Ihagee Exa 6 (or 1.6)

Exa cameras were a cut-down version of Exakta cameras. The first Exa version was just called Exa with no numbers – the second version was called Exa I. This first version Exa was produced in six varieties and my camera is the sixth variety – hence my title above of Exa 6, but the makers, Ihagee, never called it Exa 6 (nor exa 1.6), it was just plain Exa.

lens:  n/a
focal length:  n/a
apertures:  n/a
focus range:  n/a
lens fitting:  Exakta bayonet
shutter:  guillotine 
speeds:  1/25 to 1/150
flash:  2x PC sockets
film size:  35 mm

Exa, and Exakta, cameras are unique in body shape, control layout and internal mechanisms. If you are used to a Japanese style SLR, Exa take a bit of getting used to. The most obvious difference is the shape. It is rhomboidal rather than rectangular and a lot thicker than other cameras.  Another obvious difference is the shutter speed selector which is a lever. The last obvious difference is that the camera is left-handed. The speed selector is left of the viewfinder and the shutter release button is left of the lens.

As this camera is so unusual, I am going to give a very detailed description.

The camera measures 130 mm by 48 mm by 85 mm including the viewfinder but excluding the lens. It weighs 528 g.

Looking at the top plate, the viewfinder is central. Most SLR cameras have the lens and viewfinder somewhat left of centre. This camera has them centrally. The viewfinder is removable and can be replaced by various models. My camera has a waist-level finder but several eye-level finders were available (all viewfinders and focus screens for Exakta and Exa models should fit apart from those for the Exakta RTL1000). To remove the finder, it is necessary to move a slide downwards to release the fitting. This slide is on the front panel above the lens and just below the name plate. To fit the viewfinder, it just pushes into place.

When not in use, the waist-level finder folds down which makes the camera significantly smaller and prevents dust from falling on the focus screen. To open the finder, there is a small chrome button on the back of the finder which needs to be pressed in. The finder then snaps into the open position.

To use the waist-level finder, you look down into the finder at the focus screen. My camera has a plain ground glass screen (actually, it is a plano-convex lens with the plane surface ground to form the image and the convex part providing some magnification) but, again, other options were available including one with a split-image centre. The screen is easy to remove and replace – detach the finder from the camera and the focus screen is at the bottom held in place but springs but not very securely – a gentle pull and out it comes.

The image in the waist-level finder is reversed left to right but it is the right way up. There is no pentaprism here to correct the image. At first, this makes composing the image awkward but one soon learns to use it easily. Having the camera away from the eye changes the perspective of the image and looking down at the image also alters your reaction to it. I find that this makes a significant difference to my composition, and, talking to other photographers, this is quite usual.

The big drawback to having the camera away from your eye is focusing. To aid this, Ihagee have supplied a folding magnifier to enlarge the finder image. Raising the camera towards the eye makes focusing easy and you can then lower the camera again to take the shot.

On the right of the viewfinder is a nickel plated plate. Prominently, this carries the film advance knob. This requires one complete turn to advance the film one frame and to lower the mirror (more later as this part is seriously stranger). This knob is also nickel plated which I rather like. Nickel is bluer and softer than chrome plating and much more attractive in good condition. Unfortunately, nickel is prone to corrosion and on my camera is very corroded. When I cleaned the corrosion off, I was left with heavily pitted surfaces.

Beside the advance knob is the frame counter. The disc of this is also nickel plated and corroded. It is both hard to clean and cleaning has partially removed the numbers. This counter counts up and needs to be manually set to 1 when fresh film is loaded. There is a little serrated wheel to do this but this is hard to reach and turn.

Behind the frame counter is the button to release the film advance mechanism to allow the film to be rewound.

On the left of the viewfinder is another corroded nickel plated plate. This carries the shutter speed selector. Unusually (apart from Exa being the only cameras I know with the speed selector on the left) this is a lever. Speeds are sparse – 1/25 to 1/150 seconds plus B. Asahi were offering 1/1000 on their Pentax cameras at this time. This speed selector is relatively stiff (my camera or by design?) and has very definite positions. Beside this lever is the film rewind knob. Again, a knob here was already old-fashioned at this time but I find it as easy to use as the more usual fold-out cranks.

