Here's Mine

Well that was fun! Thanks to everyone who uploaded a picture of their favorite camera yesterday. Sorry again it isn't easier to do; sharing pictures is fun, though—enough fun that it's worth doing once in a while despite the technical awkwardness with the blogging service I use.

So here's just one more, and from the uploads in the last post it seems like a lot of you are going to get this. My all-time fave:

It was an Exakta 66 Mod. II with an 80mm Schneider Xenotar MF lens, a medium-format, 6x6-cm square SLR film camera. This picture isn't of mine, although pictures of the one I owned were published in Darkroom Photography magazine in my review of it.

An odd choice? Very!

I bought it new in the 1980s after reviewing several much more expensive medium-format cameras for magazines—cameras I couldn't afford. After I reviewed the Exakta 66 I bought the review sample. It was quite cheap for a new medium-format camera at the time but on a teacher's salary it was still very expensive to me, and it took me a long time to save up for it. I had only the one lens and never bought the metering prism; I had only the unmetered flip-up waist-level finder like the one in this picture. I never bought the camera strap, even. It was a dedicated strap with a special attachment designed just for this camera (you can see it in this picture, a semicircular bracket under the camera that cradled it and attached via the tripod screw), and it was too expensive for me at the time—around $90 or $100 if memory serves. My budget for food was $60 a week then. So I used the camera without a meter and carried it around in my hand. I never shot anything in it but 120 Tri-X 400 with a K2 yellow filter.

It turned out to be my OC/OL/OF/NLM/OY camera...one camera, one lens, one film, no light meter, one year. Except it was more like 18 months.

Long history
The Exakta 66 was essentially a "vanity project" of the German/Israeli industrialist Heinrich Manderman, who bought the lensmaker Schneider-Kreuznach after the last of the Schneider family owners went bankrupt in 1982. Herr Manderman, who was born in 1923 and died in 2002, at one time also owned Rollei, B+W filters, Exakta, Miranda, ORWO, and Pentacon, among other companies. I believe his family still owns, or perhaps has an interest in, Schneider, but I don't know.

I was never able to speak to him directly, but the story I heard was that either Pentacon or Exakta was the factory where he got his first job, and the Pentacon Six was his favorite camera in his youth (which is right on theme). So he ordered the old Exakta works in Nuremberg to build a modern, updated variant of the Pentacon Six, and he had Schneider design new breechlock lenses for it. The result was the Exakta 66.

By name, the Exakta 66 was supposed to be a descendant of the Exacta 6x6 made by Ihagee in Dresden before WWII, but it was really a descendant of the Pentacon Six introduced in 1956.

The Pentacon Six had a long history as well, including some USSR knock-offs. This, for instance, is a Kiev-60, sometimes called a "Kneb" on forums because of the Cyrillic characters for "Kiev." A copy of the old Pentacon Six, it's a distant cousin of the Exakta 66. While not as nicely constructed, the Russians fixed the film advance, so the Kievs actually had fewer headaches with frame spacing than the German cameras.

Great camera? Not really
Although the Exakta 66 went through two refreshes, three models altogether (called "Mod. II" and "Mod. III," leading the first version to retroactively be called "Mod. I"), it never sold well. The reason is that it just wasn't a very good camera, unfortunately. Although "modernized," it showed its ancient roots in its flaws, which weren't subtle. The viewfinder showed considerably less than the negative would record, and it wasn't centered, either—the bottom of the picture in the viewfinder lined up with what you'd get on the negative but there would be considerably more "air" at the top of the image than you'd see in the finder, and half that much on either side. And the film advance mechanism was a weak point—frame spacing was often irregular, and sometimes failed resulting in overlapping frames. Film was not held flat very well in the gate, either—I occasionally lost a shot due to poor film flatness. In fact, I probably lost more shots with that camera than with any other camera before or since, including one great shot ruined by poor film flatness that still galls me even after all the intervening years.

The Schneider Xenotar MF 80mm ƒ/2.8 I had was the single best lens I ever used. It wasn't that the lens was so great, though, it was that I happened to get a good one, one that must have been at the very top of the sample variation. I tried several other copies of the same lens over the years and none were quite as good. My experience of medium-format lenses over the years, and enlarging lenses too, was that there was considerable sample variation. This was confirmed in a number of cases. You couldn't buy those things by the label; you had to buy by the specific individual sample. That was even true for Zeiss Hasselblad lenses until fairly late in the game.

