Exa (original)
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The original Exa is a 35mm SLR launched in 1951. It is part of the Exa series made in Germany by Ihagee. It is a simplified version of the Varex cameras (the Exacta V and VX); indeed, the first models, made in very small numbers in 1950, were labelled Exa Varex[1], and includes the bare necessities of complex internal mechanisms. In place of a focal plane shutter, the mirror doubles as one blade of a guillotine shutter, providing speeds from 1/25 sec. to 1/150 sec[2]. The low maximum shutter speed limits the usefulness of the camera with long lenses. The camera is quite compact and very robust, and can use the same finders, lenses and the wide range of other accessories as the more expensive Exacta cameras.
Between 1951 and 1962, a number of cosmetic and minor technical changes were made in the design of the camera. A numbering system devised by Clément Aguila[3] is widely used[4]. This recognises six major types, distinguishable by changes in the finish of the lens mount, the number and finish of the flash synchronisation sockets, and the style of the nameplate, among other features.
Notes
- ↑ McKeown, p 422.
- ↑ The very earliest model claimed a top speed of 1/250 second (McKeown).
- ↑ Aguila, Clément Exacta Cameras 1933-1978, ISBN 0-906447-38-0. Cited by McKeown.
- ↑ By McKeown, in Olaf Nattenberg's Exacta and Exa Pages and in Jack Dugrew's Captain Jack's Exacta Site among others
Links
- Several of the Exa types are shown in the Exa Gallery on Olaf Nattenberg's Exakta and Exa Pages (text in German)