If we move to the front of the camera – the lens mount is on a nickel plated plate in the centre of the front. At the top of this plate is the name plate. This is painted black with the name “Exa” in script and bright metal. Beneath this is the slide catch for the viewfinder – also nickel plated. Either side of the slide the words “IHAGEE DRESDEN” are stamped in the metal.

On the left side of this plate (as in using the camera) is the shutter release button. This is threaded for a standard cable release. Beside this is a swivel cap which functions to block accidental pressing of the shutter release.

Central in this plate is the lens mount. This is a standard Exakta/Exa bayonet with three lugs inside the throat that connect with the lens. With my Exakta Varex II and my three other Exa cameras, there are three extra lugs on the outside of the mount throat. These are to connect longer focal length lenses as using the internal lugs caused vignetting with lenses over 100 mm focal length. These are missing on this camera so using lenses over 100 mm focal length would be problematical. On the left side of the mount is the lens release lever.

This is probably a good place to talk about the lenses. The standard Exakta/Exa lenses are automatic in that the iris diaphragm automatically closes as the shutter release is pressed. The way this is achieved is very idiosyncratic. The lens has a shutter release button attached to one side which sits immediately over the shutter release button on the body.

When you press the release button on the lens, this pushes through the fitting on the lens and presses the release button on the body. It also closes the iris diaphragm in the lens at the same time.

On the right hand side of the lens mount are two PC sockets. These are chrome plated. The top socket is for F rated flash bulbs (F=fast) and will fire the flash bulb 12 milliseconds before the shutter is fully open. This is to allow the flash bulb to reach maximum brightness as the shutter fully opens. This requires a shutter speed of 1/25 seconds.

The lower socket is marked X and is for electronic flash (X=Xenon which is the gas which electronic flash tubes are filled with). With the X socket, the flash is fired as soon as the shutter is fully open and needs a shutter speed of 1/50 or 1/25 seconds.

The back of this camera is hinged – on my other Exa cameras, the back is completely removed together with the base. When you open the back, the ends of the base come away with it, leaving the middle portion in place.  The reason for this is to allow easy insertion and removal of the film cassettes. As you can see from the photograph, the back of my camera is rather tatty. Leatherette frequently comes loose – it was stuck on with shellac – and is easy to refit. Unfortunately, the previous owner of my camera used a plastic type glue and the solvent has reacted with the leatherette and shrunk it.

In common with a lot of German cameras, it is possible to remove the take-up spool and replace it with an empty cassette. This removes the need to rewind the film and speeds up changing the film – it is necessary only to cut the film and remove both cassettes. In order to  make use of this fast film change, you need your new film to be already attached to an empty cassette. Quite doable but it would require more organisation than I am  really capable of. The down side of this system is that the detachable take-up spool gets lost resulting in  second hand cameras being hard to use. The inner from a standard cassette will fit fine but unless you do your own developing, can be hard to find.

The base of the camera is plain apart from a tripod socket. This is a 1/4 inch Whitworth threaded socket.

Being a German camera, there are no light seals to deteriorate, the Germans preferring to achieve light-tightness by good engineering.

The shutter is worth describing – this is also unique to Exa cameras. This shutter is neither an in-lens leaf shutter nor a focal plane shutter. It is a guillotine shutter using the mirror as the first part of the mechanism. When the shutter release button is pressed, the mirror moves up through an arc, exposing the film. A curved blanking plate then swings up and finishes the exposure. Once the exposure is complete, the mirror stays raised until the film is wound on. This is the reason for the rather slow top speed of 1/150 seconds as it is not really possible to get the heavy mirror moving fast enough to get a faster exposure. Plus points are that it is cheap to make, keeping the cost of a new camera down, and has no need of lubricants and so can be used in very cold conditions.

