Varex quite popular with news photographers back then. I have two in my collection - one is VX (I think) and the other is the VX IIa. Have both interchangeable viewfinders. Very cool. Nice and solid to hold. I love them both. Built like the proverbial tank.

I got my Exakta from an elederly man. He originally bought it in 1952. Obviously he paid it in local currency but the msrp was the equivalent of three times his monthly income. Since he was a real estate agent, my wild guess is this camera was a very expensive item. The camera has been used extensively untill 1995 and still works (I made a video about it). Along with the Edixa, I consider it to be one of the best looking cameras ever made, with some steam-punk vibes.

I have an Exakta, I needed to paint the shutter cloth because of pin holes, it's worked brilliantly! Mine is coupled with a Pancolar 50mm 1:2, really nice! It's definitely a keeper!

Compared to other 35mm cameras of their day, Exaktas were well engineered and built. they had several features which might have been usefully "borrowed" by competitors, but were not. In 1959, when I was shopping for my first 35mm SLR, the Exakta was one of the three cameras I seriously considered. At that time, there were so many lenses and accessories made for the Exakta that no other camera was nearly as adaptable or useful in a wide variety of applications. However, in 1959, the problem with Exakta was that it had been designed in the mid-1930s, and its features had not been updated since then. Those features were competitive with other German SLRs of the day, but they were all in the process of having their ass handed to them by the Japanese. In the end, I sat on my funds for another 18 months, then bought a Nikkorex F (thanks Mamiya) and the newly issued 50mm 1.4 Nikkor. I used that without fail (or CLA) until replace in 1976 with a Nikkormat FT2. (Well, no CLA for the body. The 50mm 1.4 lens' automatic aperture was a pain in the ass the whole time, three trips to the repair shop over the years to unstick lube jammed leaves.)

Dear Peter, thank you very much. Great portrait as always. More videos of this kind, please! 😉 - I love the engineering and solidity of these cameras. But the Exakta has the most complicated shutter controls I know of. Also the trigger on the left side is a little bit unpractical. Although I have taken beautiful pictures with my Exakta and the Zeiss lenses are excellent, I have never had a really good feeling with this camera. I like this 'machine' very much, but not for photography. Everything is very complicated. Nevertheless, it was very successful worldwide for decades and an export hit of the GDR. Greetings from Berlin, Heiko

Jimmy Stewart used a Exakta in the film Rear Window. I have an Exakta camera I like it not as easy to use as my slrs but fun in its own way!0

If you check out Butkus camera site for the manuals, and do a bit of reading, you would find that the Ihagee cameras, far less 'fiddly', I believe you said. My Dad's Zeiss Ikon Contina which he bought new in Germany wasn't half the camera the original Exacta SLR's; Kine, Dresden, etc...once were. In that Ihagee first released their 35 mm in the mid 1930's tells many about how really incredible they are.

Those cameras are so complex Peter. Thanks for showing them. I've never seen them before.

Thank you for very interesting video about such a complex camera!

Fascinating introduction to these historic models. Your review highlights why they are fairly easy to find, but even the ones that work are offered without warranty. Still interesting though.

Wonderful, I had one a few years ago with a beautiful Pancolar lens. 😍

Thanks for another great video, Peter. Beautiful cameras, if a little complicated for everyday use 😉.

Thanks for the video Peter, I have a few Exakta models from the Kine Exakta (1938) right up to the VX1000. I love the look of these cameras however difficult to find someone in the UK who knows how to service them. Like you said they look interesting but not regular user cameras

Thé varex (the father of your VX IIa) is probably one of the most beautiful old SLR 35mm. It s à son of the Kine exacta which was the first well sold 35mm. A wonderful piece of engineering and one of the first SLR system with multiple lenses and different viewfinder. A must to have for collectionner as well as the Edixa and the Contarex. You said at the beginning that the aperture of the body is very small but remember we are in the 50ies and the wide angle are not very commun. Nevertheless I got for this camera a 20mm f4 and a 24mm f 4… so we can t say the German were good engineers.

It’s not difficult to understand, but it does state that you must turn it to B and you must cock the shutter lever before hand, it’s 70 years old and still works.

I have the Exa waist lever viewer interchangable focus screen only 150 Max shutter

Good collectible. 😀

I've got an Exakta VX (Varex) nice pieces of machinery if you ask me...specially for that time. of course I might be biased as another Dutchy had part in it. (Johan Steenbergen, a Dutchman, founded a camera company called Industrie- und Handelsgesellschaft in Dresden in 1912. The name was shortened to Ihagee (based on the German pronunciation of the acronym IHG, ee-hah-geh). Surprised you did not elaborate on the left handed transport. My theory is that these were made for use on the Microscopes. so turned up (on top of the scope) and facing you so you can see into the waistlevel finder made the camera all of a sudden "right handed". if you know what i mean. My theory ;) nobody proved me wrong yet ;) great job showing them.

I’ve got a Exakta Vertex iia with the modern script. Like the fact it’s left handed shutter ( although I’m right handed) and I like the blade inside to cut off the film if you only want to take a few frames, ( as long as you have two canisters).

A TTL penta prism was made by Schacht

Thank you for your video. How do you select the long pause / slow speed on the right button? Do you need first to put the left speed on a given position? Other than that question, my base Exacta works well.

I think you have to look at it more from a historical perspective. Exakta was an absolute unique camera. At the time it was released there were only twin reflex- and rangefinder cameras as an alternative to the large and cluncky glass plate cameras. The "race" to produce the widest aperture lens was still far into the future and using lenses with telescope range was not yet a thing. Therefore the size of the Exakta mount was not a problem. Now we view the Exakta system perhaps as over engineered, but back then they had to start more or less from scratch designing the camera so things like an "instant return" mirror and auto aperture were not envisioned. What lead to the company's downfall was that they didn't inovate enough and held on to the origninal design. A major factor in this was probably the communistic system that was very bureaucratic and did not encourage the quest for innovation.

Hi Peter, hope you're doing well. Interesting video as always. These Exaktas are very complicated indeed, did you ever get your hands on an Exa? Very simple, cheap and reliable, no curtains, there are even two screw mount versions of it, the 1B and 1C

Saying "German" and "over engineered" is being redundant. Exaktas and Alpas seem to have a bit in common. I have both and both are quirky, but great!

I have the Exakta VX and need a takeup spool. I checked EBay, where might I be able to get one? Thank you.

Last week I bought a Topcon Super D camera, with a Topcor RE 58mm f1.4 , I've managed some shots using an M42 adapter until my exakta adapter arrives, it's stunning. By far the best portrait lens I've had. 👌

I cant hear you talking.... sounds like you have a mouth full chew Tabaco