Avotius
Some guy
Ok so a little after dinner gas and I am now the owner of an Exakta camera sort of like the one Jimmy Stewart had in Rear Window. My camera has a Zeiss Jena 50mm f2 Pancolor lens. I have seen there are adapters out there for Exakta to EOS mount though I understand the margin for error is razor thin. I have looked around but not seen anything that talks about lens compatibility for exakta to eos so I am asking the experts here if they know anything. Will my lens mount to an adapter/5D or 20D and is there any other lenses I should be looking for? I seemed to notice there are some m42 lenses that look to be the same as the exakta mount lenses with the big nobby thing on the side.
This will be a play camera so any info would be great!
This will be a play camera so any info would be great!
Al Kaplan
Mentor
You don't mention which Exakta model you have. Zeiss Jena made lenses in both m42 thread and Exakta Bayonet. The optics are the same, and they're pretty damn good optics. Look for the 20mm and 25mm Zeiss Jena Flektagons, the legendary Zeiss Jena180/2.8 Sonnar and the less common 300/4 Sonnar, as well as the 80 and 120mm f/2.8 Zeiss Jena Biometers.
The French firm Angenieux, best know for inventing the retrofocus design, and for their extensive line-up of professional motion picture camera lenses made a number of Exakta mount lenses from 24mm to 180mm. Some are available with auto diaphragms for Exakta. None are cheap.
Schneider made lenses too, both under the Schneider name and in a less expensive series of lenses under the Isco name. Another movie lens producer,Astro Berlin, made some very fast, very good, and very expensive telephotos. The 125mm and 150mm f/2.3 Pan Tachars are great and someday I'd just love to try out their 150mm f/1.8.
Hugo Meyer Goerlitz made some decent humongous telephotos, Tele-Megor, but their normals and short teles were so-so. Then of course there are all those Japanese lenses out there...
The French firm Angenieux, best know for inventing the retrofocus design, and for their extensive line-up of professional motion picture camera lenses made a number of Exakta mount lenses from 24mm to 180mm. Some are available with auto diaphragms for Exakta. None are cheap.
Schneider made lenses too, both under the Schneider name and in a less expensive series of lenses under the Isco name. Another movie lens producer,Astro Berlin, made some very fast, very good, and very expensive telephotos. The 125mm and 150mm f/2.3 Pan Tachars are great and someday I'd just love to try out their 150mm f/1.8.
Hugo Meyer Goerlitz made some decent humongous telephotos, Tele-Megor, but their normals and short teles were so-so. Then of course there are all those Japanese lenses out there...
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Avotius
Some guy
Well what I got is a Exakta iia VX v.7 which I seems to be the bayonet mount. I may have to check out some of the other lenses as well. If the 50 pancolor in exakta mount will fit on the 5D then all the better too!
ZeissFan
Mentor
The Carl Zeiss Jena lenses for M42 and Exakta are more or less the same lenses. I wouldn't bother with trying to fit Exakta to EOS when an M42 adapter should be much less finicky.
Some CZJ lenses are marked 'Aus Jena,' and generally have two face rings with the underlying ring being marked Carl Zeiss Jena and having the serial number scratched out.
Some CZJ lenses are marked 'Aus Jena,' and generally have two face rings with the underlying ring being marked Carl Zeiss Jena and having the serial number scratched out.
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
this guy has an adapter to fit his Exakta Biotar on an EOS mount camera.
http://forum.mflenses.com/exakta-eos-adapter-t13540.html
http://forum.mflenses.com/exakta-eos-adapter-t13540.html
peter_n
Mentor
There have been successful M42 lens --> Canon EOS body adapters. Exa bayonet to Canon I'm not so sure. The CZJ very wide Flektogons are really great. A beautiful 25/4 M42 sold last week on eBay for $355! 
BTW the recent Josef Koudelka book Invasion 68: Prague was shot almost exclusively with an Exakta/Flektogon 25mm. Great focal length...
BTW the recent Josef Koudelka book Invasion 68: Prague was shot almost exclusively with an Exakta/Flektogon 25mm. Great focal length...