Exakta Varex Cameras. 3: 2013 Perspective

It was nostalgic fun to have an Exakta (well three, actually) at the eye for a while again after an interlude of nearly 40 years. I bought three bodies which came with a total of five lenses from different eBay sellers.

It is very unfair to extend performance of an old camera to criticism of the manufacturer because so much depends on how it has been treated by its owner or succession of owners. So many cameras of the 1950s and 60s have been handed down to children who then abandoned them in attics, garages and sheds until moving house.

There were five problems with one or more of the bodies.

In all three (one Varex IIb and one IIa) the foam rubber that cushions the mirror had crumbled away or was in the final stages of doing so. That was easily replaced by material supplied by an eBay seller.

Replacement foam above the mirror

In both IIbs but not the IIa the frame counter was not working. It jumped all over the place when the film was advanced. This mechanical failure I am told is a common problem.

The frame counter did not work in the two Varex IIbs

The mirror was beyond use in the IIa. The silvering had deteriorated badly, starting it seems, from chemical reaction as the foam rubber broke up. The mirrors in the IIb were fine with just a little deterioration at the edges near the foam.

The mirror of a Varex IIa showing deterioration of the silvering

The major problem in the IIa but not the IIbs was the state of the shutter curtains. The deterioration of the material is a well-known problem. The curtains were wrinkled and had, when a light was held behind them, what seemed like pin holes. However, pin holes are usually a seller’s description. This is far a more serious condition. The whole (rubber?) material within the curtain is in process of breaking down and the light leaks are extensive, as the following photographs show.

Wrinkled shutter curtain - tell-tale sign of light leakage

Light coming through the shutter curtain

Light coming through the shutter curtain (LED torch in mirror box)

Smooth curtains not leaking light in a Varex IIb

Temporary (paint the curtain) and permanent (do-it-yourself curtain replacement or professional repair) solutions are shown in a number of websites. However, professional repair is an expensive route (£200 plus + VAT, I was quoted) which is why so many Exakta bodies are lying ‘beyond economic repair’.

I also tested the shutters of the two IIbs, both electronically, and with film. I did not test the IIa in view of the light leakage through the curtains.


One of the shutters tapered at 1/500th and 1/1000th sec so could not be used at those speeds without servicing. That shutter sounded better than the one in the second body which fired with a squawk that is said to indicate a lack of oil. The second was fine to use at all speeds. In terms of accuracy, the pattern was the same or similar to that reported in various websites. The higher speeds were slow: the slower speeds were fast.

Taking the IIb with the good shutter, from 1/500 to 1/60 sec (I could not get readings at 1/1000 with my set-up) there was 1 stop overexposure (to the nearest whole stop). From 1/30 to ½ sec timing was within ⅓ stop. At 1 sec there was 1 stop underexposure (i.e. the mean exposure of five firings was 0.54 sec instead of 1 sec).

In the body of the one of the IIb that tapered at high speeds, the variation was somewhat different. I held the sensor in a fixed central position in the film frame so that I was not looking at variation across the frame. 1/250 sec was near enough1/250 sec (mean 1/290). 1/60 and 1/30 sec were slow by one stop. ¼ and ⅛ were pretty well spot on while ½ and 1 sec were within 1/3rd stop of being accurate.

By knowing the accuracy of he shutter I was able to make appropriate corrections when I came to testing the lenses and actually using the better IIb to take a few photographs.

Rumour has it that the mechanical build quality of the IIa was better than the IIb. I cannot comment. All these cameras were in need of servicing. I doubt if any had been serviced since they were manufactured.

All the 50 mm lenses (two f/2.8 Tessars and two f/2 Pancolars) had problems. The pin that engages with the lever on the body had been torn out of one of the Tessars. I can only guess that somebody had inherited the camera and had then tried to change the lenses using brute force. The notched lever on the body was also bent (replacement found on a dead Exa). That lens was a write off and soon on its way to the recycling centre for glass and metal.

The other Tessar had slightly stiff focusing and some cloudiness on an inner element (what is the that cloudiness in chemical terms?) so contrast was low. In use it could still produce a reasonable image in high contrast conditions of bright sunlight.

One of the Pancolar was of the earlier design (without the automatic depth of field indicator lugs)(see 11 June post). Again it was slightly cloudy internally (again - what is that cloudiness?). It gave soft, low contrast results on film. The other Pancolar was of the later design with automatic depth of field indicators. Edge fungus was present but only affecting f/2 aperture. It was slightly cloudy internally and again produced soft, low contrast negatives.