My Final Word	The Ihagee Exa 6 (or 1.6) camera is a unique camera. Controls are simple and the idiosyncratic. Once you are used to it, it is a delightful camera to use although the slow top shutter speed can be restricting. I like Exa cameras!
Images	Handling	Features	View -finder	Feel & Beauty	History	Age
	4	2	4	4	3	4
Bonus	+1 for the overall imaginative design.
Final Score	22

Cosina C1 35 mm film SLR

I got interested in Cosina cameras  while reading about the cameras they make for Big Name companies - companies like Canon, Nikon and Olympus. I started, many years ago, with the impression that Cosina only made cheap, low-spec cameras. That impression is now updated. My first Cosina was a CT1 (article coming) which is (still) sold by Nikon as their FM10 and was sold by Canon as their T60 and Olympus as their OM2000.

Cosina C1 - (C) John Margetts

lens: Cosina 35-70 mm zoom

focal length: 35-70 mm

apertures: f/3.5 to f/22 (nominally)

focus range: 0.5 metres to infinity

lens fitting: Pentax K-mount

shutter: Cosina metal focal plane

speeds: 1 second to 1/2000 seconds

flash: hot shoe, X synch

film size: 35 mm

This camera, the C1, is a much later camera.  The outside is plastic and so is (as far as I can tell) the chassis. This makes it feel to hold much like a modern DSLR. That is not a criticism of the cameras as a photographic device but as a collector of old cameras, the tactile component is important to me.

Once manufacturers turned to plastic mouldings, shape restrictions were removed. With this camera, while the internal chassis seems to still be rectangular (cuboid?) the outside has flowing curves. This is partially aesthetic and partially ergonomic. The camera is clearly designed to be held right-handed. There is a curved. raised portion on the front to give the middle two fingers a good grip and a second raised portion on the back to give a secure grip for the thumb. This leaves the index finger to comfortably sit  on the shutter release button. The curves continue around the pentaprism hump and in the junction between the body and the lens mount. my personal preference is for more classically designed cameras.

Cosina C1, top plate (C) John Margetts

The top plate has the standard layout - film advance lever, shutter release button and shutter speed selector on the right of the pentaprism hump and the rewind crank/door latch on the left. This camera has a standard hot-shoe accessory shoe (and no PC connector). The film advance lever acts as a shutter lock and light meter switch when the lever is flush with the body.

The front of the camera is unadorned apart from the Pentax K-mount lens mount and the name C1. This is the plain vanilla mount with no electrical contacts or autofocus screw. The rear of the camera is similarly unadorned - there is the viewfinder eyepiece and a window to allow the user to see part of the film cassette: ideal for those of us with virtually no memory.

Inside, the camera has no surprises. The shutter is a vertical travel metal shutter which is, I think, Cosina's own make. This offers speeds from 1 second to 1/2000 seconds and is synchronised for flash at 1/125 - marked in red on the speed selector dial. The speeds on the selector dial go anti-clockwise from 1 to 1/2000 seconds (the opposite way to the Cosina CT1).

Cosina shutter

The plastic back fits without light seals. the technique of moulding the plastic allows for sufficient light baffles without the use of foam. there are two exceptions: a small piece of foam by the hinge and a larger piece around the window to the film cassette. These are in good condition and the camera should still be usable without replacing them.

This camera comes with a TTL (Through The lens) light meter. It is powered by two LR44 batteries which are still available. On this camera, the meter does not work.

The lens that came with the camera is, I assume, the kit lens that Cosina provided with the camera when new. It is Cosina's own 35 - 70 mm zoom lens. It has an aperture range of f/3.5 to f/22 at 35 mm and f/4.8 to f/22+ at 70 mm. It is multi-coated and claims macro ability. This macro ability gives an image:subject ratio of 1:5 rather than the 1:1 ratio that is usually thought of as true macro. Focusing is from just under 0.5 metres (1.5 feet) and the focus scale is marked in both metres and feet.

The aperture scale is rather confusing. The aperture ring sets the size of the aperture (as you might expect) but the f-number is a ratio between focal length and aperture diameter. This means that the marked f/ stop depends on the zoom setting. For setting the aperture at 35 mm focal length there is a red dot for the aperture ring and at 70 mm focal length there is a green line (on the zoom scale, 35 mm is in red and 70 mm is in green). For zoom settings between 35 mm and 70 mm, neither mark will be quite right and you could be up to 1/2 stop out on your exposure, depending on whether you use the red dot or green line. in use, 1/2 stop + or - is neither here nor there. marked f/ stops are from f/3.5 to f/22 but this is clearly the case with  zoom setting of 35 mm. At 70 mm, the widest aperture is f/4.8 and the smallest is significantly less than f/22 - I would guess f/32.

