Lenses for Exakta

I just bought an Exakta Varex 2a camera, and read somewhere that there are

many lenses to fit this mount, some very good, and some very bad. Can anyone

steer me in the right direction as to what I should be looking for?

Hi Steve, congrats on the Exakta, cool cameras. AS for lenses, I'm sure that you will get a multitude of suggestions so I will just tell you my experiences.

 

I have three standard lenses, a SK Xenon, CZJ Biotar and the CZJ Tessar. Of these I find the Tessar gives the best contrast and sharpness, although it is a stop slower than the other two. My Biotar is afflicted (as are many) with a little haziness so that would explain the lower contrast. The Xenon is heavy and beautifully built but doesn't seem to perform any better than the Biotar.

 

If you use wide apertures and like that old fashioned look, then go for a Biotar. If you are shooting colour and value more contrast, then go for the Tessar, The Xenons look the bees knees but aren't really worth the (considerable) extra cost.

 

For a tele, either the SK Tele Xenar or CZJ Sonnar in 135mm will both deliver really good results. I have a 35mm CZJ Flektogon which I can't complain about either.

 

A thing to watch is the alloy mount CZJ lenses are usually stiff to focus, due to dried lubricants. This seems to afflict the Sonnar the most and if you buy one of these lenses, hold it up to the light and look for that afore mentioned haze, especially in the Biotars.

 

Good luck, the hunt is the most fun!

 

Tony

You will find a lot of lenses advertised as "with Topcon/Exakta mount".

 

It is true that Topcon lenses (except for the UV lenses) can be mounted on Exakta bodies. Since the release button on the lens barrel has to point to the right hand side on Topcon cameras the focus scale will be invisible when a Topcon lens is mounted on an Exakta body.

Hi! I have used several Exaktas. I have CLAed and rebuilt shutters in some of them. Among the normal 50mm lenses I would rate the CZJ Pancolar and the Myer Oreston top class. Myer is less expensive. Pancolar is quoted a bit high. If you wait and watch on ebay you may pick up a very good one. I used to have a Myer Primagon 35mm preset lens, just razor sharp! You can still find one on ebay. They are priced a bit high, though. If you are into cityscape, architecture etc., then the CZJ 20mm Flektagon is a superb performer. I am happy with all my Exaktas from VXIIa to RTL 1000. They are a class apart. And a bonus, you can repair them and rebuild them at home with a few tools. Check with Myles Upton's Ultimate repair Manual for Exakta. All the best!

Nikon made the 13.5cm F.5 Nikkor in the Exakta slr mount. Here I liked the 50mm F2 Pancolar and 50mm F2.8 Tessar alot

At the other end of the scale the Meritar was the budget (OK cheap and nasty) lens in preset or manual only, and Domiplans were triplets with a mixed reputation, mainly not so good though.

 

The 'sleeper' is probably the 30mm Meyer Lydith - a moderate wide angle. Both of those I own are very good, and this appears to be the general view in forums as well.

Hi,

 

My comments mirror Tony's. I've got a Color CZJ color-Panar/Tessar that's very nice, my CZJ 35mm Flektogon suffers from haze, but I've got a 120mm Biometar that really delivers, although the "auto-diaphragm" doesn't work..

The Exakta mount was widely adopted and many manufactures made lenses

 

The later CZJ lenses while optically quite acceptable, suffer from quality problems more than anything else.As Tony mentioned the chrome post-war lenses from CZJ often suffer from focus problems, but they really deliver a vintage bokeh that I like! Mine is (oops ..M42) not Exakta, but from the same era!

 

Thanks

Steve,

 

You may be interested in an earlier thread:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00JKzO

 

Best regards,

 

Miha

Did any lens come with the camera?

 

I've come to feel that there's sometimes a bit too much emphasis placed to analyzing the quality of lenses. For instance, the Meyer-Optik Görlitz 2.8/50 Domiplan is one of the most notorious and bemoaned normal lenses commonly available for the Exakta (as well as for many other camera systems), but, stopped down a bit, it's really not too bad. In general, Zeiss's (Carl Zeiss Jena) items are of quite respectable quality, while Meyer-Optik's are usually more "affordable" alternatives (though, buying used, actual prices are often all over the place).

 

What sort of work do you intend to focus on? From there, you can answer, what types of lenses are you seeking? Wide-angle? Long-focus? Zoom? Typically, zoom lenses are not preferable when dealing with old cameras, as truly admirable zooms did not begin to hit the market until rather into the 1980s. I own a Zeiss 4/300 Sonnar and feel it performs beautifully, though it's big and heavy, and, being a "preset" model (there's no fully-auto. version, unfortunately), it's somewhat cumbersome to use. As well, I greatly like my Zeiss 2/50 Pancolar and Zeiss 2/58 Biotar, but, I warn you, I've almost never encountered a Pancolar that hasn't needed to be re-lubricated or a (coated) Biotar that didn't show some haze in the front element (uncoated, fully-manual Biotars [with brass/chrome housings], though of course more vexing to handle, seem to age well). I'm very fond of my Zeiss 4/20 Flektogon, too.