In short the 50 mm lenses were way past their best. The Pancolar had the reputation of being fairly low contrast when new but my original 1960s Pancolar was capable of giving very sharp, punchy transparencies with Kodachrome.

Included with one of the outfits I bought was a 135 mm f/4 Sonnar. I was very impressed with the quality (so is its new owner). No sign of any cloudiness or fungus with just a few specks of something internally. The results on film were excellent - very sharp and excellent contrast. That lens had lasted well.

135 mm f/4 Zeiss Jena Sonnar

This Exakta lens hood fits all the 50 mm and the 135 mm f/4 lenses

Original Ihagee filters are not that common

The cameras did the job I wanted them for (to produce developed 35 mm for another project I will describe later) and have now gone to new owners.

So, after handling and using Exakta cameras again, would I like to turn the clock back and return to 35 mm film photography from full-frame digital? NO. NO. NO. We really have never had it so good. 35 film is in the past and offers no advantages over what we have now other than, for black-and-white, a stored silver image.

Exakta Varex Cameras. 2: 1960s Perspective

I mentioned in a previous post (2 July) an Exakta Varex IIb I had from 1966 to 1978. I also said that in its day, the Exakta was the 35 mm SLR. By way of illustration, this is an advertisement from Amateur Photographer (25 November 1964):

In the front pages of advertisements — the main selling pages for new and high-end second-hand cameras — Exakta advertisements from retailers loom large. By contrast, I can only find one mention of a Nikon F: a single line listing one second-hand.

To some extent, this pushing of Exakta and ignoring of Nikon reflects the social trends in photography in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As Japanese cameras began to appear in Britain in the late 1950s, there was an intense snobbishness about them. How on earth could the Japanese produce cameras of a quality equal to that achieved by the Germans? However, at the same time, East Germany was dominant in the ‘good value’ market from the late 1950s. We had seen and owned the Zeiss Jena Werra and the Praktica models were now being promoted.

West German cameras led by Zeiss Ikon and Leica, of course, were far more expensive when apparently comparing like with like, than those manufactured East Germany. I suspect the dominant position East German cameras came to occupy in the British camera market was achieved not only by lower manufacturing costs but by retailers being offered higher margins by the importer. So, we had a situation where the rich bought West German and the poor bought East German. However, the Exakta was in a different position in the market. There was no real West German equivalent. The Zeiss Ikon Contaflex was not so versatile and, it seemed, was aimed at the rich amateur taking a limited range of photographs.

So we had Exakta leading the whole German pack when it came to SLRs and not yet being exposed to the competition from Japan. The competition already existed but the market was not being exploited by the agents of the Japanese companies in Britain. It would be years until the Japanese manufacturers set up their own marketing companies in U.K. and replaced their British agents.

The standard choices on offer in the Dolland & Newcombe advertisement reflect the need, then and now, in Britain at any rate, to show a low headline cost. In this case the Varex IIb was offered with the awful Domiplan lens, for example, while the f/2 Pancolar was listed with the body and reflex finder, not the pentaprism. The headline price of these kits varied from £71 to £82. The ideal combination of body, pentaprism and f/2 Pancolar is not listed. Looking at the price list that kit would have been approximately £100. That is the combination I bought in Hong Kong in 1966 but without the purchase tax then applied in Britain and the cut-throat competition, the Hong Kong Price was between £30 and £40.

So what sort of camera would you get for the same money in 2013? There are several ways to calculate what £100 represents today. In terms of the increase in the retail price index, the Varex IIb combination would cost £1663 today. Because pay has risen faster than prices since 1964 (as wealth has been created) this index provides an underestimate of the equivalent price paid. Whatever the exact figure, we can say that, roughly, that top of the range Exakta was equivalent at least to a Nikon D600 with a zoom lens in terms of 2013 prices. Photography really was expensive in the 1950s and 60s. And that 1960s camera delivered just the three controls: shutter speed, aperture and focus. There was no exposure metering, no autofocus and no instant-return mirror. We really have never had it so good — whatever the luddites who infest the letters pages of the photographic magazines may believe.

Exakta Varex Cameras 1: When New

I had an Exakta Varex IIb camera for twelve years. Bought in Hong Kong with a 50 mm f/2 Pancolar lens, it served me well enough but I had no qualms when the time came for a change to the Olympus OM series.

