The first M42 mount camera...well not. The second maybe since this is the second model of the Contax SLR. This is the Contax D, and the first was the Contax S. Both are virtually similar models with the exception of the placement of the flash synch and other details. The S was from 1949. This one is 1950 or 1951.

 The Contax SLR was made by Carl Zeiss Jena, and was the first SLR which incorporated (fixed on the body) the pentaprism for eyelevel viewing. 35mm SLRs have been around, starting with the Exakta, for about 15 years when the Contax was introduced, but it was only at this time that the eyelevel finder became an integral part. The eylevel viewfinder made SLRs even more popular, and this Contax put the 35mm SLR one step closer to domination.

 The Contax SLR used the M42 screw mount first devised by KW. Contax then became Pentacon (Pentaprism Contax) after a trademark dispute with  Carl Zeiss West. This camera can still be used today with any M42 lens with manual, preset or manual-switch diaphragm lenses.

The M42 screw mount was considered at one time as the 'universal lens mount"- many camera makers used this mount fro their cameras and their lenses.  The only drawback which this system used is its limited abilities to lend itself to more automation.

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*Cameras courtesy of Zoilo “Yet” Andin.

1. SEAGULL 203

This is another offering from the Seagull Camera factory.  Like the more common Segull TLRs, this folding camera is a conglomeration of the best designs found in other folding cameras made by other manufacturers.  Its basic shape follows that of the Agfa Isolette and similar folding cameras.  But unlike the Isolettes, the Seagull 203 has coupled rangefinder focusing.   Zeiss also brought out folding cameras with coupled rangefinders, but they used separate wedges which stuck out off the lens board.  The Seagull used a far more compact and elegant system.

The Seagull 203 uses 120 film, and gives an option to select 12 6X6 or 16 6X4,5 exposures.  Film advance is by a lever, but there is no automatic stop.  Instead,  there are two red windows on the back to show how far to reel the film and  line up each frame.   The film gate has hinged masks to reduce the 6X6 cm square frame to 6X4,5 cm.   In some models of the Seagull 203, there is an exposure dial on the top plate to figure out exposures.

The lens found on this camera is the same as the lens found on the Seagull TLRs- the triplet “Haiou” 75mm.   However in this camera, the lens uses ‘front cell’ focusing (only the front element turns during focusing).  The focus is from 1 metre to infinity.  Fstops 3,5 to 22.

The shutter is a Compur-inspired three-blade leaf shutter.  Like the shutters found in many Chinese cameras, this one is timed to give exposure times of 1/300 to 1 second.   It also has a self-timer,  marked with a “V” on the shutter speed ring (the V mark follows the German style of indicating this function).  The advance lever is coupled to the shutter release to prevent double exposures.  The shutter has to be cocked manually before the shutter can fire.

The folding design allows the camera to fold into a neat package.  Its main weaknesses  are the potential loss of film to lens parallelism (the lens board is held up with metal struts which extend and collapse everytime the drawbridge door is opened or closed) and the potential of the cloth bellows to develop holes.  These are not unique to the Seagull- just about any folding camera is prone to these faults.

2. HONGMEI HM-1

This is another folding camera.  It has the same physical specs as the Seagull 203, and has the 12/16 exposure option too.  But the Hongmei (Red Plum) HM-1 is simplified.  No rangefinder, just an optical viewfinder. The shutter speeds range is 1/200 to 1/10 sec only.  The shutter has to be cocked manually before it can be fired.  There are also more visible plastic parts.

The optics is also a triplet, front-cell focusing lens.  Many have expressed concern about front cell focusing and say that it is inferior.  However, with cameras like this, sharpness is probably the least of concerns when using them.  This was the typical family camera in China in its day.

Its similarity with the Seagull is not surprising.  A lot of cameras manufactured in China were made by different factories.  These factories probably worked on the same  designs supplied by a central design bureau;  this resulted in cameras which were virtually alike, or else had the same specifications but with some modifications.

