compatibility, the RTL series is generally not regarded as part of Ihagee's Exakta line, most collectors considering the VX1000 the last "official" Exakta camera. M42 lens mount variants of the RTL line of cameras also appeared under the Practica name.

After an economic collapse following Germany's reunification, the successor of the firm is now back in business.

However, there is no relationship any more with the Dutchman Johan Steenbergen, the founder/owner of Ihagee, or with "his" Exakta, which faded away in the 1970's.

1 Models
2 Trivia
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Models

Exaktas: Kine-Exakta Kine-Exakta II Exakta Varex (*in US, Exakta V) Exakta Varex VX (in US, Exakta VX) Exakta VX IIa Exakta VX IIb Exakta VX500 Exakta VX1000

Exas: Exa Exa II Exa IIa Exa IIb (generally not considered part of the "official" Exa line) Exa 500

Due to legal restrictions, the name "Varex" was not permitted to adorn Exakta cameras built to be shipped to the United States of America. As such, cameras sold in Europe that beared the name "Varex," were sold in the United States simply without the engraving. Some cameras were actually censored during shipment, their "Varex" stricken out with a silver to match the color of the camera body.