The lens mount is Pentax's K mount. It is the plain vanilla mount as introduced in 1975. There are no electrical contacts or auto-focus screw so the lens is fully manual. Any K-mount lens will work with this camera so long as the lens has an aperture ring, and this lens will work on any K-mount camera - but only manually.

The lens is entirely plastic and does feel rather 'plasticky' but the adjustments are all very smooth and the lens looks to be well made.

Praktica IV

This is an early SLR from the Democratic Republic of Germany. The early Praktica IV were made in 1959 by KW and then, in 1960, by VEB Pentacon. Production ceased in 1964. There were a number of variations on the model and the camera I have is the second series of the first model - the first ones made by Pentacon. This is exactly the same as the KW cameras except for the name plate on the front of the pentaprism hump.

Praktica IV (C) John Margetts

lens: n/a

focal length:  n/a

apertures: n/a

focus range: n/a

lens fitting: M42 screw mount - automatic aperture variant

shutter: horizontal cloth focal plane

speeds: 1/2 to 1/500 second

flash: 2 off PC connectors

film size: 35 mm

This camera is quite hefty - it weighs 718 g with no lens attached - which is roughly half as much again as most of my SLRs but in line with my other German SLRs: Contax F, Contaflex, Bessamatic.

It measures 150 mm by 100 mm tall and 50 mm thick with no lens attached (no lens came with this camera but as it has a M42 lens mount I have plenty of lenses to fit). While the camera does feel quite heavy, it fits well in my hands.

This is an entirely manual camera so controls are minimal and no battery is required. On the far right of the top plate is the film advance knob. This requires exactly one rotation clockwise to advance the film one frame and to cock the shutter. The centre contains the frame counter which needs to be manually set to zero - it counts upwards. As always, I ignore frame counters and continue to shoot until the film runs out - this means I usually get 26 shots from a 24 exposure cassette.

Next to the film advance knob is a button to release the film advance mechanism to allow the film to be rewound. This needs to be pressed just once at the start of rewinding, not held down all the time which makes rewinding film much easier than with many cameras. In front of this is a black painted triangle which I assume is there to remind you which way to turn the film advance knob. Next along the top plate is the shutter speed selector. 

This is fairly complicated (as many cameras were from this time) as there are two ranges of shutter speeds painted on the selector - in red from 1/2 to 1/10 and in black from 1/25 to 1/500 seconds. To make it more complicated, the black range are not in numerical order. The order is 1/25, B, 1/500, 1/200, 1/100, 1/50 and 1/40 (which is indicated by a lightening flash rather than 1/40 to indicate the flash synchronisation speed). On the top of the selector dial is a second ring to select between the red and black ranges. Around the selector dial is a ring that must be lifted before turning to align the red dot on it to the required shutter speed. When the shutter is fired, this selector dial rotates, as it also does when advancing the film. The manual says that shutter speeds can be selected either before or after advancing the film.

Nearly central on the top plate is the pentaprism hump which is enormous. The large size means that the viewfinder image is both large and bright - a very good thing!

Left of the pentaprism hump is the rewind knob. As is common, this pulls up to allow for insertion and removal of cassettes. This rewind knob is strange in that the top half of it can swivel to one side to turn the knob into a sort of lever - see the photograph - which makes rewinding the film much easier.

Rewind knob  - camera in use

rewind knob - rewinding

In the centre of the rewind knob is a disc which can be set to either film speed (9 DIN/6 ASA to 30 DIN/800 ASA) OR to film type (artificial light colour, daylight colour, artificial light mono, daylight mono).

The bottom plate is rather strange. On one end is a cream disc with a 1/4" Whitworth tripod boss and at the other end is a second film advance, this time a lever. This is the first camera I have ever seen with two film advances. The lower, lever, advance is not as easy to use as a standard top plate lever advance but it is quite usable if you do not like using a knob. With my test film, I found myself using the lever.

