Exakta Real
The Exakta Real is a 35 mm SLR camera made by Ihagee Kamerawerk AG ('Ihagee West') in the western sector of Berlin in 1966.[1] It is superficially similar to the Exaktas made in Dresden of the same time, and shares some features, but has several very significant differences:
- The lens mount is a similar bayonet to that of the Dresden Exaktas, but is larger, to accommodate an aperture linkage, so that lenses can have automatic stop-down (the cameras made in Dresden at around the same time achieved this, if at all, by an external linkage). Lenses were made in the new mount by Schneider and Schacht. McKeown states that an adapter was produced, allowing lenses for the smaller mount to be fitted on the Real.
- The Real has two shutter releases: one in the normal position for an Exakta, on the front of the body, to the left of the lens, and another in the same position on the right (addressing one of the main criticisms of Exakta cameras that they are 'left-handed').
- It has an instant-return mirror.
- It has lever film advance, and a folding crank in the top of the rewind knob.
- It has a self-timer lever on the body, to the left of the lens.
The camera has a cloth focal-plane shutter, with speeds 2 - 1/1000 second, plus 'B' and 'T' (the speeds appear in a small window on the top plate). The shutter is synchronised for flash, and, as with the East German Exaktas, there are separate PC sockets on the front of the camera (to the right of the lens) for bulb and electronic flash.
The camera still has interchangeable prism and waist-level viewfinders. It was available with chrome-plated or (more rarely) black-painted metalwork.
Notes
- ↑ McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p439.
Links
- Examples sold at Westlicht Photographica auctions:
- Serial No. 1043, chrome finish, with waist-level finder and no lens, sold at the November 2008 auction.
- The same camera sold in the November 2004 auction with Schneider 35 mm f/2.8 Curtagon and 135 mm f/3.5 Tele-Xenar lenses.
- Serial No. 1289, black finish, with waist-level and prism finders, Schneider 50 mm f/2.8 Xenar and 28 mm f/4 Curtagon and Schacht 135 mm f/3.5 Travenar, sold in the May 2010 auction.
- Real (no Serial No. given), black finish, with Schacht 50 mm f/1.8 S-Travelon and Schneider 135 mm f/3.5 Tele-Xenar, sold at the May 2011 auction.
