Magic DDR Cameras #2: Exa 1a

Second "magic DDR" camera of my collection: the Exa 1a constructed by the Ihagee Kamera Werk from Dresden 1964. This company was founded 1912 and produced essentially the Exakta and Exa camera series. The Exa was conceived in the mid-50's as a simple camera evolution of the Exakta to have a larger public access. And it's true that the Exa is a very simple camera, no particular technical specification and very easy to use for everybody. A soft shaped round body (typical of the Exa/Exacta cameras), and a nice design made this camera very seductive for my eyes when I discovered it. Have a look at it:



It's a typical SLR camera with a vertical mirror viewfinder coupled to the shutter. If you don't advance the film, you'll see nothing in the mirror. The image of the viewfinder is very clear and great enough to have a idea about what you're shooting. In case of more precision for the focusing, you can unlock a little magnifying glass attached to the viewfinder.
The lens is a Meyer-Görlitz Domiplan 2,8/50, but you can also find it with a Meyer-Görlitz Primagon 4,5/35 and other lenses with Exakta bayonet. The position of the shutter is unusual, because it's on the upper left side of the lens, and the Domiplan lens has a shutter button corresponding to the camera shutter, coupled to the diaphragm: that means that if you push half this shutter, you can "previsualize" the image with the selected aperture... depending of course of the film sensibility you use... Even if the speeds of the camera are limited (B, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/175) I really find this cam very comfortable to use. I really like the viewfinder looking from above, it's another kind of shooting and people don't notice if you're taking pictures of them.... And it's very easy to shoot up the sky!
Well, a solid and simple camera with great optic qualities (like almost all DDR cameras...) and a real pleasure to walk around with. Now, have a look at some shots made with this camera:












If you want to know more have a look at retrography.com, the Lyndrup camera collection or the Lippisches Kameramuseum and this very complete site with links about the Exakta cameras.