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"Exakta - Kleinbild Fotografie" (1952) by Werner Wurst - translated


jt991

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For Exakta enthusiasts who don't already know, among the books that Herr Wurst wrote was the one

named in the subject line - which I recently bought (Ebay again) even though my knowldege of German is

strictly limited. I subsequently discovered that it was translated into English, published by Fountain Press in 1960 as the "Exakta Manual -the Complete Guide to Miniature Photography with the Exakta Camera".

This book has an extra chapter covering the VX (aka Varex) lla. By a lucky chance a websearch led me to

a pristine copy in my local Book Store for 10GBP. (Now if only I can find someone who would like to buy

my German version !)

"Googling" Werner Wurst, Ihagee, or even Exakta, as the fancy takes you - is recommended..

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Turned out that sending the book by airmail from the UK to the USA (where Juergen is) costs

a lot more than the price I'm looking for, i.e 12.50 Euros (+ postage) - which is what I paid

the Ebay seller in Germany. Any takers within the European Union, I wonder ?

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Hi, James Hmm, strange you should bring Herr Wurst and his Exakta Manual up, because I was just perusing my copy the other day. Mine is the later 1966 version from Fountain Press, with the Varex 11b on the front cover. A great book to acquire, for anybody wanting to unravel the secrets of using an Exakta.

 

It always amazed me how often an Exakta purchase came with not only the original Ihagee IB, but one of the Wurst-type books too. As a result, I've now got quite a passable library of Exakta-related tomes. I can only put this down to the inadequacies of the earlier original Ihagee IB's, which were so woefully short on detail for one of the most complex 35mm cameraa ever made.

 

For example, the IB for the Exakta 11 is all of four pages. Now, just compare that to the IB for the Kodak Brownie Model "0", which is about the simplest camera imaginable, but somehow has an IB of over 70 pages .....

 

The cottage industry of producing Exakta books to explain what the Ihagee IB's didn't, gradually seems to have died a death with the later models which got bigger and better IBs. Unfortunately, the cameras themselves didn't, but that's another story.....

 

I wonder if any other Exaktaphiles have found the same thing as I did with acquiring such books along with the various models, or are my experiences just the vagaries of statistical happenstance? (Pete In Perth)

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Here I use to own several versions; an old german one; a later english one; and yet another later english one. The one I own today is the one "translated from the 9th German Edition"; Fountain Press London. In another place it says 2nd English Edition 1966. This last book cost my 75 cents in 1970; marked down from 95 cents; marked down from a list of 9.95 dollars. One of the real German editions was at my home towns dinky Library in Indiana; where the racy photos were removed. I stll have a crush on the girl on page 207; "After the dip" after 4 decades; shot by John Gustav with a Tessar.<BR><BR>Here I used a VX camera in high school; before the Nikon F came out. The german book was a goldmine of info for the Exakta system; macro, mcroscope, films and exposure.<BR><BR>Before the Nikon F came out the Exakta VX was the system 35mm slr; it was the camera system used to shoot macro, medical, dental, slide duplication; eye photography for doctors. The Topcon later was used by many medical/eye doctors since they use the same lens mount.<BR><BR>Many folks new to photography only think of the Exakta as a low end, tired, low quality laqte 1960's rig; often hawked by NYC dealers for 59 bucks. Many end of life Exaktas were sold that way; some great; so ok; some crap made with worn out tooling and poor qualty control. Those who bought a crap camera tend to damn the entire camera system. Exakta had white/light grey super mirror telephotos before Canon, before Nikon even made an slr.
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James,

 

I once had a yellow Exacta book of some ? early 60s ? vintage.

It was in German, and seemed to be about Exactas in general

The title may have been something like Exacta Photography

I remember really only one photo (though all examples were good

B&W stuff) It was a night/twilight shot of trolley car ( strassenbahn ) the interior illumination balanced well with sreetlight.

While I was almost sure my aquaintance had intended the book as a present. I also promised him my (outdated) Kadlubeks catalog. When his wife asked my wife about the book, my wife handed both over...

I verbally heard that this was a misunderstanding, but I never saw

the book again! Maybe he just sold it to you! Pete is this that book, or is this another?

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Hi, Chuck Well, I've been through the entire 476 pages of my 1966 "Exakta Manual" edition, but I can't find any night shot of a streetcar. I did however, find the young lady on page 207 that Kelly mentioned. Very nice she still is, too .....

 

I went through my Exakta library and found another book by Herr Wurst, though. It's much smaller, hence its title of "The Exakta Pocket Guide". I went through its 74 pages but still no streetcar, desire or otherwise, unfortunately. (Pete In Perth)

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As the day when my newly acquired Varex lla draws nigh, I have assigned Ebay to search for

all things Exakta and Exacta particularly for other related publications in English.. now that

there seems a probability that other books may have been translated. Are any of you using

an Exakta VX/Varex I wonder ?

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Hi, James One UK-printed book you might like to consider is the "Exakta Handbook" by K.L. Allinson (ARPS). It's one of the Fountain Press Photobook series and comprises 160 pages. My copy seems to have been printed around 1955 so it only goes as far as the Varex model. Anyway, I've scanned the front cover so you know what to look out for, maybe in a later edition that covers the Varex 11a. It even has an official endorsement page in the front from Ihagee's Director, Walter Kretzschmar.

 

Another good source is Ivor Matanle's six-page Exakta feature in the 8th April 2000 edition of the Brit. AP magazine, titled "Converse All-Star".

 

Regarding using an Exakta, I once ran a film through my Varex 11a (with Biotar F2). To be honest, I found it a difficult camera to operate but that's more probably due to being conditioned to Japanese SLRs like Miranda, Pentax Spotmatic F, and Olympus OM1s. No doubt if I'd stuck with it things would have fallen into place more easily. However, the lack of metering and an instant return mirror is always going to be a P in the A. It does have a really nice "mechanical" feel to it though, even down to the clunky shutter. (Pete In Perth)<div>00ObtG-42009784.jpg.34026eae90e8670ac7389dbf1352274b.jpg</div>

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  • 6 years later...
<p>Yes Peter I also have a copy of the Exacta handbook by Allinson mine has a forward added by Walter Krezschmar who was director of Ihagee. I own and use three Exakta cameras. Two vx and one vx2b. The vx2a and vx2b have quieter slow speed timers . all are very easy to keep running. I find later ones have wrinked perforated shutters that have to be replaced.</p>
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