I haven't owned an Exakta before

J

johnf04

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But when this handsome Varex IIb came up on a local online auction, I bought it.



The camera is in very nice condition for its age, but there are 2 problems.

There is a little fungus at the edge of the lens's front element, and I have to work out how to get in there to clean it.

The second shutter curtain is shot.



I have curtain material, and links to a couple of lots of instructions, so at some stage I'll have to replace the curtain.
 
Unless I'm mistaken, the front of the Pancolar just unscrews. You'll need to use a piece of rubber to unscrew it, as it has no slots for a spanner.

The 2/50 Pancolar is overshadowed by the later 1.8 version, but in my opinion I think it is the better lens. Its rendering is beautiful, and it gives more accurate color reproduction.

Here's a shot on film from my Pancolar 2/50:

vx5006 by Berang Berang, on Flickr
 
I completely agree about the superiority of the early f/2.0 Pancolar. I have it in its alternative guise as the 50mm f/2.0 Flexon on my Praktina IIA. A hugely underated lens.
 
Unfortunately, most Exakta's shutters have pin holes or worse. I have three (VX, VXIIa and VXIIb) nice ones and only one works perfectly. Have a number of lens, some are real neat like the Westrogon Isco-Gottingen 24mm/4.

Been thinking of posting them for sale but don't have a clue what to ask for them.
 
A lot of lenses have increased in value recently with the craze of using "Cult" lenses on digital cameras. Sold an Angenieux 35/3.5, which I paid $35 for about 20 years ago for $600+ and who knows about the Meyer Trioplans? Wish I had bought a hundred of them when they were selling for less than $50.
I started collecting Exaktas because they were so cheap with great German lenses available. Have more than paid for my collection at least two times over by selling a few lenses in the last couple years. Makes me look like an investment genius to my wife, who of course always complains about "That old camera junk"!

Gary Hill
 
Thx for sharing Tuna.
the pic just oozes naturalness and comfort in terms of sharpness/color/contrast

tunalegs said:
Unless I'm mistaken, the front of the Pancolar just unscrews. You'll need to use a piece of rubber to unscrew it, as it has no slots for a spanner.

The 2/50 Pancolar is overshadowed by the later 1.8 version, but in my opinion I think it is the better lens. Its rendering is beautiful, and it gives more accurate color reproduction.

Here's a shot on film from my Pancolar 2/50:

vx5006 by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Click to expand...
 
The second curtain of my Varex IIa was almost like a mesh, the coating gone. I did a cheap DIY job by applying many layers of liquid electric tape and it helped for some time. I also got the Exakta repair book but did not find any time to proper service my camera.

This one was taken with the CZJ Flektogon 25/4 on DELTA400 (at 1600)


by Gabor Samjeske, on Flickr
 
I hope you lubed the shutter spindles while you were in there. Every Exakta I've had has needed that when I got it.

I also recently decided to test my Pancolar against my Schneider Xenon, and somewhat surprisingly the Pancolar turned in sharper results wide open. It's a very good lens by any standard for the era it was made in. I earlier tested an M42 Xenon against various other M42 lenses and it came out ahead of all of them, so for the Pancolar "kit lens" to outdo a Xenon impressed me.
 
I'll be interested in reading your thoughts and seeing the results when you get them. I have a VXIIB, but I've never used it, though I've shot many rolls through a VX500.
 
Unfortunately, I managed to misload the film on the tank spiral, and got only 6 usable images:


Taken through a window - hence the line on the left.





I don't know that it's a camera I would use a lot - and I still have to clean the fungus off the lens front element.
 
Shame about the roll, but at least you know the camera works now.

I think the primary reason I haven't used my VXIIb is the unwieldy advance lever. I have no problem with it being left handed, and have used the VX1000 and VX500, but the unusually long throw of the lever on the earlier Exaktas seems slightly ridiculous.
 
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