In the centre (almost centre, not quite so) of the front is the M42 lens mount. This is shared by both Japanese Pentax cameras, German Praktica cameras and Soviet Zenit cameras so there are a lot of affordable lenses available - Super-Takumar from Japan, Helios-44 from the former Soviet Union and a variety from Germany, not to mention smaller makers. I currently have a 55 mm f/2 Super-Takumar fitted.

Inside the lens mount is a mix of old-fashioned and (for then) modern. The mirror is a non-return one. Once you have fired the shutter, the viewfinder goes black until you advance the film. Also, the focusing screen is plain ground glass with no micro-prisms or split-image centre. On the other hand, it has an automatic aperture plunger so the photograph can be composed with the aperture wide open and then it will close itself when the shutter release is pressed. This is itself rather strange. Under the mirror is a small rivet with a red top. Sliding this to the left engages the automatic aperture plunger and sliding it to the right disengages the plunger for when the plunger would foul a non-automatic lens.

Just below the top late and immediately to the right is the shutter release button. Contrary to later Praktica cameras, this shutter release button is not angled but presses in at right-angles to the front of the camera. This is not ergonomically ideal which is presumably why later Prakticas had the angled release.

On the other side of the lens mount are two PC connectors for flash. Then upper one is for electronic flash and is marked with an "X" embossed in the leatherette. The lower connector is for flash bulbs and is marked with an "F" embossed in the leatherette. These embossings are barely visible but I don't suppose that matters as a user would soon remember which connector to use for their own flash gun.

Under the lens mount is a sturdy chrome leg which allows the camera to be stably placed on a flat surface in lieu of a tripod for long exposures. There is no delay action available on this camera to allow inclusion of the photographer in group photographs..


To open the camera, the back comers completely off. I always find this an awkward way to load film when out-and-about - what do I do with the back while both hands are busy with the film?

Inside the camera is much as 35 mm cameras always have been. there is a central film gate with guides to keep the film in the correct place. When loading the film, you need to turn the take-up spool until the two slots are facing you. The film goes in the left hand slot and pokes through the right hand slot. When the film is advanced, the take-up spool turns to take up the film with the emulsion on the outside.

At first sight, the back of the back is plain but careful inspection will reveal items embossed in the leatherette. Centrally at the top is the Ernemann Tower - the logo for Pentacon. Lower left is then word "Germany" indicating that this was an official import to the UK. It is just "Germany" with no qualification that it came from East Germany.

On the lower right is a rather indistinct triangle with a "1" in it. This was East Germany's quality mark to show that the item is of the first quality. What I cannot find, on the back or elsewhere, is any serial number.

Test film.

I have had my test film developed and it is not good - not good at all. 

There is a serious problem with one of the shutter curtains sticking giving very partial exposures: see below. The width of the image is variable and it looks to me like the first curtain is sticking part away across and is then met by the second curtain.

Asahi Pentax ME-F

Pentax were the leading 35 mm SLR cameras through the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, there were a lot of technological advances (not just in photography) and Asahi (the makers of Pentax cameras) were leading the push to develop modern automatic cameras.

The act of producing cutting edge, state of the art cameras necessarily meant also making mistakes. There were a number of innovative dead-ends during this period and the result was that Asahi lost their lead as prime camera makers to Nikon and Canon.

With this particular Pentax model the innovation was auto-focus. this was the first consumer auto-focus camera but using a technique that did not prove to be very effective. Asahi's next auto-focus camera approached the task very differently. As I only have the camera body and not the special auto-focus lens I can make no comment about how well the auto-focus worked in practice.

This Pentax ME F is a development of the Pentax ME Super - itself a development of the Pentax ME. The ME series of Pentax cameras were introduced in 1976 with the ME. The ME Super was introduced in 1980 with the added option of manually setting the shutter speed and this ME-F in 1981. Other M series Pentax cameras were the MG, MV, MV1 and MX.