3. PEARL RIVER TLR

China made a lot of TLRs.  Most were patterned after, if not the exact clones, of the Seagull.  These were made  bydifferent factories. The Pearl River however is different.   Its features are significantly different- they were simplified.  There were several Pearl River cameras made.  This is the simpler one.

The lens used is also a  75mm f/3,5 Triplet.   There is absolutely no internal coupling between the film advance and the shutter. Each action has to be done separately and completely noted.  Just like with most of the camera which date from up to the 1930s.   The lack of coupled controls meant that either blank, or double exposures can result if the user forgets to wind or forgets that he forgot to wind, respectively.

The shutter is cocked by a lever before it can be tripped.  The shutter range is simplified- 1/250 to 1/25 sec only.  Film is advanced by knob, and has two red-film windows for  12 and 16 exposures.

4. SEAGULL -DF

Seagull started making 35mm SLRs in the 1970s.  The Seagull DF series was based on the Minolta SR-2 of 1958.  It used the Minolta bayonet mount, the same cloth focal plane shutter, and even the take up spool is the same. The DF even has a 58mm normal lens- a focal length popular for normal SLR lenses in the 1950s It is said that Minolta released the design to the Chinese in the 1970s.

Even the font used for “Seagull” on the logo appears to be similar to what Minolta used in their original logos.  ”DF” may stand for ‘dongfang’ ( “东方“）or “East”.

This camera will take in any Minolta MD mount manual focus lens. It is meter-less and do not require batteries to run.  Its shutter range is 1/1000 to 1 sec.  And uses FP and X PC connectors for flash as there is no hot shoe.  Make sure to select X when using modern electronic flash!.

The quality of this camera is rather high.  The operation is smooth and shutter is relatively quiet for mechanical SLR standards. The finish is quite fine and the fittings are perfect.  The viewfinder is also quite bright and snappy.

Seagull still make 35mm SLRs.  Their current crop are exact copies of the Minolta X350/X700 series.  Same lens mount, but lots of plastic body parts.  These newer Seagull has AE shutter priority feature.

Many Thanks to Yet Andin for allowing his cameras to be photographed and featured in this page!

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The slot on the advance lever retaining screw looks a bit chewed up.  A narrower, flat-tipped screw must have been used with it.  In contrast, the retaining screw on the speed dial is still intact.  Both screws have a curved centre- the middle part curves outwards.  A special curved tip screw driver must be used with these screws to put the proper torque in them to allow proper removal.

Another of my Exaktas need to be disassembled to lubricate the mechanism.  Its shutter now squawks, and is need of new oil.  The three curved slot screws on  the advance lever,  and the speed and slow dials, are perfect.  Using the flat headed screw drivers I have now will surely maim these screws.  I needed a new tool to work with these screws.

I thought of having a machinist grind an ordinary flat tipped screw driver to the shape needed for this effort.   A screw driver with a width of about 8-10 mm would be just right.  Getting it sharp to fit the slot is easy.  But getting the right shape to engage with the curved slot is another thing.  I do not have any sample to copy the shape from.   I tried to use softened wax to get the shape of the slot.  The wax impression wasn’t of help.

Then suddenly, while cutting my nails, I noticed something in the nailcutter’s case.  An ordinary metal nail file.  The curved tip of its handle called my attention- this could be the shape which the Exakta’s curved slot screws needed.

So I took the nail file and put its handle’s tip on the retaining screw of the Exakta’s winding lever.  The tip went into the slot properly. Since the nail file was made of  a softer metal than that used in the Exakta screws, it could not harm them.  I decided to see if the tool can loosen them.  And behold, this make-shift screw driver was actually able to loosen the screws.  A short, steady, and focused turn was all that was needed to turn the screw head.

I will still have a machinist make the right tool for me.  The nailfile’s soft metal body will not withstand the force needed to ‘pop’ these screws.  The nailfile handle shall become the template for the modified screw driver.

