Vintage Ihagee Camera
Without a doubt, vintage Ihagee camera is truly considered antique in its truest sense because of its rarity. The destructive World War II, the unstable structure of the company and the absorption of Ihagee Company by other camera manufacturers had all paved the way for its dissolution.
Ihagee Company was founded by Johan Steenbergen in the beautiful city of Dresden in Germany. Its original name is Industrie und Handells Gesellschaft, later abbreviated IHG (which sounds in German as “eehahgay”). The company has produced vintage Ihagee cameras like Patent Klappreflex and Exakta.
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 EXAKTA Jr IHAGEE BLACK VINTAGE CAMERA 35 75cm CASED  US $699.00
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 EXA IHAGEE VINTAGE CAMERA MERITAR 28 50 LENS CASED NR US $199.00
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 Ihagee Exakta Varex IIa 35mm Zeiss 2 50 Pancolar Case US $220.00
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 UNUSUAL EXAKTA VX German camera wide angle lens US $229.00
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 IHAGEE EXAKTA VXIIA BODY 116485 US $50.00
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 IHAGEE EXAKTA VXIIB VX IIB BODY 115590 US $45.00
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Patent Klappreflex is a unusual camera. It was a single lens bellows reflex that folded in a special way. It also has bellows and macro extension rings, flash equipment, enlargers, and microscope adapters.
Ihagee Company became a sensation worldwide when its Exakta was released in the market. It was compact single lens reflex for roll film. The model is now called as Standard-Exakta (known as Vest Pocket Exakta in English-speaking countries).
Later, the Kine-Exakta became the world’s first single lens reflex that used the today’s standard cine film and the 24x 36mm picture size.
The classic Exakta cameras have a shutter release on the front of the camera, rather than the top. It is often pressed by the left forefinger. Exakta lenses (known as either “automatic” or semi-automatic”) included a button with an extension that is aligned over the camera body’s shutter where the lens were mounted.
To provide a bright viewfinder image, the diaphragm of these lenses remained fully open until the button was pressed halfway. When the iris of the camera stopped down to the shooting aperture and pressed further, the lens button engaged the camera’s shutter release button, tripping the shutter.
Traditionally, Exakta is the spelling found in cameras. But in some Kine-Exakta cameras, EXACTA was used specifically for marketing it outside Germany like France, Portugal and US.
In US alone, most of the people refer to the vintage Ihagee camera as EXACTA. Another product of Ihagee, a simpler version of Exakta, was named EXA.
Other notable vintage Ihagee cameras were the following:
1. Plan and Roll Paff Reflex, which is in reflex boxes
2. Tropen Neugold, the nicer version of of the Patent duplex
3. Zweiverschluss Duplex, which has both central and focal plane shutter
4. Corona, a wooden travel camera which comes in five sizes
5. Parvola, with a double-helical extension mechanism
6. Exakta Varex, the first single lens reflex with interchangeable viewfinders.
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EXAKTA Jr IHAGEE BLACK VINTAGE CAMERA 35 75cm CASED | |
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US $699.00 | 12d 4h 56m |
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EXA IHAGEE VINTAGE CAMERA MERITAR 28 50 LENS CASED NR | |
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US $199.00 | 12d 4h 56m |
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Ihagee Exakta Varex IIa 35mm Zeiss 2 50 Pancolar Case | |
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US $220.00 | 6d 22h 55m |
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UNUSUAL EXAKTA VX German camera wide angle lens | |
0 Bid | US $229.00 | 1d 30m |
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IHAGEE EXAKTA VXIIA BODY 116485 | |
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US $50.00 | 5d 14h 3m |
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IHAGEE EXAKTA VXIIB VX IIB BODY 115590 | |
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US $45.00 | 5d 14h 2m |
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IHAGEE KINE EXAKTA BODY ROUND WINDOW 114231 | |
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US $950.00 | 5d 14h 2m |
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IHAGEE EXAKTA VXIIA BODY VERSION 5 117356 | |
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US $40.00 | 5d 14h 2m |
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IHAGEE EXAKTA VXIIB VX IIB BODY 115601 | |
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US $50.00 | 5d 14h 1m |
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IHAGEE ULTRIX 52753 | |
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US $175.00 | 5d 14h 1m |
To add more splendors, Exakta camera was used in a 1954 movie, Rear Window which portrays the main character as a photographer. It was also used by Josef Koudelka to capture his historic images of the 1968 Prague Spring.
There are very few vintage Ihagee cameras available in the market. Because the company has folded already and the use of Ihagee brand had been replaced by other name, there is no way but to call this line of camera an “extinct” one.
