The Arex

[photax]

Hi !

Here is a very rare 1950s Austrian camera you probably never seen before: A simple viewfinder for 35mm films ( format 24x28mm ) called “Arex”. It is equipped with an Hedar-Spezial f 43mm / 5.6 lens and has a rotating shutter ( 1/25, 1/50, 1/100). This model was handmade by Engineer Johann Schwarzbauer in Vienna for only one year ( from end 1954 to end1955 ) and never sold at the retail market, he sold his cameras exclusively at trade shows and annual fairs. The 1954 model has a wrinkled black paintwork and the 1955 model a clean finish. I also noticed two different release buttons on the later models. They are hard to find today, even in Austria.
MIK

[hannes]

Hello:

Found this old post while searching for information about the Arex.

Do you have more information about these cameras?

I got one recently and have some questions:

Since there is no rewind knob and mine has no takeup spool, what kind of cartridges are used to wind the film in?
Do you know how many have been made?

Mine has #1748 and seems to be a 1955 model.

Greetings from Austria

Hannes

[genazzano]

I missed two recently and they don't show up very often. These are very interesting cameras but prices have climbed beyond reason recently, I think. I haven't found much more information than has been already mentioned but I will let you know on this thread if I can find more.

Buona Natale da Roma!

David

[Stephen]

I have not got one, but know of them, and I rather assumed that they shared the Robot cassette, with film from one cassette to the other, with no return. Memo and Rapid also did the same, therefore it might be a Rapid type.
Due to having a 24x28 image, they are sometimes classed as a Sub-miniature format. If it is Robot or Rapid, both are spaced by the camera.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

If your German reading is up to it, the Patent form is in the form of a Pdf on:-

www.photohistory.at/arexpatent1.pdf

Stephen

[Stephen]

There is also one on Ebay, and from the photos it looks like an Agfa Rapid cassette is used.
no390495350679 on ebay.

However.............

Upon reflection the take up has a spindle drive, and Agfa Rapid does not feature it, so it may be two Robot take up cassettes are used, the normal delivery one would not fit due to the boss. Two take up cassettes would work together quite normally.

Like Ducati cameras, maybe they made their own cassettes...........

Stephen.

[hannes]

Hello:

Regarding to the Patent the intention from Mr Schwarzbauer was to build a very cheap camera without the need of special tools. The need of a special made takeup cassette would not fit to that intention.

The easiest way would be to use the standard 135mm film cassette. Tried it and yes it perfectly fits.

From my point of view the Arex is a really strange thing. The build quality reflects the way it was made, a DIY project. The only way to successfully sell it must be based on a very low price. Does anybody know the original price it was sold in 1955?

Before I put a film in it it needs some maintenance on the double exposure prevention and polishing of the "film preasure plate". The back plate comes off very easily, there is no lock.

Greetings from Vienna

Hannes

[martin]

Hello Hannes,
I came across your posting because I recently got an Arex.
You wrote that you just used a a standard 135 cassette.
On mine a standard cassette fits the left side (no spindle) but not the right hand side where it should go.
Have you actually shot the Arex already?
I would be very happy to profit from your experience.
Thanks in advance and best regards
Martin in Linz

[philbirch]

I imagine it would use Agfa Rapid film the one on the right is a Rapid cassette. The small one is a cassette that film in disposable cameras have. You could use either. Its worth asking a local lab for used disposable cameras and taking out the film container. push film into it from a normal 35mm cassette (in the dark), feed the end of the film into a Rapid cassette or the modern plastic type and the sprockets in the camera will transport it. I did this a couple of times and found the plastic cassette had to be wedged into place. I used a piece of cardboard on the top and bottom to achieve this.

[martin]

Thanks for your input philbirch.
Rapid Cassettes (or Karat as the camera is older than the Rapid system) would not work.
The camera has a spindle on the winding side, so to my understanding one needs to wind the film into a cartridge.
Anyway, thanks for taking your time reading my post and for answering.
Best regards
Martin in Austria

[hannes]

Servus Martin:

For me the Arex was the reason to join this forum, meanwhile I found a lot of other useful information and help in this forum.

It's a pitty, but I did not find time to shoot a roll of film in the Arex. The pressure plate which is more a preasure spring has small traces of rust that would scratch the film. It needs some polishing of this steel spring. And I wanted to test the shutter speeds before shooting a film because from listening all 3 speeds sound the same and look the same through the lens. 

When I tried an empty 135 film casette on the right side I also thought it will not fit. But it fits with allmost no space left. I do not remember which casette I used. It must have been from a B/W film. Maybe Adox CHS 100 or Ilford or new Agfa APX.

I'll try again and make some photos. Maybe your message is the trigger to run a film of Fuji 200 through it and test how CEWE handles the non standard format.

My Arex has serial #1748. What is yours and how did you get it. Mine is from Vienna via eBay.



Hannes

[martin]

Hallo Hannes,

my Arex has the serial # 3498 stamped inside the take-up chamber.
I got it from a charity sale at one of the churches nearby. Many churches do that kind of flea market here, especially in autumn. I got it along with a Minolta AF 100-200 4.5 zoom lens and an Agfa Rapid which I bought merely for the cassette.

It is likely that the camera originally came from the "Urfahraner Jahrmarkt" which is held in the beginning of May and in in the beginning of October. Besides the fun fair and the beer tents they have stalls where all the usual stuff is sold. Magic cleaning rugs, China Oil, stain removers, snake oil - everything you find in shopping TV channels nowadays. But of course there were also more serious vendors. More or less local businesses selling all kinds of technical articles like lawn mowers, concrete mixers, attic trap doors with ladders (the ones you pull down with a hook on a pole) and of course also small technical items. So the camera might have come from there as it is and was and interesting location from a seller's point of view.

Before I get too much O/T: I'm convinced that the camera was meant for a two cassette system. A regular 135 on the providing side and a reloadable one on the take up side. The PDF of the Patent points in that direction. It says somewhere that, lacking the need to rewind, it is possible to remove exposed film mid roll as their will be enough film left to mount it in a cassette again (Gegenkassette). We are talking mid 1950ies and self loading was (and still is) the cheapest way. People normally had their films processed at a local shop/photograpehr which did it in house. So you even got your cassette back. This fits very well with the idea of being economic. People did not throw away half a roll of unexposed film just to get their prints sooner. So it was either wait another three months or have the eight pics from the silver wedding of Uncle Fritz and Aunt Maria developed right away and still have some film left for the First Holy Communion of little Gretl in early summer.
So a two cassette system is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Take care and best regards
Martin in Linz/Austria

[philbirch]

If the film is 35mm and its on a spool, it could be size 435, it was normal 35mm film on a daylight loading spool.

[martin]

Thanks Phil,
I did not know about this format. Anyway, I believe my Arex needs some kind of take-up cassette.
I'll keep you posted when I have shot the camera.
Thanks everyone for their replies
Best regards
Martin

[hannes]

Hello Martin

Thanks for your trigger. Today I loaded a film into my Arex.
The casette on the right is a 135 casette. The trick is that you have to mount it up side down.

Open the empty casette, take out the spool and put it in upside down again after attaching the film lead. After closing the casette it fits easy into the take up chamber.

I made photos with my mobile but in bad quality. Have to make better ones later.

I also measured shutter speeds with the app shutter speed and the photo plug attached to my android phone.

1/100 and 1/50 are accurate. 1/25 is too fast or does not open the shutter sometimes.

Now I need some rubber bands to prevent the back of the camera from coming off by accident.

Hannes