Old cars, old guitars, old cameras, they all hold a certain fascination, Josh, and I think that it's our duty, as film photographers, to keep these old machines working for as long as possible. I personally have spent more money than a camera is worth to have it repaired. CLA'd, just to ensure that it will still be useable long after I've gone. We hold the future of film photography in our hands, it's up to us to keep it going, both by shooting film but also by saving cameras. You have 2 fine machines there, cherish them for they have history in their bones. Cheers George

You were at the Kent and East Sussex railway. Photogenic place. And St Mary in the Marsh. Good photos.

I also like waist level finders on SLR’s!

I'm so happy to have found this video. I was gifted my grandpa's Exacta Varex IIa today and it's something I've been waiting for for years. (We lost him in 1997 and I am 52 so when I say waiting for years, well, honestly...) I don't know a lot about this camera and as I can't ask him I'm so grateful that you made this as I found it really helpful. I've subscribed and will be going back to see where you got yours. Thanks again~

Great video and love how you edited this, and beautiful country! I like that video shot of the view of the composition in the waist level finder we saw in the final photograph. Exakta are one-of-a kind, quirky and unique beautiful cameras, they are absolutely number 1 favourites in my collection.

Love your beautiful, and or quirky fun rural settings! The Railway shots are of interest to me, and I’ve visited vintage Rail museums, and sites in England! Was there a qwik vid of the restored British Pullman train there?! Four friends & I from the Midwest US, rode the Venice Simplon Orient Express train deluxe, from Venice to Brussels, then the British Pullman out of Victoria Station, to the Channel coast, and back! Anyway… back to cameras…. I’m working my way through your great vids…. So when I saw the Exakta name pop up, I went and grabbed three of mine off a dusty shelf, to follow along. One is the VX IIa like yours, but with an Exaktar 2.0/50mm lens (it may be Japanese), next an Exakta VX 500 (the last real Exakta) with an “aus Jena” Pancolar 2.0 50 ( after a law suit, East Germany couldn’t use the Carl Zeiss name). The third one is the EXAKTA RTL1000 (a Pentacon later cheaper Exakta version)…. But with one of my favorite M42 german lens - the Meyer Optik Gorlitz Oreston 1.8/ 50mm that focuses down to 1.1 feet. This later evolved into Pentacon’s 1.8/50. Try one if you never have… I love it! 13:01 The Domiplan, while a budget built Meyer Optik lens, is actually quite good, as you found…. I like mine! Thanks as always for your nice work… am looking forward to your new ones!

fun to see people still use those old cameras...my first slr..was a Topcon re super...those cameras had exata bayonet

Love this Josh! Always make sure to watch your videos when I see them in my feed and they just get better everytime! 👏🏼

Some great shots in this episode. It has really made me want to head out to one our local rural villages around Cape Town and just immerse myself in shooting.

cool Exakta Varex :-) nice

Thanks for the brief demo of these interesting cameras. I don't have one, but similarly I lovevusing the WLF on my medium formats (Yadhica D and Bronica GS-1).

Pleasure to find your channel. That Varex is a gorgeous thing... i'd love one as a 'special occasion' shooter - which would be every time i picked it up. Interesting what you said about the Domiplan. I got one of the horrible little things a few months ago because i'd wasted some old ladies time in a charity store - getting her to drag out all the old camera bits she could find - and i bought it (out of guilt) for nothing with some anonymous Practika attached. I've shot it a few times on digital and thought nothing of it... but i've not really stopped it down or shot it on film - i'll give it a go. Really nice vid - Lkd&Subd. All the best from a cabin in a swamp in a rainforest in New Zealand.

Can i ask you, Do you use an exposure meter for this model ?

Great video. Have a Varex (VX) IIB with both prism and wlf. I'm left handed so have no problem using it! Interested to see your results with the domiplan, will retry using it.

The waist level view finder on my Exakta has a Sports viewing option: A port on the front of the view finder can open so you can look through like a traditional eye-level finder but not like a pentaprism. Does your camera not have this feature?

Ok, Im getting accostomed to the loading now, its still tricky because sometimes I dont feel the tension to signal the end of the roll.

The sunny 16 rule through this waist level finder shows me a blown out image but that setting renders a good photo with a prism camera, does this camera as a view finder deviate from standard SLR rules? My exakata gives me a good photo one time then another its blown out.

Beautiful location! Where is this place?

Why is this camera giving me a hard time loading? 1st time using it the roll came back blank, 2nd using it all but 5 came out and they were all blue.

You should wrap them up in some kinda cloth in your backpack so they are not clanking against each other.. 70+ year old cameras are not easy to find parts for ... And you most likely will not find NEW parts for them. I have three of them and love mine.. If I take two of them with me they have there own compartments and are wrapped up so they do not smack into anything and take a chance of scratching the lens or something.. But its cool to see you using these :).. Fun cameras to use .. Also I hear one of yours making the dreaded shutter squeak sound.. All of mine did that when I got them and when testing there shutter speeds they where all slower then should be lol.. A good service and all will be good for many years to come.. Feel lucky your shutter clothes are still good.. Two of mine had pin holes in the shutter clothes and needed replacement and that was not cheap lol. But the funny and ironic thing is after having them serviced the darn things live up to there name every shutter speed is quite close to being "Exact" lol. They are die hard cameras and after a good servicing can give many years of great photos . Gotta love the simpler days of mechanical cameras :).

Make a video on how to load this camera.