The M series were smaller and lighter than the Spotmatic and K series cameras - following the lead of Olympus with the OM series of cameras. They also all had aperture-priority automatic exposure (the MX had entirely manual exposure).

lens: none supplied

focal length:  n/a

apertures: n/a

focus range: n/a

lens fitting: Pentax Kf mount

shutter: Seiko metal focal plane

speeds: 4 seconds to 1/2000 seconds

flash: hot shoe and PC connector - X synch

film size: 35 mm

This camera measures 132 mm wide by 87.5 mm high and 50 mm deep not including the lens. It weighs 480g.

The top plate is fairly cluttered resulting in fiddly controls that my rather large fingers struggle to manipulate. On the far right, as usual, is the film advance lever. This moves through about 140 degrees to advance one frame but the first part of the motion - around 45 degrees - is required to engage the advance mechanism. The lever also has a secondary rest position which usually indicates the presence of a light meter switch - I do not know if this is the case with this camera, it could just be to make fast winding possible.

In front of the film advance lever is a window to the frame counter. This counts up from one. Opening the back resets the counter to -2 - indicated by an orange dot - which encourages you to waste two frames to get to frame one. I find I get get an extra frame in by starting at -1. To be honest, I actually ignore frame counters and just shoot until I cannot advance the film anymore which gives me 26 exposures from a 24 exposure cassette in the main.

Next to these is a large black mode dial. This locks in place and it is necessary to depress a (very) small white button to be able to turn the dial. For me, this is a two handed job and is the most awkward part of using this camera. The modes available are L, Auto, M, 125X, and B - more on these later. In the centre of the mode dial is the shutter release button. This fires the Seiko metal focal plane shutter.

Between this dial and the pentaprism hump are two small buttons which alter the shutter speed when in manual mode. These buttons are actually plenty large enough even for my fingers but they are in a rather restricted space. The pentaprism is of the size needed - there is not much scope fore reducing this in size as cameras get smaller as it still has to show the full 24 x 36 mm frame. On top of the pentaprism is am accessory shoe. At this date it is basically a flash shoe and has hot-shoe connections. This is a large central contact  allowing the use of any hot-shoe flash gun. There is also a small secondary contact for Pentax specific flash guns with added functionality. It is also possible to use a cold-shoe flash as there is also a PC (Prontor-Compur) connector on the front of the camera.

On the left of the pentaprism is a switch to activate the auto-focus function. This is useful even without the dedicated auto-focus lens as the camera has a focus confirm function with any lens. This switch has three positions - off, 2.8 and 3.5 The last two relate to the maximum aperture of the lens being used. Behind this switch is a second switch which turns the audible focus-confirm on or off.

To the far left of the top plate is the folding rewind crank. Around this is the film speed setting for the light meter. This ranges from 12 to 1600 ASA (ISO). 12 ISO seems very slow by modern digital standards but films available in 1980 were very slow. This setting is set be slightly lifting the outside of the ring and turning. This ring also sets exposure compensation from x4 to x1/4 (that is, +2 stops to -2 stops) which is set by turning the ring without lifting. Pulling up on the rewind crank itself unlocks the door.

The front of the camera is uncluttered. Right of centre (looking at the front) is the Pentax K mount bayonet fitting. this is an adaptation of the original K mount known as Kf mount as it has four sprung electrical contacts and one unsprung contact. These allow the camera to communicate with the special auto-focus lens. This is the only camera with this version of the K mount. There were later variations on the K mount with electrical contacts in other parts of the mount ring. All these are backwards compatible. I am successfully using a lens with the later version of the K mount with this camera. I lose the later functionality of the lens but it still works fine as a fully manual lens.

On the right side of the mount is a PC connector which allows the use of flash off-camera. On the left of the lens mount is a delay action lever. This is not connected to the shutter release button. First  you wind the mechanism by turning the lever down in an anti-clockwise direction. Second, you start the process by pushing the lever back up very slightly. The delay is about eight seconds.