Related Posts:

• My Second Exakta and the Replacement of its Shutter.
• (Extreme!) Closeups with a Rangefinder Camera

The average Exakta found now is anywhere from 70-40 years old.  Though they were well made, the cloth used in their shutters proved to be very perishable.  They did not age well. Often the original cloth shutters on Exaktas now are found cracking, flaking or totally dried out.  Shutter replacement would be necessary.  It is rather fortunate that the Exakta was not finicky with shutter cloth that went into its shutter.  The shutter mechanism crate is not confined in tight quarters like in a Leica.  It appears that any shutter cloth  material of similar thickness will work in it.

I. THE CAMERA

This is an Exakta VX made in 1955.  The VX is the USA designation is for the “Varex” model.  Ansco had registered “Varex” for themselves so Ihagee (or the US Exakta Camera Co) could not use  it for their cameras anymore.  This is the second variant of the VX- it uses the standard PC (Prontor Compur) flash contacts.  All the previous Exakta cameras used two-pin contacts which required the use of either Exakta flash contacts or a PC adapter.  There are two here- “M” on the left is for expendable flashbulbs, where the circuit closes a bit earlier than the opening of the shutter to allow the shutter to synch with the peak of the flash burst.   The one on the right marked “X” is for electronic flash, where no delay is necessary.  The Exakta had no flash shoe, so using electronic flash with it necessitates the use of PC cable connectors.  Make sure that the flash is plugged in X, otherwise, there will be  no synchronised flash exposures.  Another quirk is that the flash circuit remains closed when the shutter remains uncocked.  So plugged flash can fire spontaneously until the shutter is cocked again.

Speaking of the shutter, the one on this Exakta was really shot.  It looked cracked and dried out.  The cracks and holes no longer made the shutter blinds light-tight.  Light breaching through the holes will produce ugly light leaks on the picture.  These appears as white marks in the photograph.  Someone attempted to ‘fix’ the shutter by over-coating it with some form of  paint.  The paint appeared to have ‘melted’ the original curtain coatings somewhat, making the situation worse.  Aside from making the camera look ugly, it also appears to be slowing down the movement of the shutter.  Not good for accurate exposures.

The camera worked fine.  If this Exakta was to shoot again, it will have to be given new shutter blinds.

II. CAMERA DISASSEMBLY

Using Rick Oleson’s Exakta Shutter Replacment Guide from his Camera Tech Notes site, I decided to try to do the shutter replacement myself.  As far as I know, there are no longer  any camera repairmen around in Manila who are still able to work with Exakta cameras.  Even back in the day, I doubt if there were many who could.  Exakta cameras were never common here.

1. Remove the Front Plate. Take out screws marked 1, 2, 3, and 4 to remove the lens mount. Then screws A, B, C,  D, E, and F. Screw D also holds the shutter button “safety” lock. Do not remove the other umarked screws.

2. Lens mount and front plate removed. Two more screws to remove, found in positions marked A and B.

3. Stamped on the back of the front plate is “9 März 1955”- 9 March 1955. This probably the camera’s date of manufacture. If not it certainly means that the camera dates from 1955. I was careful in cleaning this part. I made sure that I did not erase the mark with cleaning solvent. The mark is of delicate ink.

4. Removing the dials and the cover plates. The advance lever, the fast shutter speed dial, and the slow speed dial are all fastened with large headed screws. These screws have a peculial slot- they are cut deeper at the centre, in a concave manner. The ordinary flat head screw driver may be used, but its better to use those whose heads have been modified to conform to the shape of these slots. These are, I think, the only Exakta parts which need a special tool. Remove screws A, B, and C. The shutter dial can be lifted out when its screw is removed. However, the advance lever and slow speed dial have additonal retainers which also need to be removed. The top plate is really in two pieces. They are held in place by screws 1 and 2 (concealed under the tip of the advance lever) on the left; and screws 3 and 4 on the right.

(NOTE: THE SCREWS SECURING THE ADVANCE LEVER, SHUTTER SPEED DIAL, AND SLOW SPEED DIAL HAVE A CURVED SLOT. USING AN ORDINARY FLATHEAD SCREWDRIVER CAN DAMAGE THESE SCREWS’ SLOTS.  SEE http://www.zorkikat.com/a-simple-tool-substitute-for-exakta-repair/665/ FOR A POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTE TOOL.)