The young have hopes
So why was this camera my favorite, then, if it had all those flaws? Well, I guess it has to do with memories of youth. For some reason, I took to the Exakta 66 like the proverbial duck to water. I knew just what to do with it immediately, almost subconsciously. As I say I only ever used that one film, and from the first I took to cropping every picture to a vertical rectangle. Why? I guess because it was hard to guess what would be on the negatives on the sides of the image. Because it didn't have a light meter, I decided to train myself to guess my exposures, and although this was a struggle at first, I worked hard at it, and found to my surprise that I got very good at it. In some cases my brain even metered better than a light meter would have, because I understood the scene better, whereas the meter would be assuming the scene was middle gray and would need to be compensated for. And I really liked the pictures I made with that camera. I curated a group show for the U.S. Park Service in which I included my own work, and it turned out to be the last time my work was ever exhibited. All my pictures in that show were taken with the Exakta 66. The show as a whole got good reviews, and while not every reviewer singled out my work, those who did said nice things.

The Exacta 66 was the camera that I owned as I transitioned from being a photographer to teaching and writing about it. So it was the last camera I used while I still assumed I was going to spend my life as a working art photographer. I'm better at the career I ended up with than I would have been at that career I left behind, I think, but, still and all, I have a certain amount of sentimentality for who I was then, and for the plans, ambitions, and hopes I had. As many of us do, for our youthful dreams.

So that's why it was my favorite.

I roamed on foot all over Washington D.C. with that camera, and did many portraits with it. I think having to carry it in my hand and working so hard with it played a part in my affection for the old beastie, too. What can I say? We bonded.

The usual fate
In those days I had very little money, and when I wanted or needed a new camera I had to sell the old one. I joined a photo studio in which all the other photographers shot Nikon and Hasselblad, and I couldn't use off brands or I wouldn't be contributing to the equipment pool. So my Contax and my Exakta 66 had to go the way of all cameras.

I've always regretted letting that one go, however, and to this day I wish I hadn't.

Mike

P.S. As for my favorite camera now, it's the one I'm jonesing to buy next...same as Peter Vagt's favorite. But it's going to be awhile before I can both a) afford it and b) justify it, and both a) and b) are going to have to pertain before I can get my hot little hands on one. But don't cry for me!  :-)

Original contents copyright 2017 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Andrew Lamb: "I had the Exakta 66, with an 80mm Schneider, when I was young and foolish. If I'm being honest, I think it appealed to my contrary nature. As I've mentioned before, I experienced focusing problems with it until I figured out that the focus screen had been installed the wrong way around. I can't remember how long I persevered with it for. Nowhere as near as long as you. It was a nice camera to use hand-held on location but the 1/30th sec. sync made it poor as a studio camera. As for the lens, I got great results with it in B&W (T-Max 400) but I was disappointed with it when using colour slide.

"All-time favourite camera? Another 6x6, the Super-Ikonta. Current modern favourite: the Sigma SD Quattro."

Mike replies: The slow sync was the proximate rationale for selling my first one--it was useless in the studio. I bought a 150mm telephoto for the Hasselblads, contributed in lieu of a few months of studio rent—never owned a Hassie body, but I could borrow those, and nobody else in the studio owned a 150mm. I tried to buy a second Exacta 66 sometime in the '90s, trying to recapture the magic of my period with the first one, and it, like yours, had the focusing screen installed upside-down. Took me a long time to figure that out, too—you don't expect a new German camera straight out of the box to have a problem like that!

Thomas Rink: "This brings back some less-than-pleasant memories from my youth. In 1985, the camera shop in the next town had a nice, pre-owned Pentacon Six TL with 50mm, 80mm, and 180mm Zeiss Jena lenses on offer. The entire kit was only 800 Deutsche Mark, which was within my financial reach (with a bit of stretching). But on the day I finally decided to go for it, I rear-ended a driving-school car; to add to the embarrassment, the car was from the driving school from which I got my license just a year earlier (which required, due to my ineptitude, an above-average number of driving lessons, of course). Gone were my savings, so no medium format for poor Thomas."