On the back of the camera (which is made from painted steel) are three items. most obviously is the viewfinder eye-piece. This is nice and large and works well for those of us who wear glasses. When looking through the viewfinder you get the expected ground glass screen. In the centre is a ring of micro-prisms and a split-image centre to aid focussing. On the left of the viewfinder image is a vertical list of shutter speeds. These range from 4 seconds to 1/2000 seconds. The selected speed is indicated by a small green or orange LED. There is also a reminder at the top of the list if you are in manual mode. At the bottom centre of the viewfinder is a green hexagonal LED flanked by two red triangular LEDs. The red LEDs light when the lens (any lens) is out of focus and the green LED lights when the lens is in focus. There is also a noise if the switch mentioned earlier is on.

On the right of the rear of the top plate is a small window revealing vertical red and black bars. These 'dance' when you advance or rewind the film. The idea is that if the film is not properly loaded the bars do not dance saving you taking pictures with no film in place. Personally, I always watch the rewind crank turn for the same reason. However, the dancing bars do work.

In the middle of the back is a device that all film cameras should have - a holder for the end of the film carton. If, like me, you have more than one camera on the go at a time, it is easy to forget what film is in which camera. Below this holder are two more electrical contacts for the optional data back.

On the base plate there are a number of items. on the left under a round cover is a mechanical connection for an electrical film winder. Next to this is the button to release the rewind mechanism. In line with the centre of the lens is a 1/4 inch UNC threaded tripod socket (the old standard was 1/4 inch Whitworth which is as near as dammit to the modern standard). To the right of this is the battery compartment. This holds four button batteries which are still available today. Beyond the battery cover is a release button to undo the battery cover catch.

In use.

Loading film is as easy as it can be made short of full automation. The back is opened by pulling up on the rewind crank - as was usual with cameras of this age. The film cassette goes on the left - the rewind crank is pushed back down to hold the cassette in place - and the film is pulled across the camera and the leading edge is pushed between any two of the many white bars on the take-up spool. Very simple and hard to go wrong.

Above the white bars on the take-up spool is a fairly loose plastic ring. As the film moves past this ring when advancing the film, the movement in the loose ring is transferred to the red and black dancing bars. visible through the window on the back of the top plate. Once you have loaded the film and closed the back you need to 'waste' two frames as these have been fogged while the back was open. At this point, the frame counter should read '1' - remember to put the end of the film carton in the memo holder and you are ready to go.

The photographer needs to set his choice of aperture and focus the lens and the camera does the rest. The viewfinder is nice and clear and the split-screen centre works as it should.

This is a delightful camera to use. My only real niggle is turning the camera on. this involves pressing a very small white button on the black mode dial and turning the dial to Auto or M or 125x. The L position is off and this switches off the meter and locks the shutter release button - the shutter can still be fired in this position by using the self-times lever.

Auto reads the aperture from the lens and selects the most appropriate shutter speed - this is not restricted to the displayed speeds, any intermediate speed can be selected. The M mode requires the user to set both the aperture on the lens and the shutter speed using the two buttons next to the pentaprism - in this case only the displayed speeds may be selected.  The 125x speed is used to synchronise the shutter and the flash at 1/125 seconds. There is also a B setting which leaves the shutter open as long as the shutter release button is depressed. I find using this dial very difficult and have to use both hands. Once the mode dial is set, I leave it set until I have finished for the day.

To use this camera with the full complement of shutter speeds requires working batteries. If they are flat, the camera can still work in mechanical mode but this restricts the camera to 1/125 seconds shutter speed. This is clearly less than ideal but does mean that you can continue to take photographs if you have no spare batteries.

I do not have the auto-focus lens but the auto-focus system will give focus confirmation with any lens. this is in the form of a green LED indicating focus and two red LEDs which indicate the direction you need to turn the focus ring on the lens to obtain focus. I found these to be completely useless - they did work but the audible confirmation is rather more useful - actually, my eyes offer a faster focus confirmation.

Test photographs - Agfa Vista colour negative film.

Hand held, indoors 

A nosey of twitchers

Asahi Pentax MX

This is a very nice, if rather simple, compact film SLR from Asahi. It is intended as a professional camera and gives full manual control of exposures. In fact, all the camera uses the battery for is the light meter and it works fine with no battery.

