Dresden was the heart of German Camera manufacturing before WWII. Here were the people pushing the envelope of what could be done with cameras. This title was later taken over by Japan but up through 1938 or so, Dresden was the place to be! Ihagee was one of these. The company was founded in 1912 by Johan Steenbergen who was Dutch. He had been trained in Dresden and opened his own shop. After WWI the German economy was in shambles and Ihagee had to be shut down and set up again.
It began making SLR cameras and began to see some early success. The continued until about 1940 when the war forced them to stop production. After the war much of their surviving machinery was moved to Russia as war reparations. A few years after the war, Ihagee began building cameras again in Dresden.
The post war years are a mix of court room battles between the original owners and the new ones. I will spare you the details because I frankly don't know them. The point is that they were making new cameras and trying new things again. In 1952 they began to make the Exa model 1.1. This is the camera I bought on Ebay about a year ago and finally got my hands on it and loaded it with some film.
It began making SLR cameras and began to see some early success. The continued until about 1940 when the war forced them to stop production. After the war much of their surviving machinery was moved to Russia as war reparations. A few years after the war, Ihagee began building cameras again in Dresden.
The post war years are a mix of court room battles between the original owners and the new ones. I will spare you the details because I frankly don't know them. The point is that they were making new cameras and trying new things again. In 1952 they began to make the Exa model 1.1. This is the camera I bought on Ebay about a year ago and finally got my hands on it and loaded it with some film.
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The Good: The camera is a wonderful size. It is small but fat, making it portable and easy to use. It is all metal so a bit heavy but clearly well built. It has a few things that you need to get used to. It has two flash connectors, one for the old version and one that works with electric flashes. This makes it a great choice for flash shooting! My version is very smooth and the film advances easily. The shutter is very quiet but this is not a camera for street photography (see below). My camera came with two lenses, the 50mm and 135mm (some notes below). The 50mm is an f/2.9-f/16 while the 135mm is f/4.5-f/22. The Bad: The camera has a lens box that acts as a curtain. It is wonderfully mechanical and a joy to watch and use but it limits the speed of the camera significantly. Your choices of shutter speed are capped at 1/150 of a second. This pushes you to use slower film or to stop down your lens significantly. |
You must remember to turn the aperture dial to the left to stop it down after focusing and composing. This takes some getting used to. As you use the camera this limitations keeps bringing some amount of frustration as you may find your film ISO to be too fast for the given light and you must stop down the camera a great deal giving you a very side depth of field. The shutter counter must be reset manually after loading the film.
With such a slow shutter speed, the 135mm becomes very challenging to hand hold and get steady shots. This can only be done in bright light, with the right film ISO for the given day and keeping the shutter speed at 1/150th of a second. Dropping it below this will increase your chances of hand shake. With flash photography this is not an issue.
The camera requires a take up spool, mind did not come with one so I used a reusable cartridge and it worked perfectly. As an added bonus, the film is completely protected from light allowing you to cut a roll in half if needed. A nice thing when you are so dependent on film ISO speeds.
The shutter release is on the left when you are holding the camera. This means you have to use your left hand to trigger it. Not a problem for me, however some people may find it difficult. Finally, the waist level viewfinder is very thin metal making it feel a bit weak given the solid camera it is attached to. That being said, it is a bright viewfinder and easy to use.
With such a slow shutter speed, the 135mm becomes very challenging to hand hold and get steady shots. This can only be done in bright light, with the right film ISO for the given day and keeping the shutter speed at 1/150th of a second. Dropping it below this will increase your chances of hand shake. With flash photography this is not an issue.
The camera requires a take up spool, mind did not come with one so I used a reusable cartridge and it worked perfectly. As an added bonus, the film is completely protected from light allowing you to cut a roll in half if needed. A nice thing when you are so dependent on film ISO speeds.
The shutter release is on the left when you are holding the camera. This means you have to use your left hand to trigger it. Not a problem for me, however some people may find it difficult. Finally, the waist level viewfinder is very thin metal making it feel a bit weak given the solid camera it is attached to. That being said, it is a bright viewfinder and easy to use.
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Overall:
This is another camera that forces you to slow down. This is not a camera for quick shooting but flash photography, or landscapes would work well. The camera is ergonomically fantastic as long as you can get used to the shutter button placement. Loading film is a sit down job but again it slows you down and as long as you enjoy the process should not put you off the camera at all. The image quality is good, but this is not a legendary lens. It is a cool little camera, with a solid 50mm lens that gets you some wonderful shots with a vintage soft feel that many people struggle to recreate with post processing on digital. This is a wonderful little camera to use on a relaxed weekend but not a main shooter for any kind of photography. It is mechanically brilliant and fun to shoot. It is also one of the most beautiful cameras I have ever seen! |
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