Mike replies: That is a sad story. So close, yet....

Comments

[JaredRB]

In the late 90s my mother used a Kiev 60, those huge pieces of film made some beautiful black and white photos. It was a bit top heavy with that huge pentaprism.

[john gillooly]

Mike, do you still have all that old film? If so, has it been scanned?

[Hélcio J. Tagliolatto]

"but, still and all, I have a certain amount of sentimentality for who I was then, and for the plans, ambitions, and hopes I had. As many of us do, for our youthful dreams."

Me too......

[Bruce Appelbaum]

That really takes me back. My first SLR was an Exakta VXiib, bought for me by my father when I was about 14, around 1967. There used to be a camera store that only dealt in Exakta cameras -- Seymour's Exakta -- near Penn Station in NYC, when that area was the nexus of all the camera stores in NYC (Olden, Willoughby-Peerless, Spiratone, Camera Barn, etc.). I had the camera (made in East Germany) and a 50mm lens (cannot remember which) with an eye level finder. I saved my money and was able to buy the metering finder a year or two later, having relied on the sunny-16 rule otherwise.

The camera was a left-handed camera -- shutter release on the left side. The release was built into the lens, so that as you pressed the release, the aperture stopped down on the lens and the photo was taken. With the metering finder, there was no coupling to the lens or the camera, so you had to compose with the lens stopped down.

I also remember having some sort of telephoto zoom, a really obscure brand, with a T-mount.

The camera had a lot of other strange features -- a trapezoidal body, a knife for cutting the film mid-roll, the ability to remove the take-up spool and replace with a film cartridge (so you could remove a half exposed roll after cutting with the knife).

I really liked the camera but in the end it was traded against a new Olympus OM-1n sometime around 1975 or 76.

I do remember when the Exakta 66 was announced and I think it was all over the photo magazines back then (Popular and Modern Photography).

Seymour's and most of the other photo retailers in NYC are now gone, with only B&H and Adorama remaining. I was in B&H the other day for film and chemicals and there was an Exakta 35mm on display in the used department. Looked pristine but I did not see a price.

[steveH]

At one time, in the mid-70s, I had both a Pentacon 66 (with an 80mm lens) and an Exakta VX 1000, with three or four lenses, the best of them being a Kilfitt Makro-Kilar 90/2.8.

I liked the Exakta, what with me being left handed and all, and would have probably stuck with it had I not been seduced by the Canon F1, which I stuck with until I went digital in 2004.

Well, there's still the RB67 system, but it's resting in storage for some indeterminate period.

[Joe B]

"but still and all..." a wonderfully constructed thought. And all so true for many of us. Thank you for putting into words a thought I'v had for a long time.

[Stan B.]

Hope... the very definition of youth. Blind, ceaseless hope...

[Peter]

My first serious and favorite film camera, to this day, was a Voigtlander Vitessa L (I think it was an L - I can't find a picture). Beautiful, innovative piece of finely tooled machinery that took beautiful pictures. During my first bout of GAS, I traded it in for a Practica SLR (waist level finder no less)because SLR's were the new hot thing (around 1957/8). The Practica felt like a it was made from a tin can and crapped out a year or two later in the middle of a photography course in college. I still have the Tessar lens sitting in a drawer.
From the mid sixties on, I have used Pentax SLR's and DSLR's and have kept all of them. I have also accumulated an outfit of Mamiya 645 equipment that I couldn't afford back when.
Current favorite digital camera is a Fuji X100T - everyone knows what that looks like.

[Dave I.]

". . . I have a certain amount of sentimentality for who I was then, and for the plans, ambitions, and hopes I had."

Amen to that, Mike.

I don't have my first SLR that I bought used, but a newer model with a stronger lens mount. It's the "3M" Pentax SL. I traded the 105mm/f2.8 lens because it flared so badly when pointed toward a sunny window. (I over-stressed that single-coated lens.) Added a 28mm off-brand (but made in Japan) lens which is perfect for car photography and a 17mm/f4.0 Super Takumar fisheye which is selling for about three times what I paid for it.

I do regret giving my friend the Pentax MX with winder because it's difficult to find one in good shape with the auto-winder. But, he is one of the two friends from high school with whom I still keep in touch.