Pentax MX (c) John Margetts

lens: n/a

focal length:   n/a

apertures: n/a

focus range: n/a

lens fitting: Pentax K mount

shutter: cloth focal plane

speeds: 1 to 1/1000

flash: hot shoe plus 2 PC sockets

film size: 35 mm

The layout of the camera is pretty standard for SLR cameras from between 1960-ish and 1985-ish. The top plate is metal (as far as I can tell. The three ME series cameras from Asahi had metallised plastic top plates). On the right is the film advance lever. This is metal with a black plastic tip. When not in use, it returns flush with the top plate. In use, it sits slightly proud. This allows easier access for your thumb when advancing the film and also allows easier access to the shutter speed dial. In front of the film advance is a window to the frame counter. This automatically resets to -2 (shown as S) when the camera back is opened. The counter then counts up from zero - two frames being used to remove the film fogged when loading the camera.

Next on the top plate, right at the front, is the shutter release button. This is chrome plated metal and is threaded for a standard cable release. Around this is a moveable collar. When turned anti-clockwise, it turns off the light meter and locks the shutter release. However, the shutter itself is not locked as it can still be fired using the self-timer. In the off/locked position, a small red 'L' is revealed to remind the photographer to unlock the camera.

Pentax MX (C) John Margetts

On the left of the shutter release button is a very small window to an indicator for the shutter status : white = not cocked/not ready

red = cocked/ready

Next along is the shutter speed/film speed selector dial. Shutter speed is set by simply turning the selector dial to position the required speed against the red mark - speeds are from 1 second to 1/1000 seconds plus B. To select the film speed, it is necessary to press a small button on the dial and turn.

Next is the pentaprism hump. This has a hot-shoe accessory shoe on top with then usual central electrical contact. It is marked with a red 'X' to signify that it is synchronised for electronic flash. For flash bulbs, there is other provision.

To the left of the pentaprism hump is the rewind crank. As had become usual by the time this camera was made, the rewind crank pulls up to both unlock the rear door and to free the film cassette for removal.

The front of the top plate is graced with the letters MX which are embossed in the metal and the name Pentax above the lens mount.  The Asahi logo and the name Asahi appear on the front of the pentaprism. Immediately above the name Pentax is a small window. This allows the set aperture to appear in the viewfinder above the image. Below the letters MX is the self-timer lever. This is activated by turning it anti-clockwise (which winds up the timer spring) and then pressing the small button revealed by moving the lever. This gives an eight to ten second delay and also (as mentioned above) will fire the shutter even when locked by the collar around the shutter release button.

On the other side of the lens mount are two PC connectors. One marked FP for flash bulbs and one marked X for electronic flash. These allow for off-camera flash as well as giving provision for using flash bulbs. These come with black plastic caps to protect the contacts when not in use.

The rear of camera is rather plain. There is the viewfinder eye-piece and the rear door. This door is opened by pulling up on the rewind crank. The door is made from black painted steel - on my camera, much of the paint has worn off and the steel has started to rust. In the centre of the door is a holder for the end of the film carton to act as a reminder as to which film is in use - an item all film cameras should have.

The base of the camera is intended to have a rapid wind attachment fitted and to accommodate this there are two holes to act as locating devices and a covered linkage to the film advance mechanism. As I do not have this rapid wind attachment, I can say no more about it. Also on the base plate is a covered battery compartment. This holds two button batteries - those fitted to my camera are marked 'GPA76'. Fortunately, Pentax did not rely on mercury batteries and these batteries are readily available.

The only other thing to mention is the lens mount. This is a K mount camera and any K mount lens will fit and work with the single exception of modern digital lenses with no aperture ring which, while fitting, will not be able to have their aperture adjusted. There are no electrical contacts on the MX version of the K mount as this is a fully mechanical camera but it does not mind lenses with contacts. I have three K mount lenses - a Tokina zoom, a Ricoh Riconar 55mm and a Sirius Automatic 28mm. All three work well with this camera.

Test pictures.

I am quite pleased with these - no light leaks, shutter working as it should - no pin-holes in the curtains and no hesitating curtains. In the second to last photo, there is severe vignetting. this is caused by me using a lens cap designed for a 50 mm lens with a 28 mm lens - the vignetting is actually the lens cap in view!

 This next one shows the joy of using the wrong lens hood - severe vignetting!