My Exakta's Last Outing

[RednekF350]

I decided to burn a roll of film through my old Exakta with my Soligor 180mm hanging off the front for old time's sake.
I had parked this camera a long time ago because the shutter curtain was hanging up and rewinding the film was getting harder and harder to the point where I stripped the film with the sprocket. I played with it a few weeks ago and found that the shutter worked well at high speeds so I decided to put a roll of Fuji 400 through it.

Results were less than stellar with some light spots appearing in most and I still had difficulty rewinding. Ben recommended North Coast Photo for the developing and I was very pleased with their service.

The Exakta is officially retired.

 

[46er]

If at some point your Exakta comes out of retirement there is quite a bit of good how-to info on the web and at at least one person that I recall that does repairs at a reasonable cost. I can dig out some links if your interested. I still use my Minolta 110 every now and then.

As with old cars; 'Don't crush them, restore them'

 

[RednekF350]

Thanks 46'er.

There was one guy I found by Googling who still has a web page but he is not taking on any new work.
He had a fair price for a good clean and oil and curtain replacement at $195. However he still has a note from Jan 2013 saying no new work is being taken on. I haven't contacted him and I am not sure I want to pursue the repair at this time.
http://www.exaktaphile.com/repair.html

 

[bobpbx]

I think I know why you are retiring it after seeing those photos, or am I missing something.

 

[46er]

Thanks 46'er.

There was one guy I found by Googling who still has a web page but he is not taking on any new work.
He had a fair price for a good clean and oil and curtain replacement at $195. However he still has a note from Jan 2013 saying no new work is being taken on. I haven't contacted him and I am not sure I want to pursue the repair at this time.
http://www.exaktaphile.com/repair.html

That is the site I recall, looks like he's gone.

The curtain probably needs replacing; holes in it caused the bright spots. If your a brave soul, this link gives general directions to one version of the camera. Scroll down to section III.

http://www.zorkikat.com/2011/12/my-second-exakta-and-the-replacement-of-its-shutter/

 

[Teegate]

It takes nice photo's but lets be honest nothing is better than digital anymore. I compare my old photo's with anything digital and the color quality of digital itself is just so far superior it is not worth bringing my film camera out. Just like you my film is retired forever.

 

[RednekF350]

That is the site I recall, looks like he's gone.

The curtain probably needs replacing; holes in it caused the bright spots. If your a brave soul, this link gives general directions to one version of the camera. Scroll down to section III.

http://www.zorkikat.com/2011/12/my-second-exakta-and-the-replacement-of-its-shutter/

Thanks 6'er.
After reading that procedure and looking at the size of the screws, I am thinking the other guy should have been charging $19,500 instead of $195 for a COA and curtain replacement !
I would last about 5 minutes into that procedure and then the camera and the tools would be thrown against the wall and I would be cursin' up a storm.

 

[46er]

It takes nice photo's but lets be honest nothing is better than digital anymore.

I don't know that I agree with the generalization that 'nothing is better than digital'. It all depends.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Modern can produce some amazing results. Not to say that you can't get similar results from digital with a bit of post processing, but film (especially Kodak Portra) has a look unique all to itself right out of the lab.

Here's a bunch of my film photography. Mostly done in medium format.

 

[46er]

Modern can produce some amazing results. Not to say that you can't get similar results from digital with a bit of post processing, but film (especially Kodak Portra) has a look unique all to itself right out of the lab.

Here's a bunch of my film photography. Mostly done in medium format.

Very nice Ben. I see you got out to the Capt Gavin.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Very nice Ben. I see you got out to the Capt Gavin.

Yes. It wasn't too far from me. Too bad they didn't let people get too close.