So why am returning to Exakta cameras now? I needed some exposed 35 mm black-and-white films for a project that will appear later this year. Instead of buying a relatively modern 35 mm SLR I thought it would be interesting to buy a few Exaktas to see how they have survived and use them to generate the exposed film. Before describing how I got on, I thought it worth describing what it was like to use a new Exakta Varex in the mid-1960s and then go on to describe the problems with trying to use the cameras now.

In its day, the Exakta was the 35 mm single-lens reflex camera. For many applications, it was far superior to the rangefinders such as the Leica or Zeiss Contax. I wanted a camera for close-up photography of small animals and the Exakta Varex was the desirable camera for such applications in the UK of the1950s and early 1960s.

Some of the irritations of using Exaktas had gone by the mid-1960s. For example, the newer lenses had automatic diaphragms, closing before exposure as the release was pressed. Such a change made the Varex IIa and IIb more suitable for the ‘normal’ sort of photography associated with non-reflex cameras.

Exakta Varex IIb with Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens

Roger Hicks, in his excellent website*, describes the idiosyncrasies of the Varex IIa and of using the camera in the present day. Some of what we now regard as idiosyncrasies were the norm of the time, the non-return mirror for example. Other features made the Exakta system highly versatile.

Right handers find the Exakta Varex awkward to use. Even left handers like me find the shutter release strange. The shutter is released by pressing the button on the left hand side of the lens towards the camera body. With the later fully-automatic lenses the initial movement closes the diaphragm, then the movement reaches the shutter release on the body of the camera. An ear-piercing clunk accompanied by a squeal indicates the focal-plane shutter has done its job. Then, until the film is wound and the shutter cocked, the viewfinder is dark. There was, as I said above, no instant-return mirror. I found it difficult to hold the camera securely and press the shutter; I still find it difficult. I think the problem is that the axis of holding the camera firmly is at 90° to the release movement.

The external linkage between lens and body was a pain when using extension tubes. Auto-couple release rods with brackets which screw into the front of the lens and into the body release were made by Ihagee for use with extension tubes and bellows. If using them for hand-held photography the length of rod in use has to be adjusted so that the automatic diaphragm closes before the body release is triggered. The obvious answer is to use a double cable release but this solution was not in the Ihagee line up of equipment.

Showing the external coupling from lens to body release
Exakta Manual, Werner Wurst, Fountain Press, 1966

On fully automatic lenses, the diaphragm can be locked at the set aperture by pressing the release and turning the knurled ring under the release button. This procedure is needed for T and B exposures.


The lever wind is also in the left side of the body. This needs a complete all-in-one turn of 270°. I achieve the wind first by using the thumb to advance it half way and then the forefinger to reach the full distance.

Lever wind - left, at rest; right, near the end of its travel.
The shutter speed dial is also shown.

Changing shutter speeds is awkward. To avoid damage, the speed-setting dial is turned in one direction only. Therefore, when wanting to change from 1/250 to 1/500 (adjacent settings on the dial), the dial has to be turned nearly 360° while lifting it against a spring. A tiny red dot indicates the speed in use.


Using the slow speeds (longer than 1/30) often has newcomers fooled. The slow speeds start at ⅛ second on the Varex IIb and at ⅕ on the IIa. Therefore, the natural progression  of speeds between 1/30 and ⅛, i.e. 1/15 is missing. To set a slow speed, the normal shutter speed dial is set to T or B. Then the slow speed dial is wound up by turning it clockwise until it stops. The speed on the large dial is set (up to 12 seconds) using the black numbers. Finally, the release is pressed.

The large slow speed dial also serves to operate the delayed action release (self-timer). At speeds set on the normal speed dial, the slow dial is wound as before and then set to any red number. When the release is pressed there is a delay of 12 seconds.

For slow shutter speeds with delayed action, the procedure is to set the normal dial to T or B, wind the slow speed dial as above and then set the shutter speed using the red numbers. Doing all that lot really slows photography down but is only equally infuriating to the menu-driven procedures on too many modern cameras.

