From the Dark Ages - 1955 Edixa Reflex

[tunalegs]

A kind soul donated this ancient beast to me.

A 1955 Edixa Reflex. The second year they were produced. The same year slow speeds were introduced (1sec to 1/10). In 1956 though things would get really wild - with an exposure lock, automatic diaphragm coupling, and even strap eyelets!

Hmmm. It's always kind of dumbfounded me that Pentax gets all the credit for having lever wind, a pentaprism, and an instant return mirror in 1957. In 1957 Edixa had lever wind, a pentaprism, and fully automatic diaphragm operation. And frankly, the auto diaphragm is a lot more important than the instant return mirror. Coincidentally, the Edixa adopted the instant return mirror in the same year that Pentax adopted the automatic diaphragm.

Anyway...

The camera was pretty dirty. There were lots of green corrosion growths, and it was just encrusted with crud.

The shutter was sticking too.

It's rather ingenious but also pretty crude inside. Cleaned the spindles and slow speed timer. Shutter started firing regularly, but still slow. Brought up the spring tension a couple of turns, everything was sounding right... but a new problem appeared.

When the shutter is cocked the leading curtain is wound beyond the edge of the trailing curtain. Which seems wrong. And of course half of the time the shutter is released the leading curtain catches on the trailing curtain and the shutter doesn't fire.

I'm not really sure what to do about this - how or if - this can somehow be adjusted out. Any ideas?

Externally it is looking much better. Managed to get most of the crud off. I have an Isco Isconar 100mm lens on it in the pic.

Cheers.

 

[shadowfox]

I like the way this camera looks.
Very distinguished.

Is it a big camera? compared to let's say a Pentax ? 🙂

 

[tunalegs]

I like the way this camera looks.
Very distinguished.

Is it a big camera? compared to let's say a Pentax ? 🙂

It is bigger than a Pentax, but smaller than a Praktica. It's probably a little bit smaller than an Exakta too. It's a lot taller than than it needs to be because of the "foot" on the bottom plate. Later models do not have this feature though.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I agree with shadowfox, it's quite a looker of an SLR.
No experience with these at all (although like you, I think I'd be quite delighted if someone gave me one!). However I do wonder. Is it worth dismantling and cleaning the shutter speed setting dials? I'm much more of a leaf shutter specialist but my limited dealings with older focal plane shutter designs, such as early Prakticas, remind me that the relationship between the curtains might be compromised by excessive friction there.

I had a quick check of the Classic Camera Repair forum for you. The only remotely relevant reference I found in relation to a poster with a jammed Edixa Reflex. He says it was rectified by adjusting the speed knob. Might be worth a look, keep us posted.

Incidentally the Contaflex had pentaprism and auto aperture in 1953. Knob wind, though, but the Contaflex Rapid fixed that in 1958 and was only a year behind the Edixa.
Regards,
Brett

 

[tunalegs]

I agree with shadowfox, it's quite a looker of an SLR.
No experience with these at all (although like you, I think I'd be quite delighted if someone gave me one!). However I do wonder. Is it worth dismantling and cleaning the shutter speed setting dials? I'm much more of a leaf shutter specialist but my limited dealings with older focal plane shutter designs, such as early Prakticas, remind me that the relationship between the curtains might be compromised by excessive friction there.

I had a quick check of the Classic Camera Repair forum for you. The only remotely relevant reference I found in relation to a poster with a jammed Edixa Reflex. He says it was rectified by adjusting the speed knob. Might be worth a look, keep us posted.

Incidentally the Contaflex had pentaprism and auto aperture in 1953. Knob wind, though, but the Contaflex Rapid fixed that in 1958 and was only a year behind the Edixa.
Regards,
Brett

Yes I'll be looking under the top plate next, as I suspected something in there might be gummed up or dirty. Since it has a revolving dial this is certainly a possibility.

I think maybe the Edixa is largely forgotten about because Wirgin was a small company, and the camera was for the budget minded. And in truth they didn't introduce anything ground breaking, they just happened to combine features before other companies had. It was designed by Heiz Waaske who later left Wirgin to work for Rollei - and designed the SL26 and Rollei 35, amongst other things.

The Edixa Reflex is probably not a high point in his career 😀 - but he had to design it to a price so that's excusable, and he chose the right features, using a focal plane shutter and adopting the M42 mount for instance turned out to be smart choices in retrospect.

This one is surprisingly crude inside, but the internals were largely improved when they adopted the instant return mirror.

 

[Muggins]

Tunalegs, I'd be interested to hear whether you get the shutter running right and, if so, how.

I have an Edixa Flex, which appears to be almost exactly the same bar some fancier chrome and a more styled prism (incidentally, if you want a laugh, there was a waist level finder available. It's like trying to peer through a keyhole across a corridor). Like yours, I have no slow speeds. When given it the shutter jammed but a little Ronsonol on the spindles got it to work at about one notch slow - so I just popped on a 1-stop filter, and meter for rated speed. Seems to work...

For those asking about size, the "foot" does make it bigger than it needs to be. However, it seems to have been machined from a block of solid blimeythatsheavium - if you played with conkers with this and my Nikkormat, I'd back the Edixa!

Adrian

 

[tunalegs]

It is quite heavy... tangentially, I've always wondered how Praktica made their cameras so light despite the size. The first time I saw a Super TL I expected it to weigh a ton - what a surprise!