C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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slr-35mm
The Exakta Varex (1950) is an East German 35mm single-lens reflex made by VEB Ihagee in Dresden. The Exakta line traces back to **1936's Kine Exakta** — the world's first 35mm SLR. The Varex added an interchangeable viewfinder (waist-level or pentaprism), refined shutter mechanism, and refined Exakta proprietary mount. Distinctive: the **shutter button is on the left front of the body** (a 1936 design quirk that survived through the entire Exakta line), and a separate slow-speed dial extends rearward for 12s, 6s, 3s, 1s, 1/2s exposures.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The original 35mm SLR. Made by Ihagee in Dresden — pre-war ancestor of every modern SLR.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Exakta bayonet |
| Years | 1950–1970 (Varex / Varex IIa / Varex IIb / VX series) |
| Shutter | 12s – 1/1000s, mechanical horizontal cloth |
| Flash sync | 1/30s |
| Meter | None (clip-on accessory metered finders available) |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | 700 g |
| Battery | None |
The Kine Exakta (1936) was the world's first 35mm SLR. Ihagee continued the line postwar from East Germany; the Varex (1950) and Varex IIa (1957) refined it. Production ran 20 years until 1970 when East German Ihagee declined alongside Communist-era industrial output. Topcon (Tokyo) licensed the Exakta mount for some bodies, and Carl Zeiss-Jena lenses (Pancolar, Tessar, Flektogon) form the natural lens ecosystem.
The Exakta line is the historical ancestor of every modern 35mm SLR. The 1936 Kine Exakta predated the Contax-S (1949), Asahi Pentax (1957), and every Japanese SLR. The Varex is the post-war volume version — cult favorite among SLR historians, rare in working condition.
For 2026 buyers, used Exakta Varex bodies at $120–300 are affordable history. The left-hand shutter button is initially disorienting but adaptable. Lens compatibility includes excellent Carl Zeiss-Jena, Meyer-Optik, and Schneider-Kreuznach optics from the German optical tradition.
Exakta bayonet mount: Carl Zeiss-Jena Pancolar 50/1.8, Tessar 50/2.8, Flektogon 35/2.8, Sonnar 135/3.5. Meyer-Optik Trioplan 100/2.8 (cult portrait lens with "soap bubble bokeh"). Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon, Xenotar variants. Interchangeable finders: waist-level (default), pentaprism, prism with built-in CdS meter.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
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