The slow speed/delayed action dial with film reminder
disc in centre

Rewinding the film can be a nail-breaking experience in the Varex IIb. When the rewind crank is unfolded, the rewind knob turns without engaging the rewinding. When it is extended, the rewind axle turns. However, as the crank is turned (while holding the film release button on the top of the camera) I find it slips out of gear leading to the film being rewound in fits and starts and the finger nails catching on the knurled and tiny crank handle. I supposed Ihagee changed that in the Varex IIb in order, theoretically, to speed up the rewinding process and therefore the changing over of films. In the IIa, the rewind knob is engaged by pressing the centre section such that prongs make contact with the cassette spool.

Varex IIb. Rewind crank in use (left) and closed (right)

Varex IIa. Rewind engaged (left). Disengaged (right)

A real idiosyncrasy of the Varex is the film cutting knife. This knife allows a short length of film to be cut and processed separately. Coupled with its presence is the ability to have a cassette instead of the standard open spool at the receiving end of the film gate. Using that system, short lengths of films can be exposed, cut, wound into the receiving cassette and removed from the camera in daylight. That was a brilliant system for checking exposure and composition with technically difficult subjects. However, I have yet to find an Exakta owner who has not bled as a result of catching a finger on the blade.

Film cutting knife in closed position - waiting to nick an unwary finger

Knife being pulled across the film plane

The back of the camera can be removed by pulling
out the pin

A key to the versatility of the Exakta system was the ability to change viewfinders and focusing screens. The reflex finder could be changed for a pentaprism very quickly (more quickly in the IIb than the IIa, the latter having a catch on the front of the camera). I had the version with the pentaprism and fresnel lens with split-image rangefinder. Some writers have questioned the accuracy and ease of use of the split-image rangefinder but I had no problems in using that screen.

Varex IIa. Release catch for the viewing system - not present on the IIb

Initially, I thought the bayonet lens mounting system fine. However, when I used the extension tubes and a heavy lens on the front I noticed a pronounced droop. When I asked my colleagues if they too could see the droop, one thought it resembled Concorde’s nose (then of major interest in British newspapers) while others thought I had taken it to the pub too often. Somewhere or everywhere in the bayonet connexions the tolerances were too great.

I had one of the later model Pancolar  50 mm f/2 lenses; this had the automatic depth of field indicators and the zebra markings across to the focusing scale. I found it, when new, to be a sharp lens of moderate contrast (compared with modern lenses). 

Early 50mm f/2 Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar with
conventional depth-of-field scale

Later 50mm f/2 Pancolar with automatic depth-of-field indicators
changing position as the aperture is changed

By the mid-1960s there is now no doubt that Ihagee, like the rest of the German camera industry, east or west, was losing its way. Japanese camera manufactuerers were overtaking them rapidly and I soon realised that I had actually made the wrong choice. For the same money (prices in Hong Kong were one-third of those in U.K. at the time), I could have bought a Pentax SV with its huge range of accessories (and internal linkage) or a Nikkormat. They were the future; Exakta was the past.

*http://www.rogerandfrances.com/aboutus.html

Exakta on eBay

A couple of recent eBay auctions had Exakta bodies and lenses I would once have given my eye teeth for. A Varex IIb with four lenses: Flektogon 35 mm f2.8; Pancolor 50 mm f2; Sonnar 135 mm f4; Schneider-Kreuznach Tele Xenar 200 mm f5.5 plus a set of extension tubes. That lot went for £172.75.

A few days later a Varex went with an Enna Lithagon 35 mm f3.5, a Zeiss Jena 58 mm f1.2 (no name given), a Meyer Trioplan 199 mm f2.8 and a Dallmeyer 6” f5.6 plus a few odds and ends for £139.00.

I wonder whether bidders wanted the lenses for digital cameras, to use with the bodies or as collectors items.

I had an Exakta Varex IIb with f2 Pancolor, pentaprism, extension tubes and the release rod that went with them. I could only afford a cheap 135 mm lens which was unbelievably soft. I made the wrong choice though. The Pentax VX or Spotmatic would have been better. I chose a system that was on its way out in 1966; Pentax was on the way in.

The machining of the extension tubes was pretty crude with sharp edges on the locking levers. Setting up the external linkage between the diaphragm of the lens at the front and the body release at the back was a pain. The tightness of fit of the rings was poor such that when I had a lens on the end it drooped at an alarming angle. Some features of the Varex IIB were useful (the knife for cutting a partly-exposed film - but not for Kodachrome and the like, the left-hand release for a left-hander) but the Pancolor lens I had seemed to lack contrast compared with Japanese lenses of the time and I was not sorry to sell the camera lens and close-up accessories to Campkins in Cambridge.