Exa, good looking but difficult

The Exa is a good looking camera with an unusual shape, characteristic of the Exakta - Exa line.

But its operation is very difficult. The shutter speeds are limited, 1/25 to 1/150, and can easily be set by a linear level. Focusing is very difficult. The waist level viewfinder is small with no indications or aids to set the focus. There is a magnifying glass for a better view of the screen but the camera needs to be raised at head level thus altering the composition. Even with the magnifying glass it is difficult to focus. 

The standard L.Meritar lens is fiddly to set the aperture and the focus ring is very close to the camera and difficult to put hands on. The Meyer Optik Trioplan 100mm/2.8 however is bigger and easier to use.

The shutter is of guillotine type, the mirror is part of the shutter, by arming the mirror gets in front of the lens and only then the viewfinder shows the lens view. My camera had a problem arming, the mirror got into position but fired immediately. I put a roll of film and had only few shots taken.
After I finished the roll I repaired the mirror locking device and now the camera works fine.

Some samples from the first film
This is with the Ludwig Meritar 50mm/f2.9 lens

and these with the fantastic Meyer Optik Trioplan 100mm/f2.8

 

More from the Konica Revio CL

The Konica Revio CL is tiny and takes very good pictures

Some more pictures from this good looking camera.

The camera has a self portrait setting that always fires the flash
I used it while driving... too many times perhaps!

More from the Minolta Himatic AF2

The Minolta Himatic AF2 has a sharp lens and an accurate exposure meter. There are some beeps when the camera cannot autofocus, when the battery is low, or when the subject is very close to the camera. When autofocus is achieved a red light turns on, a mountain shaped one for distant objects or a face shaped one for subjects situated closer.

Some more samples from this camera

 

More from the Chinon CM-5

Some more samples from the camera with the 35-100mm/f3.5-4.3 lens

 

With the macro setting on the lens

Minolta Hi-matic AF2, for high quality pictures

This is a point and shoot camera, fully automatic that takes excellent pictures. It is big and heavy for a point and shoot camera, but metering is accurate and the 38mm/f2.8 lens is very sharp. There are no controls on the camera, only a self timer lever and the flash activation button.

The film sensitivity is set on the lens ring, film advance is manual from a lever.

Some samples

Some more from the Wirgin Edixa

The camera has a sharp lens stopped down but it has no lightmeter. The exposure is set manually.

Here is some more from the 1st film with the Edixa rangefinder camera

While driving

At sea with a cinematic look

 

  

A toy shop in cinematic look