Jason Schneider
the Camera Collector
5 Great Reasons You Should Shoot with an Original Kine Exakta
It’s beset with charming quirks and inconveniences but using it can teach you a lot
By Jason Schneider
The landmark Kine Exakta of 1936 was world’s first successful 35mm SLR. Although the Russians announced their Sport 35mm SLR a year earlier this ingenious but ungainly clunker was made in limited quantities from about 1937-1941 and distributed only in the Soviet Union. The Kine Exakta on the other hand was an instant international success and its maker Ihagee of Dresden, Germany produced it and its successors in huge quantities, enjoying robust worldwide sales. Ever so slowly they developed it into the first true 35mm SLR system replete with scores of lenses, finders, and a host of specialized accessories. Prior to the introduction of the Nikon F in 1959, the Exakta was the darling of scientists, doctors, researchers, and a broad spectrum of pro and enthusiast photographers. But by the early ‘70s the classic Exakta petered out in the face of the Japanese SLR onslaught, due mainly to the inherent limitations of its ancient design. Its fate was sealed by the fact it was made in East Germany (DDR) on the wrong side of the political railroad tracks.
Sport of 1935 made by GOMZ in USSR was the world's first 35mm SLR. It worked, but it wan't distributed internationally and it wasn't a trendsetter.
Original German "round window" Kine Exakta brochure with actual camera sporting 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar normal lens.
The Kine Exakta of 1936 is basically a 35mm version of the well-established Vest Pocket (VP) Exakta, a compact waist-level SLR first announced by Ihagee in 1933. All versions of the VP took 127-size roll film and made 4x6 cm images, then considered a “miniature” format. Eyeing the phenomenal success of the Leica and the Zeiss Contax and the increasing popularity of the 24x36mm 35mm format Ihagee brought forth the Kine Exakta, the name highlighting the fact that it took “cine” film. Like the VP, the Kine Exakta has a trapezoidal body shape, a multi-speed horizontal cloth focal plane shutter with a separate slow speed dial, a horizontal waist-level viewfinder, a removable back, and the same idiosyncratic camera controls, including an ultra-long-throw (300 degree?) left-handed film-wind lever that also cocks the shutter and lowers the reflex mirror, and a front-mounted shutter release.
Original Kine Exakta of 1936, identifiable by its round magnifier window, is a coveted collector's item and priced accordingly. Slightly later models are more affordable and still provide the classic Exakta shooting experience
The very first Kine Exaktas of 1936, identifiable by their round magnifier windows, currently fetch fancy prices in the $2,500-$3500 range. The one I used for this article is a late 1936 Version 2, which is exactly the same except that it has a rectangular viewfinder magnifier window. It set me back $300 and required $160 in repairs.For the record, you can currently snag a clean early postwar Exakta II which looks almost exactly the same except for a Roman II engraved blow its nameplate, for $100-$300 depending on condition, but make sure it comes with return privileges because shutter repairs can easily run $200 and up if the curtains have to be replaced. The Exakta II will provide that classic Exakta experience and it’s a lot more convenient to shoot with because the viewfinder magnifier is in the right place—hinged at the top of the focusing hood so you can see the entire viewing image before pressing the shutter release.
Yours Truly with my c.1937 Kine Exakta, version 2. You don't have to be a Mets fan to appreciate old Exaktas, but a little masochism helps.
Close-up of my Kine Exakta, version 2 shows its uncoated 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar, the normal "kit" lens of the day. Some have disparaged it as mediocre triplet but it's really a re-badged Meyer Primoplan, a 4-element Tessar type that performs very well indeed.
Before regaling you with my personal hands-on experiences with this charmingly cantankerous beast, here as promised are 5 good reasons why shooting with a Kine Exakta (or other antique camera) is not only a lot of fun but also may broaden your perspective on photography.
