Ihagee Exakta Varex VX - 1951
• Early Exakta with removable pentaprism finder
• $343 with f2 lens in 1951 ($2877 in 2010 dollars)
Ihagee introduced the Exakta Varex in 1950. It was the first Exakta with interchangeable viewfinders, which was important because that meant a pentaprism was one of the choices. "Varex" was already trademarked in the US, so the camera was called the Exakta V here.
My VX is Version 2 of the next model, with only a few minor improvements over the V, such as a thumbwheel for setting the film counter. Mine is marked Varex and the film speeds are in DIN, so it was a version for the European market.
My VX has serial number is 741350, which means it was made in 1953-1955.
Jimmy Stewart used an Exakta VX in the Hitchcock movie Rear Window, as noted in the ad below. If you enlarge a still from the movie, you'll see that the trademark was blacked out.
The brochure that follows is undated, but it doesn't show or mention the auto-diaphragm that was added around 1954, so figure it came out close to 1951. Further evidence of this is that it lists the 1951 price, $343 with f2 lens.
Read More• $343 with f2 lens in 1951 ($2877 in 2010 dollars)
Ihagee introduced the Exakta Varex in 1950. It was the first Exakta with interchangeable viewfinders, which was important because that meant a pentaprism was one of the choices. "Varex" was already trademarked in the US, so the camera was called the Exakta V here.
My VX is Version 2 of the next model, with only a few minor improvements over the V, such as a thumbwheel for setting the film counter. Mine is marked Varex and the film speeds are in DIN, so it was a version for the European market.
My VX has serial number is 741350, which means it was made in 1953-1955.
Jimmy Stewart used an Exakta VX in the Hitchcock movie Rear Window, as noted in the ad below. If you enlarge a still from the movie, you'll see that the trademark was blacked out.
The brochure that follows is undated, but it doesn't show or mention the auto-diaphragm that was added around 1954, so figure it came out close to 1951. Further evidence of this is that it lists the 1951 price, $343 with f2 lens.