 5. The Shutter Dial removed. Under the screw is a thick coiled spring. The shutter dial is a big piece of milled aluminium. Be careful not to distort it.

 6. Under the winding lever screw is its retainer. The retainer has two holes to accomodate a spanner wrench. Take the retainer off to lift off the advance lever. Before removing both retainer and lever, make sure that the shutter is wound. Be careful not to upset the spring-loaded frame counter mechanism. It is rather complicated to restore to proper position and timing. Remove the two fastening screws on the cover plate. The cover plate can now be lifted off.

 7. The counter disc should not be removed. Do not allow this to lift from its spindle. There is a tiny flat thin metal spring-like catch which is critical to the counter disc’s operation. Do not break this spring. The gears in this camera is rather dirty. The big gear with holes on the right is the shutter speed control. The holes are where the dial setting pin engages. They are arranged in a way that will give the shutter blinds a certain variable gap sizes needed to achieve the specific shutter exposure times. Cleaning the gears can be done by gently brushing them with, or flush-cleaning them with lighter fluid or benzine. There is also a “7” pencilled on the chassis. This is probably a code for the person responsible for this part of the assembly.

  8. Replace the winding lever and the shutter dial. The dial must be restored in its correct position relative to the winding action. Put its retainer back, but do not tighten it too much. The shutter dial must also be replaced. Make sure that the index dot lines up properly with the proper values engraved on the dial. The winder and dial need to be in place to allow the winding and shutter cocking during the repair procedures.

  10. This big knob is the slow speed dial. The slow speeds range from 1/5 to 12 seconds. The red values mark the settings for delayed action release, with the numbers representing various delay lengths in seconds. After removing the big head screw, the retainer which holds the dial in place can be seen. Remove this with a spanner wrench. MAKE SURE THAT THE SHUTTER IS COCKED BEFORE REMOVING ANY PART OF THE DIAL. Disassembling this component with the shutter uncocked will require extra work to synch the gears and pins back. This can be a very difficult process.

11. With retainer off, the first part of the dial will pop out. There is a big spring underneath.

12. Lift off the main dial. Remove the screws marked A and B. The cover plate can now be removed. Replace the main dial, and restore its retainer.

   13. Do not upset the positions. The disc with the big red X on it is the VX’s film loading check. This X’ed disc must turn each time the film is advanced.

  14. At this point, it will be good idea to remove the camera’s back cover. In the Exakta VX (and the succeeding models), the back is hinged, but can be removed as well. It is secured by a long hinge pin which can be pulled out to separate the back cover. The hinge pin has a knurled head protruding on the side hinge. Pull this out and the back will separate.

  15. On the take-up side remove the screws marked A and B. This will release the cover plate.

  16. When the coverplate is removed, there are two more screws which need to be removed: The fastening screw A, and the large headed screw B. “A” is a simple fastener. “B” however is more complicated. It fastens the spool advance gear to the sprocket shaft gear. It is also spring loaded- when the rewind button on top is pushed down, the spring also descends to free the sprocket gear for rewinding. Furthermore, screw B is also attached to another slotted screw on the other side, which makes the removal process also quite complicated. Putting these back again during disassembly is even more difficult: narrow spaces, holding one spring loaded screw in place whilst lining up the other on the opposite side, and then making sure that the parts engage. That’s just the start of it. Threading the screws together is another ordeal. Reassembly of this part took me about an hour. (NOTE. Many of the screws in the Exakta are made from soft brass or aluminium and can break rather easily.)

  The linking gear described above, showing the large headed screw, the gear, and the spring loaded upper screw.

17. Over at the other (Supply) side, only screw A needs to be removed. The film cutting knife blade (more like a hooked cat’s claw) is seen on the left. This feature is unique to Exakta cameras (copied in the Soviet “Start” SLR), and this allows to cut film in partially exposed lengths or for spool to spool loading that dispenses the need for rewinding.

