by
Karen Nakamuraby
Karen Nakamura
Ihagee is famous for producing what was... if not the first in the world, at least the first widely known single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, the Exacta. The Exa is Ihagee's post-War consumer version of the Exa. It was constructed using less-expensive materials and the shutter design was considerably simplified.
Nonetheless, it's notable for several features:
Interchangeable
lens designI received this camera out of the estate of Marion Carpenter, one of the first famous women photographers, who unfortunately died destitute at the age of 82 last year in St. Paul.
There were several versions of the Exa. Mine is a type 1.3 according to McKeown. It came with the pentaprism instead of the chimney hood. It was produced from 1953-53.
There were several manufacturers of lenses for the Exa, including Zeiss who produced the Tessar 50mm f/2.8 for it. My unit came with the ISCO-Gottingen Westanar 50mm f/2.8, I don't have a lot of information on this lens.
The shutter design is quite remarkable. Instead of using a cloth or metal shutter curtain like the Leicas or Contaxes of the era, the Exa uses the mirror box itself as the first "curtain" then a rotating steel barrel hidden behind the mirror acts as the second "curtain." This is a very simple design. Unfortunately, the main limitation is that there is a limit to how quickly the mirror can flip up and the barrel can rotate without affecting image quality. Thus the Exa only has shutter speeds from 1/25 sec to 1/150 sec. This is enough for daylight photography with ASA 100 film, which was considered blindingly fast for that period.
Camera
Name |
Exa |  |
|---|---|---|
Manufacturer |
Ihagee | |
Place
of Manufacture |
Dresden, Germany |
|
Date
of Manufacture |
1952-53 | |
Focusing
System |
Single
lens reflex |
|
Lens |
ISCO-Gottingen
Westanar 50mm f/2.8 x elements
in X groups |
|
Shutter |
Mirror/rotating drum focal plane shutter: 1/25 sec. - 1/150 sec + B |
|
Metering
System |
n/a |
|
Apertures |
f/2.8-f/16 (1 stop steps) |
|
Flash |
M
and X prong type flash connection on front left |
|
Film
type / speeds |
Type 135 (35mm standard) |
|
Battery
type |
n/a | |
Dimensions
and weight |
129
W x 92 H x 83 D mm (w/ Tessar 50mm f/2.8) |
|
Retail
price |
||
Ihagee was an early photographic pioneer in Dresden Germany. According to McKeown, for a while, Ihagee was the largest camera manufacturer in Germany. Unfortunately, like most German camera companies, it was munched up by the giant Zeiss-Ikon conglomeration in the early post-War period.
|
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