Some recent Exakta 66 Mod II photos~

[ishpop]

I have been enjoying this German tank of a camera, very nice WLF viewfinder and a lens that outperforms my Rolleiflex (the Biometar mod III):

E100VS

Astia

Astia

E100G

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Cool. Those cameras are very uncommon, at least in the USA. It is an improved version of the old Pentacon 6 from East Germany.

 

[payasam]

Projected, these pictures would become the knock-you-down kind.

 

[Evanjoe610]

Some recent Exakta 66 Mod II photos~

Ishpop,

I have an Exakta 66 MK3 with the 60mm Curtagon, 80mm Xenotar, and 150mm Xenotar. These (3) lenses are on par if not better then their Zeiss counterparts. Great camera to use.

Evan

 

[ishpop]

Ishpop,

I have an Exakta 66 MK3 with the 60mm Curtagon, 80mm Xenotar, and 150mm Xenotar. These (3) lenses are on par if not better then their Zeiss counterparts. Great camera to use.

Evan

Hey Evan, I almost won a 80mm Xenotar on evilbay once, it went for 1200 and my max was 1000, so rare though, hard to find... I've seen some amazing photos made with it. Regardless, because I couldn't have it, and grew tired of looking, I bought a Hassy 501c with the PlanarT instead, and for the same price... haha. Seems the Planar and Xenotar dfferences are negligible at best...

I would love to see any phtos you have taken with your MK3, especally the Curtagon, as i havn;t seen much out of that one.

I recently picked up a Arsat wide and a Flektogon medium wide, so still need to get out and use those.

 

[ishpop]

Projected, these pictures would become the knock-you-down kind.

I am not too familiar with projection of pictures, is this something that would be done at a gallery? Or you just buy a projector that can handle 120 slides?

 

[hans voralberg]

Yes you can buy projectors for MF, not cheap though. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/1498/Projectors_Medium_Format_Slide_Projectors.html

 

[payasam]

That's a good deal more expensive than I thought. Hans, your signature should say I-61 L/D, I think. You'll probably have to change the delimiter from a hyphen to something else.

 

[chubasco]

Beautiful shots, love the colors. I enjoy seeing your work on the Exakta group (flickr).
My Exakta 500 is one of my fave SLRs.

 

[Nokton48]

I have an Exakta 66 MK2, with the Baierfoto advance upgrade. I also have the 30mm Arsat, 65mm Curtagon, 80mm Biometar, 150mm Tele-Xenar, 250mm Tele-Xenar, 180mm F2.8 Sonnar, 500mm Prakticar, and 120mm/150mm Rodenstock Imagon (soft-focus). I also have most of the original EX66 accessories. The Exakta 66 is a great system, and nicely complements my Hasselblad V-system.

 

[ishpop]

I have an Exakta 66 MK2, with the Baierfoto advance upgrade. I also have the 30mm Arsat, 65mm Curtagon, 80mm Biometar, 150mm Tele-Xenar, 250mm Tele-Xenar, 180mm F2.8 Sonnar, 500mm Prakticar, and 120mm/150mm Rodenstock Imagon (soft-focus). I also have most of the original EX66 accessories. The Exakta 66 is a great system, and nicely complements my Hasselblad V-system.

wow, quite an exakta collection! Which is your favorite lens? Do you have your exakta photos online? I would like to take a look.

 

[Evanjoe610]

Ishpop,

Unfortunately for now I do not have any access to a scanner to show the quality of the 60mm Curtagon.

The Schneider optics along with some of the CZJ - 50mm Flektogon, 120mm Biometar, 180mm Sonnar, and 300mm Sonnar gives more option for this camera. In addition the Russian?Ukrainian optics such as the 30mm Arsat, 55mm PCS, asnd others allows you to try to some inexpensive lenses.

Evan

 

[Nokton48]

Which is your favorite lens?

