Ihagee Exa 1: the 35 mm SLR camera that turned its mirror into a shutter

The Ihagee Exa 1 simplified 35 mm SLR engineering in Dresden by turning its reflex mirror into the shutter gate itself. This mechanical solution lowered production costs compared to the celebrated Kine Exakta popularized by Alfred Hitchcock in Rear Window and used by Josef Koudelka to document the invasion of Prague, but it imposed severe limitations that define its handling today.

The flap shutter and the telephoto barrier

Instead of fitting delicate focal-plane curtains, the Exa 1 uses two steel flaps linked to the reflex mirror. Pressing the shutter release swings the assembly upward and restricts exposure to a narrow range: speeds between 1/30 s and 1/175 s plus B.

This mechanism inside the mirror box creates an insurmountable physical obstacle with long lenses. The manufacturer formally warned that lenses exceeding 100 mm suffer severe vignetting because the flap frame cuts into the light cone. For photographers today, this restricts practical shooting to standard and wide-angle focal lengths. Furthermore, the waist-level finder blacks out after each exposure until the film advance lever resets the mirror.

Left-handed ergonomics and character optics

Ihagee preserved Dresden's signature layout before Japanese designs standardized controls: the shutter button sits on the upper-left front of the body. The left hand supports the chassis and triggers the shutter, leaving the right hand free to turn the focus ring. This configuration feels counterintuitive to anyone trained on modern right-handed cameras.

The standard bundled lens was typically the E. Ludwig Meritar 50mm f/2.9, a triplet based on Cooke's classic optical formula. Far from the clinical sharpness of contemporary ZEISS optics, the Meritar delivers a gentle glow and circular bokeh wide open that make it a favorite for expressive analog portraiture.

You can find sample images taken with this lens here.