Wirgin Edixa

with charateristic frontside and Prontor shutter

In 1952 Wirgin replaced its successful Edinex viewfinder cameras by the new Edina viewfinder camera series. The new cameras were not as compact as their predecessors. The concept was to have just one body version for both the viewfinder camera Edina I and the rangefinder camera Edina II. The sides of the body were rounded like those of a Leica. But copyright troubles were not made by Leitz but by Kodak AG. The concurrent complained about the nearness of the name Edina to Kodak AG's camera type name Retina. In 1954 the cameras were renamed to Edixa I and Edixa II. The Name was chosen as compromise between Edinex and Edina by Wirgin's British sales representative Strasser.

The most characteristic style element of the Edinas is the metal part that is mask for the shutter speed scale as well as depth-of-field scale and tube side stabilization element. This part helped to make the tube a little more robust than other constructions. The rangefinder of the Edina II and Edixa II was coupled but separate from the viewfinder. It showed a smaller split image. When the image parts matched to give one image the front lens was adjusted properly for the measured distance. Some of the old Edixas have a more conventional frontside, maybe needed to get another shutter mounted.

with conventional frontside and Pronto shutter