1. Less convenience means more creativity. In keeping with the “less is more” philosophy, a camera that requires a thoughtful, deliberate approach can force you to slow down, think, interact with, and honor the subject. And all that can happen even when you seem to be immersed in the technical details of taking the shot. You may have to sacrifice a bit of spontaneity at times, but it can be well worth it.
2. A primitive camera means back to basics. Many compelling images have been shot using AF and P mode, with fully automated cameras, and evemn with cell phones, but there are virtues in understanding and using f/stops, shutter speed, and manual focus creatively. It’s all about image control and understanding how each variable affects the end result. And you can do it all without batteries except for those in your handheld exposure meter.
3. Vintage cameras give you a sense of mastery. Nothing is quite so satisfying as overcoming the technological obstacles and foibles built into an ancient camera and capturing a sharp well composed picture that’s as good or better than the one your buddy took with her high-tech digital marvel. It’s something you had to do for yourself, you succeeded, and you can legitimately take credit for your achievement.
Ella & Lulu: Camera: Kine Exakta version 2 with 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar lens. Handheld exposure: 1/50 sec at f/4-5.6 on Ilford HP-5 Plus film.
4. Vintage lenses take beautiful pictures. The images captured by many vintage lenses often have a pleasantly natural rendition, a qualitatively different look than those taken with modern multicoated lenses incorporating aspheric and exotic glass elements. Typically, a good vintage lens, especially an uncoated one, will have very good resolution, but relatively low contrast, and classic spherical section elements that yield a more “rounded” or 3-dimensional effect. Many vintage lenses also have more rounded diaphragms with 9 or more blades, and that enhances their inherently artistic bokeh in images shot at wider apertures,
Portrait of Jacob Elbaz, Israeli photojournalist and art photographer. Camera:
Kine Exakta, version 2, with 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar lens. Handheld exposure: 1/50 sec at f/4-5.6 on Ilford HP-5 Plus film.
5. The fun factor. It’s lots of fun to run around with an ancient camera like the Kine Exakta when everyone else is using a DSLR, a mirrorless, or a cell phone. You have to smile as you think about all the settings you have to make and the inconveniences you have to put up with. And if you’re a street shooter like me there’s another advantage: people are a lot more likely to agree to have their picture taken when you show them the antique camera you’re using to immortalize them on film. Finally, don’t forget the bragging rights when you’ve succeeded in getting a great shot with a camera that was made before you were born.
Exakta II of c.1948 with coated 50mm f/3.5 Zeiss Tessar lens is very similar to prewar models, but it's a lot easier to use because the magnifier is hinged to the top of the waist level finder, allowing you to view the entire image as you focus.
Shooting with the 1936 Kine Exakta: Not for the faint of heart
The 1936 Kine Exakta is a wonderful camera capable of capturing technically brilliant images of surpassing beauty. It is also an inconvenient contraption and undoubtedly the most challenging SLR I’ve ever shot with. Some of its foibles are due to fact that it was the first of its kind and created at a time when the very concept of a small-format SLR was in its infancy.
For example, the Kine Exakta has a non-removable waist-level finder that provides a parallax free laterally reversed horizontal viewing image. Great. But if you want to follow action or shoot a vertical image you’ve got to pop open the finder by pressing a little button on its back, then press the hinged magnifier on the front down until it clicks in place over the viewing screen. This creates a frame-type “sports finder” that you view through a rectangular port in the rear section of the waist-level hood. It also means that you’ve transformed your glorious SLR into a primitive scale focusing point and shoot with no parallax compensation whatsoever.
Now press the cute little button on the back of the finder hood to pop the magnifier back up, set the lens to maximum aperture, and peer down at the convex surface of the finder screen and you’ll see a clearer, brighter viewing image than you might expect so long as the finder optics and reflex mirror are in good shape. The finder is great for viewing and composing, but not so hot for precise focusing, especially at close distances and in dim light. Press the magnifier down until it clicks in place over the finder screen and you’ll see considerably magnified image of the central area of the image that lets you focus much more accurately, but then you have to pop the magnifier back up to compose the shot. This is infuriating, especially when taking close-ups of people, because maintaining proper focus is a crap shoot—by the time you actually take the shot the subject may well have moved.