  18. Two more screws, A and B, found under the finder base, need to be removed before the shutter crate can be separated from the chassis. The entire shutter crate lifts out neatly. But the fit can be tight. Also watch for the shutter release button and its washers . These are not fastened by any retainer. They will fall out freely. Take note of their positions for correct disassembly later.

   19. The shutter crate removed from the chassis. The shutter button (though loosely) and the M and X synchro contacts remain on the chassis. Everything else: the shutter timing mechanisms, the shutter spring rollers, the mirror mechanism, and the shutter itself are all assembled on the shutter crate.

III. A TOUR INSIDE THE EXAKTA

   Looking inside the Exakta chassis. The chassis has solid reliable casting. Its silhouette cannot be mistaken for anything else as only Exakta were made this way. The shutter button is loose and is just fitted in its hole. Take note of how it was installed during reassembly. Other than the shutter button, all the other parts left in the chassis but not part of the casting are secured by screws or retainers.

  Dried out curtains which flake and peel- the scourge of Exaktas. The shutter blinds appear to be made of cotton fabric coated with rubber to make them light proof. The rubber coating did not age as well as the camera. Many Exakta are found with deteriorating curtains. The ugly smudgy portion of the second shutter blind indicates a quick but non-binding repair procedure for flaking curtain cloth: paiting it over with acrylic paint. Small pinholes can be patched, but if the damage spans across the entire frame already, shutter cloth replacement is the only wise, long-term remedy. Painting over a flaking surface will cause the new layer to peel away too, with the old. Since the old no longer has an affinity for the cloth base, whatever goes on it will go as well when it peels off. Painting over can also make the fabric less supple or become too thick for smooth and proper operation.

  The mirror box, the two posts which reel in the shutter during cocking, and the X-synch switch. The Exakta used a four-post system, instead of the two post and cocentric drum scheme found in Leica and similar cameras. This made it easier to assemble. The shutters found in many Japanese SLRs with cloth shutters also used the same system. The flash switch looks so foolproof with its big chromed metal contacts. This is true, but the plastic insulating bar they are attached to is rather delicate. In this camera, this plastic part broke into two. East German 1955 plastics must not have been so good…. Another quirk of the Exakta is that once the switch closes the flash sync circuit, the circuit remains closed until the shutter is cocked again. A flash connected to the camera will fire continuously when it charges. Winding the shutter or unplugging the flash from the camera would be the only ways to prevent this.

The two spring loaded rollers, the first curtain, the second curtain ribbons, and the slow speed mechanism. The spring loaded rollers power the shutter. These rollers are tensed each time the shutter is wound; tripping the shutter button releases the blinds to travel at timed intervals to accomplish the different shutter speed durations. The first (wider) blind is attached to the inner roller, and the second (narrower) blind is attached to the outer roller through its ribbons. The outer roller shows a lot of dried oozed glue. This meant that the person who glued the ribbons and blinds to the rollers was not very fastidious. Also, the bits of ribbon stock were also found within the glued coils of the ribbons themselves. This was used to correct slight misalignments in the glued ribbons to ensure that the gap between the blinds during exposure was parallel. Either would indicate poor assembly methods if the assembly is still original. Doesn’t speak much of the touted ‘German Quality’.