There is one non-photography-related item I'd like to have again.

Even though I don't have a place to store it, I'd like to have another copy of my first car, even with its 12 mpg thirst.

A 1970 Impala with the small block 400, heavy duty suspension (which saved me from a broken or severely dented oil pan on one occasion), true dual exhausts, tilt wheel, etc. A gold four-door hardtop with black vinyl roof which would shift from first to second at 60 and second to third at 90, according to the stock speedometer and thanks to the 2.73:1 rear end gears.

A bunch of us decided to leave high school one day during the last week of our senior year. I punched the pedal and the only thing that moved was the speedometer needle. That engine had torque!

I don't think I'd have the car too long before I'd realize all the flaws it had, especially compared to current models. I should leave the past where it belongs.

[marcin wuu]

This camera can take the best portrait lens to be ever made for any medium format system - the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 2.8. I struggled with the Pentacon Six for years, just to be able to shoot this lens.
I took some of my favourite photos with it:

It has just the right balance of detail and softness, and a very smooth looking out of focus areas, without any of those fancy bokehs everyone seems to be so obsessed with nowadays...

I eventually swapped it for Fuji GX680 and Fujinon 180 3.2 - not as good (almost, not quite), but I did it for the front standard movements.

[That's the famous "Olympia Sonnar," first developed for the 1936 Olympics. Still a great portrait lens. --Mike]

[s.wolters]

Doing it with that '66 Eastern bloc weight lifter is HARD porn!

[Richard Newman]

I owned an original Ihagee 66, bought used in the early '60s. It had the 80mm lens, and it took absolutely beautiful images. But, the film winder kept breaking. After the third repair, my budget screaming in agony, I had to trade it in on a Speed Graphic. But I don't think I have ever had a camera which did better image quality.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I kept looking at the second-tier medium format SLRs (and. more recently, even briefly owned a Norita Grflex; with that yummy 80mm f/2 lens), for the same reason—wasn't prepared to commit to the Hassy or RB67 (or maybe the Pentax 6x7, but a smart plan for me in medium format included strobe sync). I've owned a Yashicamat 124G (the most satisfactory MF I've owned), a Fuji GS 645 (I think the bellows compress too much when closed; mine kept developing pinholes), and the Norita.

Probably the letter to my 18-year-old self would say to get serious about portrait (and film) lighting, and get into medium format.

[Mark Sampson]

I found your experience with the lenses for your Exakta surprising. I am no lens expert, although I have been lucky to use many very good ones in my career. In my corporate life, they occasionally bought new lenses for my department, so I got to use a few new Zeiss lenses (for the Hasselblads) Schneider and Rodenstock LF lenses, and some modern Nikons (without having to pay for them myself). They all performed very well in meeting some exacting requirements- (the Zeiss 135/5.6 Makro-Planar was perfect) and we never got an inferior example.
I can't say the same for my personal lens and camera adventures, but that's another story.

[Dan Khong]

Talking of Exaktas, my brother's Exakta IIb fitted with a 50mm Pancolar lens was my first SLR. With it, I won my first photography competition prize. I was a wee 16 year old lad at that time and that meant a lot to me.
It had so many little controls to play with but the coolest of them all was that film cutter that could slice off films mid-roll. That helped me get pictures developed and printed soonest possible without having to finish the entire roll.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I bought a Pentacon 6 used when I was studying in Poland in 1989 and eventually accumulated four Zeiss Jena lenses--50mm (which was excellent), 80mm, 150mm and 300mm, if I remember correctly. The film advance wasn't entirely reliable, but it was a less conspicuous camera in Poland at that time than my Canon New F-1, so I could pass for a local when I was out shooting on the street.

This was before East European/Soviet gear was popular in the US and Western Europe, so the whole kit probably didn't cost me more than a couple of hundred US dollars traded for Polish złoty on the black market. When I got back to the US, I traded it plus a little cash at Ken Hansen's (they mainly were interested in that 50mm Flektagon) for a Norman P800 pack with 2 lights, stands, a background diffuser, background stand and seamless paper, and umbrellas, and I started shooting headshots.

[Roy Maidment]

Funny - only one Canon on the list, unless I read through too quickly! The largest player seems to garner the least love. Coincidence?