Press the little button at the back of the Kine Exakta's finder hood and the magnifier flips up away from the focusing screen so you can compose the shot.
The lens on my Kine Exakta is an uncoated 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar, a rebadged Meyer Primotar, a good quality 4-element 3, group Tessar type. Ihagee itself never made lenses, and this was evidently the price point “kit lens” of the day. It’s very nicely made, its brass barrel is beautifully finished in heavy chrome, it has what appears to be a 12-bladed diaphragm that stops down to f/16, and it focuses smoothly down to 0.8 meters. It is also an unregenerate manual diaphragm lens lacking even a second preset ring for more convenient manual stop-down. This means (you guessed it) you have to open the lens to f/3.5 to focus and view and while ogling the aperture scale, stop the lens down to shooting aperture before taking the shot. This Neanderthal system works OK at moderate shooting apertures, but it can be pretty hard see the subject while recomposing the shot at f/11 or f/16. Later Exaktas had preset, semi-auto, and fully automatic aperture lenses, the latter with an external diaphragm actuation mechanism that coupled via the front mounted shutter release.
Top view of Kine Exakta version 2 with hinged rectangular magnifier pressed down over the focusing screen. It provides modest magnification to aid focusing precision but only allows you to see part of the viewing image. Bummer. Also note classic Exakta ultra-long-throw left-handed wind lever.
The Kine and later 35mm Exaktas prior the VX1000 feature a very long throw (300 degrees?) left-hand shutter release that’s slow and cumbersome but it does cock the shutter, lower the reflex mirror to viewing position and move the manually zeroed frame counter up one notch with each stroke. The main shutter speed dial next to the wind lever dial is the old lift-and-set type that rotates as film is wound or the shutter fires (keep stray fingers out of the way!) It has settings of Z (Zeit or Time), B, 1/25, 1/50 1/100 1/150 1/250, 1/500, and 1/1000 sec. Atop the camera’s right-hand end there’s a large spring-loaded slow speed dial that provides settings of 1/10 to 12 sec (in black) and slow speed plus self-timer setting of 1/10-6 sec (in red). To actuate them you mustset the main shutter speed dial to B, wind the film to the next frame, select the slow speed you want by turning and lifting the outer section of the slow speed dial, turn the slow speed dial clockwise until in stops to provide spring tension for the slow speed mechanism, and fire away. It’ not the last word in convenience but the reward is more timed and self-timed shutter speeds than practically any other camera.
The Kine Exakta has a removable take-up spool that allows cartridge-to-cartridge film feed using a special take-up cartridge (no need to rewind) and there’s an ingenious built-in film knife on a vertical shaft that you unscrew from the bottom of the camera and pull downward to slice the film at any time. You can then develop the exposed portion without affecting the rest of the roll, but if you’re using regular 35mm cartridges you’ve got to open the camera in a darkroom to get the exposed section into a developing tank or opaque film can. The removable back is bit more fiddly than a hinged back, but the camera loads, unloads and rewinds conventionally but he bottom mounted “hinged D-type” rewind knob is less convenient than the usual top-mounted knurled knob or a crank.
Yes the Kine Exakta of 1936 is a glorious pain in the butt to use, but it’s also a beautifully made, nicely finished, esthetically proportioned classic that initiated the development of the vastly improved 35mm SLRs and DSLRs that succeeded it. Run a roll of film through it (or one of its immediate successors) and you’ll have a visceral appreciation of where we came from and how far we’ve gone. Courtesy Shutterbug.