 The slow speed mechanism, mounted forward of the rollers, is a clockwork train of gears which timed the slow speed (29 shutter speeds in all: 1/5 to 12 seconds + the ‘fast’ speeds !) as well as the delayed release exposures. Exposing at slow speeds on the Exakta was a two step tedious process. First the shutter was cocked and set to Z or B. Then the slow speed dial was wound as well, and then set to the desired ‘slow’ speed. Then the exposure was made. This two step winding process had to be repeated for each ‘slow’ exposure. 1/25 sec was the slowest on the ‘instantaneous’ dial; the next slowest speed was 1/5 sec. No 1/10 sec, as expected from the usual scale progression. The process worked this way: the shutter had to be set at B or Z first. When the exposure was made, the first curtain opens. The slow speed mechanism times when the second curtain should be released. If 1/5 sec was selected, the timer released the second curtain 1/5 second after the first curtain opened. At 12 seconds, exactly 12 seconds were made to pass before letting curtain number 2 go. Why go all the way to 12 seconds? Using Z or B for these really long exposures would have clinched the trick. The Exakta designers must have some reason which is now lost.  (The dial has two sets of numbers: the black numbers are the slow speed values, and the red, the delayed mechanism’s timing.)   The slow dial must neither be wound, nor set to any ‘slow value’ when the main shutter dial is at any speed other than B or T.  The conflicting dials can ‘confuse’ the shutter mechanism and damage it.

 The first step to curtain replacement: removing the old blinds. The spring rollers are liberated from their yokes by unlocking the tensioning pin locks on the top plate. That also releases their tension. The narrow second (closing) curtain is shown here. It had been painted through the film gate to patch the cracking vulcanised coating. The paint made its way to the film gate too.

 The second curtain is removed. It becomes the template for making a new one. The film gate has also been cleaned. Good thing that the paint easily rubbed off with some alcohol. The first curtain is removed next. Even though the first curtain still looks good, I decided to replace it anyway. A shutter which is half new and half old doesn’t sound good. The old one will likely give way soon, so better do both replacements at once when its most convenient. Both rollers are cleaned thoroughly before attaching the new blinds.

   One of the spring rollers (there is a coiled spiral spring within), cleaned thoroughly with nail polish remover. No attempt was made to make it ‘cleaner’. The discolouration was on the surface of the metal. Nothing could be scraped anymore, and further physical scraping may damage the metal tube. This clean surface will take on the new cement very well.

 THE NEW CURTAINS. Using the old material as templates and using the data given at Rick Oleson’s Camera Tech Notes about the Exakta, I made these new shutter blinds. I used fine cotton twill, made light proof with a coating of rubber based paint. The process of making the shutter cloth is complicated . It is quite impossible, using my resources alone to duplicate the crimped metal laths which the original Exakta shutters used. So I opted to use the Leica-style wrap-around method instead. The cloth was glued around a metal spine (cut from discarded metal 35mm cassettes, then tempered), and then sewn. Before sewing, the ribbons were inserted through slits at the top and bottom- mimicking the Exakta shutter cloth layout. The stitching was necessary to make sure that neither cloth nor ribbon would free themselves from their spines. Shutter operation- opening, closing, cocking, and opening and closing again, involves a lot of cloth-on-metal-on-cloth rubbing. Getting the cloth smooth (as well as the metal surfaces on the shutter crate where the cloth runs on) to reduce friction will make the shutter last longer.

 The first curtain (wider) is glued to the its roller. This reeled position guarantees full frame opening, and the extra distance from the edge of the film gate cancels out the accelaration effect encountered in shutters of this kind. By the time the shutter blinds narrow down during their traverse at high speeds, the slits will already be out of the film’s area. The ribbons are drawn across up to their reeling rollers for tensioning. Both shutter cloth and ribbons are simply glued.

 The First Shutter at Starting Position.

The second (closing) curtain is installed next. The end of the cloth is glued to its reeling post in such a way that it is able to clear the film gate when fully reeled. The installation should also allow the curtain to fully cover the film gate, with its spine overlapping the spine of the first curtain. The ribbons are then glued to their spring roller in a way that would allow both full opening and full reeling when the shutter closes. The exact positions will not be detailed here- a better reference would be needed.

   The Shutter Blinds Fully Opened: First curtain reeled, second curtain detained. When proper curtain spacing has been achieved, the next step is to tension the spring rollers.

