Lens for an Exakta

[SidW]

Sept 9, 2012 3:22:01 GMT -5 Rachel said:

... My Varex VX has both internal and external bayonet. The Meyer has only external bayonet; it has a plain tube entering the mount throat ...

Rachel, you have the evidence in front of you. Irrefutable.

I'd taken it for granted my Meyer 180mm/3.5 had both bayonets, my Exakta II (1949) being too early for the external bayonet. So now I'm puzzled and only have memory to go by.

I've just read that the original lens mount for Exakta II was enamelled black, but my recollection is that mine was shiny metal, so now I'm assuming the original owner had had the mount replaced (I bought the camera secondhand in 1959). There is evidence today among collectors that that modification was done. I can think of three possible reasons:

• The original lens lock was loose, as reported elsewhere on this thread.
  
• The original black mount was a tight fit for some lenses (the Exakta II that I bought a few years ago has a black mount like that).
  
• The previous owner wanted the external bayonet that was introduced in 1953.
  

I do recall that I knew about both bayonet fittings at the time, presumably from magazine articles and reviews, and from manufacturers' brochures. I also recall that I wasn't dismayed when the lens arrived, it fitted my Exakta II.

I keep checking sources while writing this and the history of the Meyer 180mm/3.5 lens gets more and more complicated. Aguila & Rouah report it being introduced in 1957, presumably the version Rachel shows in the photo. Capt. Jack and Wrotniak have incomplete accounts. But Hugo Ruys (http://www.ihagee.org/) has a comprehensive list compiled over many years of watching sales etc. He reports versions back to pre-WW2, and a preset iris from 1955, and preset with external bayonet from 1956.

I ordered mine new in 1959 or 60. I still have the box, with the number 2025546 on it. After seeing Hugo Ruys's list, I'm now wondering if that lens could have been avilable to order with either bayonet.

[SidW]

For the record, here's that Exakta II and Primotar 180mm/3.5 in 1963.
Not very revealing I'm afraid, fuzzy and from wrong angle.

[Rachel]

I've quickly taken a couple of pictures of the external bayonet on lens and camera. I hope that you can make them out OK.

[Stephen]

Exakta never did help themselves with the vast amount of alterations to a theme that they did, and the independent makers manufactured for them.

They were almost always an enthusiasts camera, bird watching, astronomy, floral close-ups, reference photos, landscapes, and hobbies in general etc.

A friend used them for that, photos of model railways, with modified 135 mm lens with stops added made from foil with pin holes in it, don't even as about the refraction and reciprocity failure due to an estimated stop of about F150 to F200, it gave depth of focus, with an angle of view that was close to a photo of real engines taken with a 50mm lens.

They looked very realistic, but only work in B/W, as colour film like Kodachrome only just about worked. Strictly long time exposures in sunshine, no flash...... I still have a Vivitar F2..8 manual 135 with a F128 stop fitted, it works better than standard!

He had several Exakta cameras including the last Practica made model with the TTL prism.

Very much the type of user that bought Exakta, they had a hobby that involved photographs and needed good flexible equipment, and Exakta had it all available in one way or another.

I have a Varex and a couple of Exa's, the simpler more "consumer friendly SLR camera" as a trade journal advert put it!....
Stephen

[SidW]

Sept 9, 2012 10:37:12 GMT -5 Rachel said:

I've quickly taken a couple of pictures of the external bayonet on lens and camera.

Thank you Rachel, that couldn't be clearer.

I've noted a few ebay sightings of this lens in the past, but I've never paid any attention to the bayonet type and I can't recall an ebay seller ever pointing it out. I've just been through the recent ebay completed sales looking at the large Meyer telephoto lenses of this particular generation (solid black with massive tripod collar), and saw some examples with external bayonet as expected, but I also saw some with the internal bayonet. Unfortunately, the only 180mm/3.5 that passed by had the rear lens cap on and there was nothing to see.

So I still see only two alternatives for my 180mm experience 50 years ago - either my Exakta II had been modified with an external mount before I bought it, or the lens was optionally available with the internal mount. I'll continue watching ebay.

[Rachel]

Sept 10, 2012 16:44:36 GMT -5 SidW said:

Sept 9, 2012 10:37:12 GMT -5 Rachel said:

I've quickly taken a couple of pictures of the external bayonet on lens and camera.

Thank you Rachel, that couldn't be clearer.

I've noted a few ebay sightings of this lens in the past, but I've never paid any attention to the bayonet type and I can't recall an ebay seller ever pointing it out. I've just been through the recent ebay completed sales looking at the large Meyer telephoto lenses of this particular generation (solid black with massive tripod collar), and saw some examples with external bayonet as expected, but I also saw some with the internal bayonet. Unfortunately, the only 180mm/3.5 that passed by had the rear lens cap on and there was nothing to see.

So I still see only two alternatives for my 180mm experience 50 years ago - either my Exakta II had been modified with an external mount before I bought it, or the lens was optionally available with the internal mount. I'll continue watching ebay.

Lots of variation I expect. The rear cap on my Meyer is just a snug fit on the rear tube and sits inside the external bayonet so if you can't see it then it's most likely an internal bayonet fitting. The lens is pretty heavy. I've just tried it on my kitchen scales and it weighs just over 2.5 lbs.

[daveh]

Interesting facts on the Exakta bayonets I have Topcon versions of the standard bayonet fitting.