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Exakta is a 35mm SLR film camera series manufactured by Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen & Co, Dresden, former East Germany and produced between 1936-72. Although Exakta name was used by some other manufacturers after 1972, the true Exaktas are ones made by Ihagee in Dresden as to serious collectors. Exakta is one of the very first SLR cameras in the world. Exakta was quite expensive camera and it was used mostly by the professionals.

Beginning from Exakta Varex the lenses and SLR pentaprism and Waist level viewfinders are interchangeable within all versions.

Ihagee never made lenses of its own brand. There are many lens types of many manufacturers used on Exakta versions. Instead, they relied on many of the major optical firms of their day to each produce a series of lenses for their cameras, eg. Carl Zeiss Jena, Meyer-Optik Görlitz, Schneider-Kreuznach and E.Ludwig.

The East German Zeiss lenses made for export, were marked from 1954 with different engravings. The brand name Carl Zeiss Jena is replaced by C.Z. Jena or Jena or aus Jena. The lens names Biotar, Biometar, Sonnar, Tessar, Triotar were replaced by the letter B, Bm, S, T, Tr.

Exakta

  • Often referred as Kine Exakta [1]
  • Produced between 1936-49
  • Version 1; There are 4 sub-versions [2] [3]
  • Fixed waist-level viewfinder
  • Two spellings: In late version the Exakta name with "c" is more common

Exakta II

  • Often referred as Kine Exakta II
  • Produced between 1949-50
  • Version 2; There are 3 sub-versions
  • The third sub-version has a limited interchangeable finder

Photo in Andrzej Wrotniak's website: [1]

Exakta Varex

  • Produced between 1950-51
  • Sold as Exakta V in USA
  • Version 3; There are 3 sub-versions
  • Removable viewfinder with SLR pentaprism or waist level finder by a catch on the camera body below the logo


Exakta Varex VX

  • Sold as Exakta VX in USA
  • Produced between 1951-56
  • Version 4; There are 4 sub-versions

Exakta Varex IIa

  • Sold as Exakta VXIIa in USA
  • Produced between 1956-63
  • Version 5; There are 4 sub-versions
  • In the last version there is a new name plate and logo: uppercase "EXAKTA" on black background


Exakta Varex IIb

  • Sold as Exakta VXIIb in USA
  • Produced between 1963-67
  • Version 6
  • Film speeds moved to the top of the slow speed dial
  • Fast shutters speeds follow the "modern" geometric progression from 1/30 to 1/1000
  • The rewind knob has a crank handle
  • There is not a finder release knob

Exakta VX1000

  • Produced between 1967-70
  • Version 7
  • New body construction
  • Instant-return mirror

Exakta VX500

  • Produced between 1969-72
  • Version 8; There are 2 sub-versions
  • Simplified version of Exakta VX1000
  • No film knife
  • No slow speeds; fast ones limited to 1/500


Notes and references

  1. Kine Exakta is the first 35mm SLR camera. The camera's features were based on Ihagee-Exakta rollfilm 4×6.5 cm, an earlier SLR made by K.Nüchterlein who also designed Kine Exakta. Kine Exakta was introduced at the fair Leipziger Früjahrsmesse in spring 1936. This date is important that it is one and a half year earlier than the Sport made by GOMZ. Although, some authors say that Sport is the first 35mm SLR, based on the prototype design
  2. The classification of Exaktas in this page is according to Andrzej Wrotniak
  3. Notes about Exa/Exakta classification:from F.W. Tappe Andrzej Wrotniak made a very sensible classification, listed on his website. It is multi dimensional in setup, without being complicated.. Richard Hummel's 1995 book lists an "one dimensional" classification, which is incomplete, but many sources still refer to this. Aguila and Rouah (A&R) in their 2003 edition of "Exakta cameras 1933 - 1978", come to an improved classification. They built on their previous 1987 edition classification, which was the leading standard among collectors. Klaus Wichmann, prolific writer of books about Exakta - and Exa cameras, published his classifications earliest.

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