 

*A question, the semi-automatic Zeiss 2/58 Biotars I've come across have shown this odd quality of never having fully open diaphragms: the lens set all the way at f/2, one can still see a thin "trim" of aperture blades. What's up with this, docs.? Thanks.

The 85mm f/1.4 Biotar (or was it 75mm f/1.5) is supposed to be a legendary lens, but good luck finding one at anywhere a reasonable price.

It's 1.5/75 (Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar), and, though you'll be able to find one on eBay without too much difficulty, I doubt you'll ever see one in decent condition go for fewer than one, maybe two, hundred dollars.

The trouble with the Meyer Domiplan is not only its optical "quality", but that its automatic diaphragm is very fragile. Hardly any in M42 mount still work, although the external Exakta mechanism seems a little more rugged. Some Meyer lenses are OK, but it was not the DDR's best "people's-owned enterprise" (VEB). With the integration of all of the various optical and camera companies into the sole VEB Pentacon, things get more confusing, but many of the Pentacon lenses are still good.

 

The Biotars (both 58mm and 75mm) are fantastic lenses, even by modern standards. Other Carl Zeiss Jena (eastern Zeiss) lenses are very good to superb, as a rule.

 

There are also some superb Angenieux lenses for Exakta, although they are still expensive. A number of non-Warsaw pact manufacturers made Exakta mount lenses, too, so many of the classic 35mm lenses of all time are available in this mount.

Hi, Arjun Congratulations - you're in a very select group, if you consider the Dreaded Domiplan even half good, stopped down or otherwise. I agree with JDM that not only are these triplets mediocre optically, but the aperture plumbing is unreliable especially in M42 mount.

 

The only single redeeming feature I can think of about the Domiplan is that I once bought via Fleabay US a 1949 Exakta 11, which was fitted with an APD Domiplan of far newer vintage. The Exakta 11 is one of the rarest of all Exakta models, but only a couple of others bothered bidding so I got it for a relative song. To this day, I still think it was the Domiplan that kept a lot of folks away - but how long does it take to remove a lens from an Exakta? Not long, in fact about the same time it took to fit a spare f3.5 Tessar of correct 1949-ish vintage to keep things looking chronologically kosher .....

 

Now, back to updating my as yet unpublished book "100 Things That Can Go Wrong With A Domiplan". (Pete In Perth)

For an example this is what the 20mm Flektagon can do. Picture taken in Rome 1978 on my RTL 1000.<div></div>

This from a Myer Oreston in Rome 1978!<div></div>

This from a Sonnar 135mm!<div></div>

I've never had the (mis?)fortune of using a Domiplan in anything but Exakta mount, and, there, the automatic release seems to old up fine (on the specimens I've encountered). Optically, is it my Pancolar? No. Tessar? Biotar? No X2. Nonetheless, I haven't found it to be the "Coke-bottle glass" many have suggested it could be, and I do sometimes bother to use it (not often, I confess...).

Angenieux are well regarded. The Zeiss lenses were good when they were built, but some of the east german ones were built into poor mounts that have not survived the test of time.

My Exakta Varex IIa lenses:

 

CZJ Biotar 58mm/2

 

Kilfit macro E 40mm/3.5

 

CZJ Pancolar 50/2

 

Exakta MC 35-100mm zoom lens

 

Tessar 50/2.8

Kilfitt Makro Kilar 40/3.5, Exakta mount

 

This Kilfitt macro Kilar 40/3.5, does not posses open at max for viewing then automatically stop down

for picture taking feature. Hence viewfinder rather dim, unless you manually open aperture at max

then manually stop down before taking picture.

Edited March 11, 2017 by MTC Photography

CZJ Flektogon 20/4 on Ihagee Exa SLR

 

The automatic contraction feature of this lens works only on my Exa, does not work on my Exakta Varex IIa

Edited March 15, 2017 by MTC Photography

Aperture contraction works for Exa and Exakta

Edited March 15, 2017 by MTC Photography

CZJ Biotar 58/2

 

This Exakta mount Biotar 58/2 belongs to older generation lens, it does not posses the same type

of open-at- maximun-aperture, then contracts split seconds before shutter firing like Flektogon 20/4

and Pancolar 50/2.

 

This Biotar, instead, has preset aperture, if you use smaller aperture then F2, the viewfinder will be

quite dim, because the aperture already stop down at viewing.

 

You need to open the aperture to max for framing, then stop down aperture manually before pressing

shutter release. Not convenient all at.

Edited March 11, 2017 by MTC Photography