It’s beset with charming quirks and inconveniences but using it can teach you a lot
By Jason Schneider
The landmark Kine Exakta of 1936 was world’s first successful 35mm SLR. Although the Russians announced their Sport 35mm SLR a year earlier this ingenious but ungainly clunker was made in limited quantities from about 1937-1941 and distributed only in the Soviet Union. The Kine Exakta on the other hand was an instant international success and its maker Ihagee of Dresden, Germany produced it and its successors in huge quantities, enjoying robust worldwide sales. Ever so slowly they developed it into the first true 35mm SLR system replete with scores of lenses, finders, and a host of specialized accessories. Prior to the introduction of the Nikon F in 1959, the Exakta was the darling of scientists, doctors, researchers, and a broad spectrum of pro and enthusiast photographers. But by the early ‘70s the classic Exakta petered out in the face of the Japanese SLR onslaught, due mainly to the inherent limitations of its ancient design. Its fate was sealed by the fact it was made in East Germany (DDR) on the wrong side of the political railroad tracks.
Sport of 1935 made by GOMZ in USSR was the world's first 35mm SLR. It worked, but it wan't distributed internationally and it wasn't a trendsetter.
Original German "round window" Kine Exakta brochure with actual camera sporting 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar normal lens.
The Kine Exakta of 1936 is basically a 35mm version of the well-established Vest Pocket (VP) Exakta, a compact waist-level SLR first announced by Ihagee in 1933. All versions of the VP took 127-size roll film and made 4x6 cm images, then considered a “miniature” format. Eyeing the phenomenal success of the Leica and the Zeiss Contax and the increasing popularity of the 24x36mm 35mm format Ihagee brought forth the Kine Exakta, the name highlighting the fact that it took “cine” film. Like the VP, the Kine Exakta has a trapezoidal body shape, a multi-speed horizontal cloth focal plane shutter with a separate slow speed dial, a horizontal waist-level viewfinder, a removable back, and the same idiosyncratic camera controls, including an ultra-long-throw (300 degree?) left-handed film-wind lever that also cocks the shutter and lowers the reflex mirror, and a front-mounted shutter release.
Original Kine Exakta of 1936, identifiable by its round magnifier window, is a coveted collector's item and priced accordingly. Slightly later models are more affordable and still provide the classic Exakta shooting experience
The very first Kine Exaktas of 1936, identifiable by their round magnifier windows, currently fetch fancy prices in the $2,500-$3500 range. The one I used for this article is a late 1936 Version 2, which is exactly the same except that it has a rectangular viewfinder magnifier window. It set me back $300 and required $160 in repairs.For the record, you can currently snag a clean early postwar Exakta II which looks almost exactly the same except for a Roman II engraved blow its nameplate, for $100-$300 depending on condition, but make sure it comes with return privileges because shutter repairs can easily run $200 and up if the curtains have to be replaced. The Exakta II will provide that classic Exakta experience and it’s a lot more convenient to shoot with because the viewfinder magnifier is in the right place—hinged at the top of the focusing hood so you can see the entire viewing image before pressing the shutter release.
Yours Truly with my c.1937 Kine Exakta, version 2. You don't have to be a Mets fan to appreciate old Exaktas, but a little masochism helps.
Close-up of my Kine Exakta, version 2 shows its uncoated 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar, the normal "kit" lens of the day. Some have disparaged it as mediocre triplet but it's really a re-badged Meyer Primoplan, a 4-element Tessar type that performs very well indeed.
Before regaling you with my personal hands-on experiences with this charmingly cantankerous beast, here as promised are 5 good reasons why shooting with a Kine Exakta (or other antique camera) is not only a lot of fun but also may broaden your perspective on photography.
1. Less convenience means more creativity. In keeping with the “less is more” philosophy, a camera that requires a thoughtful, deliberate approach can force you to slow down, think, interact with, and honor the subject. And all that can happen even when you seem to be immersed in the technical details of taking the shot. You may have to sacrifice a bit of spontaneity at times, but it can be well worth it.
2. A primitive camera means back to basics. Many compelling images have been shot using AF and P mode, with fully automated cameras, and evemn with cell phones, but there are virtues in understanding and using f/stops, shutter speed, and manual focus creatively. It’s all about image control and understanding how each variable affects the end result. And you can do it all without batteries except for those in your handheld exposure meter.