Tensioning is done turning the upper slotted ends of the spring rollers. When the rollers are installed, the slotted ends are accessible through the top plate of the shutter crate. One of these can be seen in this picture, under the left end of the coiled spring. The other roller’s slotted end is concealed by the larger black screw at the centre. Each spring roller is tensed by a certain number of clockwise turns to achieve a particular tension. The amount of tension determines the shutter speeds somewhat. Tensioning the Exakta shutter is more difficult to do, compared to how the shutters in Leicas or other cameras are tensed. In the Exakta, both rollers are locked using a individual pins which are kept in place by a single screw (the black one under the coiled spring). It takes a lot of finger tricks to work on the tensioning. And add to that this area too, is obscured by a coiled spring.  This spring is part of the timing release arm for the second curtain for the long exposures .

The newly installed shutter blinds. After tensing the rollers, the shutter can now be cocked and fired. The values are now tested (using a shutter testing device) and further adjustments can be done to correct the speeds. As a rule, slight deviations are acceptable. On-the-dot values are difficult to achieve with mechanical shutters, and are not really necessary. Discrepancies of about 10-20% off the marked shutter values are acceptable. The shutter may not even expose at the same values from one end of the frame to the other. If it’s not noticeable and the exposures are satisfactory, then the shutter is good enough. This is a good time –when the mechanism and all the parts are exposed- to lubricate the mechanism too. Fine oil for watches can be used. Oil sparingly, and only on the pivots of gears and levers. A dry mechanism makes a ‘squawking’ sound when the shutter is fired.

Reassembly is the just the opposite. Insert the shutter crate into the chassis. Make sure that all the parts are back in their respective places. Pay attention to the shutter button- it can go in many ways but only one is correct. Same with the rewind button found on top. The trickiest part to return is the linking gear between the take up and the sprocket gears. Do not overtighten screws or retainers too. Many of the screws are easy to break, and the threaded holes that they go through are also easy to strip. The camera is now then ready to shoot. Do a test roll first to evaluate its performance- old cameras with old mechanisms may sometimes have hidden afflictions which will only show in the photos they shoot. You will then know if your camera can be a shooter or if it needs to go back for further repairs and adjustments.

 The Exakta VX after repair (completed 2011. 4. 19)…

…And what it has shot:

Further Reading

For a quick reference to get inside the Exakta, Rick Oleson’s Exakta Shutter Replacment Guide is a good place to start.  For basic disassembly of the camera for oiling and cleaning, as well as shutter replacement.

Exakta Expert Miles Upton’s book, the “ULTIMATE EXAKTA REPAIR” is the best reference there is for anything about Exakta repair.  It can be purchased directly from him, or from his ebay site “exaktaphile1”.

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• A Simple Tool Substitute for Exakta Repair
• (Extreme!) Closeups with a Rangefinder Camera

Closeup supplementary lenses which attach to the lens are available, but using them is cumbersome. They require the use of separate framing devices and focus is never exact since focusing requires a conversion table where the lens must be set for each closeup focus setting.

The early SLRs’s touted sales claim was the ability to make close-ups… that was their only selling point because everything else about them was a pain to use. Just handle an Exakta or Contax D, or a Contaflex and you’ll see why RF reigned supreme for years before the introduction of the Nikon F or Pentax HV.

Reflex focusing attachments thus became available for this. These devices convert the RF camera into an SLR. The mirror viewfinder is attached to the lens mount. The extra extension allows the lens to focus really close. With extra bellows, the ability to focus really close even becomes greater. Leitz made VISOFLEX. The Soviets decided to fuse the accessory mirror reflex attachment to the camera and created the Zenit.

This one is the not-so-common Mirax Focabell, made by Miranda Camera. Miranda is a now extinct Japanese camera maker. The Focabell was the only(?) accessory they made for the Leica and its copies. Miranda never made Leica copies; they went to making SLRs right away.

This attachment fits the Leica easily. It will usually fit some of the FED or the Zorki, but because of their non-standard lens mounts, the mirror reflex housing does not always line up properly on them.

I’ve only used this attachment once or twice. I don’t even remember what I took with it…

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• A Simple Tool Substitute for Exakta Repair
• My Second Exakta and the Replacement of its Shutter.
• Filter Basics for Black and White Photography
• What Lens Hood to Use for Industar or Jupiter Lenses?