Exakta cameras can trace their lineage all the way back to 1912 when Johan Steenbergen, a Dutch national, opened his camera company in Dresden, Germany. I’m not going to attempt to pronounce the original full name of the company, but it eventually became known by the acronym IHG – which when pronounced in German is Ihagee. And that’s the name you’ll see associated with most Exakta cameras.
The historical significance of Ihagee can’t be understated, as they are credited with having the first successful production run of a single lens reflex camera using 35mm film – all the way back in 1936. This camera was the Kine Exakta, and it used a waist-level finder to allow photographers to actually see through the lens that was mounted to the camera.
But prior to the release of the Kine Exakta, Ihagee had already been credited with several “firsts”. They were the first to include an actual lever for winding the film instead of a knob. And they were the first to include a special socket for using flash that could be triggered by the shutter. In addition to these fairly unique features for the time, Exakta cameras would include many additional features that would go on to be standard offerings associated with professional-level models: a 1/1000 of a second top shutter speed, and slow shutter speeds that could be as low as 12 seconds.
With the release of the Exakta Varex in 1950, interchangeable prism finders and focusing screens would be added to the list of premium features. But between 1951 and 1956, the Exakta Varex VX was produced – and that’s what we’ll be taking a close look at in the below video. We’ll also go on a shoot with it and check out the results!
Vintage Camera Digest 