Adapter review: The Fittings4you Exakta lens to Canon EOS camera adapter

The adapter

This review is about the Fittings4you Exakta lens mount to Canon EOS camera adapter. Now, I usually don't review adapters but I made an exception here, there are a few thing one needs to know before ordering an Exakta lens mount to Canon EOS camera adapter. My adapter is manufactured by Fittings4you but I suspect that my experiences apply to all brands.

The adapter fitted on the Oreston 50mm f/1.8

Specifications

Adapter:               Fittings4you Exakta lens mount to Canon EOS camera adapter

Camera mount:     Canon EF

Lens mount:          Exakta

Ihagee, the manufacturer of the Exakta cameras, never built lenses for their cameras. Manufacturers such as Meyer-Optik Görlitz, Carl Zeiss Jena, Schneider-Kreuznach and Isco Göttingen (to name just a few) were responsible for the construction of lenses with the Exakta mount. These manufacturers each built their own 'version' of the Exakta mount and this is important to know when using such an adapter. I found that my Meyer-Optik Görlitz lenses fit this adapter perfectly, however my Carl Zeiss Jena lenses simply won't fit. 

Another shot of the Oreston

Fitting the adapter on any kind of EOS camera is simple enough, I've tried several film and digital Canon EOS bodies and they all fit perfectly. There is no play whatsoever. However, there are a few practical issues when using Exakta mount lenses on a Canon EOS body. 

1. When using Meyer-Optik Görlitz lenses I found that when shooting with a film of full frame digital camera the mirror will not return to the 'down' position after taking a shot. I have not been able to test this with the Carl Zeiss Jena lenses I own since they won't fit this adapter but I would assume that this would be the case with any other brand too. A digital EOS with an EF-S mount has no such problems.

2. Exakta mount lenses usually come in two variants, those with and without an aperture coupling device that protrudes from the lens. The design of the built-in flash on the EOS xxD, xxxD and xxxxD bodies prohibits the use of lenses fitted with this device as there is simply no room to fit and to turn the lens. The built-in flash protrudes too far from the camera body. Lenses without this device work without problems.

Shooting

Unhappy leaves (Lydith 30mm f/3.5)

On my Canon EOS 90D the adapter fits snugly. I've been taking shots using the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Lydith 30mm f/3.5 and Oreston 50mm f/1.8. The fit of both lenses is good, no play whatsoever. This adapter will allow me to get to know these lenses a lot better and that is a big plus. Just too bad that I cannot use them on my full frame camera. But when factoring in the limits you can have a lot of fun with these old lenses on your Canon EOS camera with an APS-C (crop) sensor.

Camera review: The Exa Ia

The camera

This review is about the Ihagee Exa Ia single lens reflex camera. Ihagee from Dresden in Germany is perhaps most well known for their Exakta line of cameras but they also manufactured the Exa line of cameras alongside the Exaktas. Three models were produced, the Exa (1951-1962), the Exa I series (1962-1987) and the Exa II (1960-1969). The Exa and Exa I are basically different versions of the same camera with interchangeable view finders. The Exa II was a simplified camera that was produced alongside the Exa and Exa I.

Ihagee Exa Ia fitted with a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Lydith 30mm f/3.5

All Exa cameras, with the exception of the Exa Ib and Ic, use the Exakta mount that Ihagee introduced with their Exakta cameras. The Exa Ib and Ic use the M42 mount, enabling the use of loads of M42 lenses from all kinds of manufacturers. Ihagee didn't manufacture lenses for their Exakta's and Exa's themselves, this was done by companies such as Carl Zeiss Jena, Meyer-Optik Görlitz and others. 

The Exa cameras have a guillotine type shutter rather than the more usual focal-plane shutter. This results in slower shutter speeds than we are used to these days with a modest top speed of 1/175th of a second.

Specifications

Camera:                Ihagee Exa Ia

Built:                    1962-1977

Mount:                  Exakta

Shutter speeds:     1/30th - 1/175th of a second, B

Self timer:            no

Size:                     130 mm wide, 97 mm high* and 46 mm deep

Light metering:     no

Hot shoe:              no

Battery:                none

* with the pentaprism viewfinder fitted

Shooting

My copy is an Exa Ia built in the mid-1970s. It has the Exakta mount and was also built with different names (Elbaflex 175, Exakta 100 and VX-100). I managed to obtain my Exa Ia together with a few lenses and an Exakta camera which needs some TLC before I can shoot with it. The Exa is pristine and works like a charm. I love the simple smooth lines of these cameras and part of the attraction of the Ihagee cameras stems from the fact that they were built in Dresden as there is a family connection there.

Using this camera feels very intuitive apart from the shutter button, this is located on the left side of the camera body. This is a leftover from the early Exakta designs, kept in place to be able to use the same automatic aperture lenses that the Exakta uses.

I've used two lenses on the Exa thus far, the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Domiplan 50mm f/2.8 and the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Lydith 30mm f/3.5. I also own an Exakta-Pentacon six adapter that I wanted to use with the Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 80mm f/2.8 but alas, this adapter doesn't lock into place in the mount of my Exa. I've got a few more 50mm lenses and a 135mm lens to try out in the coming days and weeks.

I've taken the camera to some of my local haunts, the Vesting Museum and the fortress city of Naarden.

Images

All in all I am pretty pleased with the performance of the Exa Ia. I expected this to be a backup for my Exakta but it has really stepped up to be the main camera for my Exakta mount lenses. In fact, I am thinking of adding an Exa Ib to my collection to use in combination with my M42 lenses. This is how much I like this little camera.