3. Vintage cameras give you a sense of mastery. Nothing is quite so satisfying as overcoming the technological obstacles and foibles built into an ancient camera and capturing a sharp well composed picture that’s as good or better than the one your buddy took with her high-tech digital marvel. It’s something you had to do for yourself, you succeeded, and you can legitimately take credit for your achievement.
Ella & Lulu: Camera: Kine Exakta version 2 with 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar lens. Handheld exposure: 1/50 sec at f/4-5.6 on Ilford HP-5 Plus film.
4. Vintage lenses take beautiful pictures. The images captured by many vintage lenses often have a pleasantly natural rendition, a qualitatively different look than those taken with modern multicoated lenses incorporating aspheric and exotic glass elements. Typically, a good vintage lens, especially an uncoated one, will have very good resolution, but relatively low contrast, and classic spherical section elements that yield a more “rounded” or 3-dimensional effect. Many vintage lenses also have more rounded diaphragms with 9 or more blades, and that enhances their inherently artistic bokeh in images shot at wider apertures,
Portrait of Jacob Elbaz, Israeli photojournalist and art photographer. Camera:
Kine Exakta, version 2, with 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar lens. Handheld exposure: 1/50 sec at f/4-5.6 on Ilford HP-5 Plus film.
5. The fun factor. It’s lots of fun to run around with an ancient camera like the Kine Exakta when everyone else is using a DSLR, a mirrorless, or a cell phone. You have to smile as you think about all the settings you have to make and the inconveniences you have to put up with. And if you’re a street shooter like me there’s another advantage: people are a lot more likely to agree to have their picture taken when you show them the antique camera you’re using to immortalize them on film. Finally, don’t forget the bragging rights when you’ve succeeded in getting a great shot with a camera that was made before you were born.
Exakta II of c.1948 with coated 50mm f/3.5 Zeiss Tessar lens is very similar to prewar models, but it's a lot easier to use because the magnifier is hinged to the top of the waist level finder, allowing you to view the entire image as you focus.
Shooting with the 1936 Kine Exakta: Not for the faint of heart
The 1936 Kine Exakta is a wonderful camera capable of capturing technically brilliant images of surpassing beauty. It is also an inconvenient contraption and undoubtedly the most challenging SLR I’ve ever shot with. Some of its foibles are due to fact that it was the first of its kind and created at a time when the very concept of a small-format SLR was in its infancy.
For example, the Kine Exakta has a non-removable waist-level finder that provides a parallax free laterally reversed horizontal viewing image. Great. But if you want to follow action or shoot a vertical image you’ve got to pop open the finder by pressing a little button on its back, then press the hinged magnifier on the front down until it clicks in place over the viewing screen. This creates a frame-type “sports finder” that you view through a rectangular port in the rear section of the waist-level hood. It also means that you’ve transformed your glorious SLR into a primitive scale focusing point and shoot with no parallax compensation whatsoever.
Now press the cute little button on the back of the finder hood to pop the magnifier back up, set the lens to maximum aperture, and peer down at the convex surface of the finder screen and you’ll see a clearer, brighter viewing image than you might expect so long as the finder optics and reflex mirror are in good shape. The finder is great for viewing and composing, but not so hot for precise focusing, especially at close distances and in dim light. Press the magnifier down until it clicks in place over the finder screen and you’ll see considerably magnified image of the central area of the image that lets you focus much more accurately, but then you have to pop the magnifier back up to compose the shot. This is infuriating, especially when taking close-ups of people, because maintaining proper focus is a crap shoot—by the time you actually take the shot the subject may well have moved.
Press the little button at the back of the Kine Exakta's finder hood and the magnifier flips up away from the focusing screen so you can compose the shot.
The lens on my Kine Exakta is an uncoated 5.4cm f/3.5 Ihagee Anastigmat Exaktar, a rebadged Meyer Primotar, a good quality 4-element 3, group Tessar type. Ihagee itself never made lenses, and this was evidently the price point “kit lens” of the day. It’s very nicely made, its brass barrel is beautifully finished in heavy chrome, it has what appears to be a 12-bladed diaphragm that stops down to f/16, and it focuses smoothly down to 0.8 meters. It is also an unregenerate manual diaphragm lens lacking even a second preset ring for more convenient manual stop-down. This means (you guessed it) you have to open the lens to f/3.5 to focus and view and while ogling the aperture scale, stop the lens down to shooting aperture before taking the shot. This Neanderthal system works OK at moderate shooting apertures, but it can be pretty hard see the subject while recomposing the shot at f/11 or f/16. Later Exaktas had preset, semi-auto, and fully automatic aperture lenses, the latter with an external diaphragm actuation mechanism that coupled via the front mounted shutter release.
Top view of Kine Exakta version 2 with hinged rectangular magnifier pressed down over the focusing screen. It provides modest magnification to aid focusing precision but only allows you to see part of the viewing image. Bummer. Also note classic Exakta ultra-long-throw left-handed wind lever.
The Kine and later 35mm Exaktas prior the VX1000 feature a very long throw (300 degrees?) left-hand shutter release that’s slow and cumbersome but it does cock the shutter, lower the reflex mirror to viewing position and move the manually zeroed frame counter up one notch with each stroke. The main shutter speed dial next to the wind lever dial is the old lift-and-set type that rotates as film is wound or the shutter fires (keep stray fingers out of the way!) It has settings of Z (Zeit or Time), B, 1/25, 1/50 1/100 1/150 1/250, 1/500, and 1/1000 sec. Atop the camera’s right-hand end there’s a large spring-loaded slow speed dial that provides settings of 1/10 to 12 sec (in black) and slow speed plus self-timer setting of 1/10-6 sec (in red). To actuate them you mustset the main shutter speed dial to B, wind the film to the next frame, select the slow speed you want by turning and lifting the outer section of the slow speed dial, turn the slow speed dial clockwise until in stops to provide spring tension for the slow speed mechanism, and fire away. It’ not the last word in convenience but the reward is more timed and self-timed shutter speeds than practically any other camera.
The Kine Exakta has a removable take-up spool that allows cartridge-to-cartridge film feed using a special take-up cartridge (no need to rewind) and there’s an ingenious built-in film knife on a vertical shaft that you unscrew from the bottom of the camera and pull downward to slice the film at any time. You can then develop the exposed portion without affecting the rest of the roll, but if you’re using regular 35mm cartridges you’ve got to open the camera in a darkroom to get the exposed section into a developing tank or opaque film can. The removable back is bit more fiddly than a hinged back, but the camera loads, unloads and rewinds conventionally but he bottom mounted “hinged D-type” rewind knob is less convenient than the usual top-mounted knurled knob or a crank.
Yes the Kine Exakta of 1936 is a glorious pain in the butt to use, but it’s also a beautifully made, nicely finished, esthetically proportioned classic that initiated the development of the vastly improved 35mm SLRs and DSLRs that succeeded it. Run a roll of film through it (or one of its immediate successors) and you’ll have a visceral appreciation of where we came from and how far we’ve gone. Courtesy Shutterbug.
davidswiss
Established
Thank you Jason. I always enjoy and always learn from your various knowledgeable wanderings through the world of old, useable cameras.
Andrea Taurisano
il cimento
6. Strangers talk to you when they see something like that in your hands. In some countries, for some people, being approached by strangers is a rare gift.
Vince Lupo
Nobody's Mentor
I had a Version 4 Kine Exakta. For some reason I preferred these older Exaktas to the VXIIa's etc. Only thing I didn't like about it was that the back wasn't hinged (it detaches from the rest of the body).
E1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
E2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
I really loved the Exakta II. I was lucky to have found the clip-on eye level finder for it for a really cheap price.
ex1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
ex2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
E1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
E2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
I really loved the Exakta II. I was lucky to have found the clip-on eye level finder for it for a really cheap price.
ex1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
ex2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Pfreddee
Well-known
My dad used one of those when I was a boy, back in the late '40s and early '50s. I never got to use it, and he shot mostly slides, but it sparked my desire to get a 35mm camera too, and I've been taking pictures since 1953!
With best regards.
Pfreddee(Stephen)
With best regards.
Pfreddee(Stephen)
markjwyatt
Well-known
I picked up an Exakta VX with the Biotar and a Domiplan last year. It is working well, and a lot of fun to shoot. First two shots are with the Biotar, the third with the Domiplan (not a bad little triplet stopped down).
Firescape by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Over Run by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Old Truck, front by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Firescape by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Over Run by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Old Truck, front by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Retro-Grouch
Well-known
When I was in high school, I started off with an Exa and graduated to a VXIIB. I thought I was pretty cool, until Andy S. (coolest of the cool kids) came in with a Nikon F. My ego took a serious hit, and I experienced what was probably my first GAS attack. I couldn't wait to get rid of the VXIIB, and traded it for some crummy but affordable Canon that at least looked lie a "real" camera, sleek and functional. Now I admire the Exaktas for their gorgeous, quirky design aesthetic, and would probably take a well-functioning Exakta over that Nikon F. Or is "well-functioning Exakta" an oxymoron?
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
A wonderful, scholarly, article, Jason. This article of yours, like so many previous ones, and like what you’ve written for Modern Photography, is why you’ll always be my favorite writer on cameras and photography.
I especially appreciate these remarks:
An older Exakta is on my want-list. At the moment, I have many Exakta VX’s and a very nice Exakta (Exa) 500. I use these all the time. Someday I will use the film knife!
I especially appreciate these remarks:
An older Exakta is on my want-list. At the moment, I have many Exakta VX’s and a very nice Exakta (Exa) 500. I use these all the time. Someday I will use the film knife!
tonyzoc
Newbie
I read this article ever time I come across it. It never gets old. My first SLR was uncle's Exakta V with WL finder and a Meyer Primoplan 58/1.9. it's what I learned on so this article resonates for me. I've since added 70+ Exaktas to my collection in the last 40+ years...I've got about 10 that are film worthy. Here's a few...
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
markjwyatt
Well-known
I can relate to that. My first good camera was a baby Rollei (I was maybe 13). We also had a cosntant stream of Pop and Modern Photography as well as Shutterbug flowing through our house. I drank the kool-aid, and though realization it had some great features, it was clearly a dinosaur not worthy of the Nikons, Canons, Minoltas, Mirandas, etc. out there. Within a year I traded up to my dad's SLR (a Zeiss Icarex 35S with a Zeiss 50mm f1.8 Ultron). I still thought I was being gipped a bit (though I recognized it had a Zeiss lens, but that was as far as it went in those days). I did muddle through with it though. At least it was the sacrosanct SLR that I was constantly told I needed, and it worked and took some really nice pictures. Several years alter I switched to TLRs (Mamiya) and loved them. It made me realize the marketing malaise I fell for, plus taught me it was more about talking pictures than gear. Fortunately I kept the Zeiss Ultron, and unfortunately I had traded the baby Rollei away for some stupid Vivitar lens (thinking, well you can't get 127 film anymore, though I did realize it had collectability potential). Nowadays, I prefer the older mechanical cameras (SLR, rangefinder, folder, TLR, etc.), and a nice functioning Exakta VX is one of my current tools.
Retro-Grouch
Well-known
No offense, Mr. Schneider, but as markjwyatt says, Modern Photography and Pop Photo were the ultimate Kool-Aid pushers! That yearly Camera Buying Guide issue? Oh, brother! I think I might remember locking myself in the bathroom with it. Not a healthy thing for impressionable young minds!