I really don't have a specific favorite. Probably the one I am using at the moment 🙂

Evan and I have known each other for a while. My Delphiforums.com handle on the Kiev Forum over there, is HASSYDAN. I have posted lots of things, here and there.

http://hassydan.tripod.com is an old link with some P6 images.

 

[Evanjoe610]

Dan?,

Surprise to "see" you here. How good is the Baierfoto advance upgrade and his repairs over that of the Pentacon Factory? I want to send over my Exakta 66 bodies for CLA and repairs before there are no more parts available!

To Ishpop, I tend to favor the 80mm and the 60mm Curtagon. Both are fantastically sharp and full of contrast. If you shoot primarily B & W, then you would love the "Creaminess" tones that you will receive from the Schneider lenses. I prefer wide angle views, so the 50mm Flektogon is also a good choice including the 55mm Arsat PCS.
Another available option with the P-6 mount, is the ability to use them on Mamiya 645 and Contax 645 in medium format camera systems.

 

[ishpop]

Thanks for the input guys. I need to find some parts for my 66 also. Specifically I need the neckstrap and a new focus-assist pop-up diopter thingy for the WLF.

The other issue I have, is that I set my film setting to 120 or 220, but when I get to frame 13, it just keeps going, so meaning it seems it treats both settings as 24 exposures... So I honestly havn't figured out how to wind the film after frame 12 other than to expose 12 more shots and wind the film as though I am still shooting, then after frame 24 it stops ad i can remove the film.

Any advice?

 

[Nokton48]

You set the pressure-plate to 120, or 220. When you get to frame #12, with a roll of 220, the camera will normally seem to "lock-up". To shoot the second 12, you flip the silver "latch" under the film advance tower. It should "click in" then you can finish the roll. If it isn't working like that, the camera is being sticky (maybe you can break it in!) or it needs a service. Rolf Deiter-Baier says the original Pentacon grease breaks down quickly, and sludges up the mechanism. When he does a CLA, he uses some type of synthetic watch oil. My Exakta 66 has nearly -perfect- speeds as a result, even hits real close to 1/1000! that is a real feat with medium format.

 

[ishpop]

Yeah, whether I set it to 120 or 220, it doesn't lock at 12, it does at 24...

Maybe it is being sticky I am not sure. I have been able to shot 12 frames every time, just a pan at the end to shoot another 12 frames but not really, lol.

 

[joachim]

I have been enjoying this German tank of a camera, very nice WLF viewfinder and a lens that outperforms my Rolleiflex (the Biometar mod III):

E100VS

I think the out of focus image (usually called Bokeh) is a bit harsh and un-pleasing. Which lens did you use here?

 

[Nokton48]

How good is the Baierfoto advance upgrade and his repairs over that of the Pentacon Factory? I want to send over my Exakta 66 bodies for CLA and repairs before there are no more parts available!

Evan,
Knowing that you like your Ex66's, and you want to be able to travel with them, and get dependable results from them, I would send all of them to Baierfoto for his CLA and advance upgrade. I'm happy with mine so far, and it works AOK, so far, and I will not be sending anything to Pentacon, as I think his service is superior. He charts the before and after speeds, and the differences , for me, were dramatic. Not sure about the pressure plate upgrade, but he put the silver metallic stickers on mine, and bent the plate, more than a bit. That's his "Economy-Upgrade", perhaps next time I will go for the film-flattening. He does machine the rails down, and installs a stainless-steel pressure plate, of his own -patented- design. Been told it's essentially ending up almost exactly like what happens in the Rollei SL66, in terms of film path, if that gives you an idea.

 

[Evanjoe610]

Dan,

Did you ever use Pentacon for any work? Or did you go directly with Baierfoto?

For me, I would like to send all of the Exakta bodies, while Pentacon is still around for missing parts such as screws, (2) broken WLF, eyelevel prism internal glass, and for the MLU procedure.

As for film flatness, I would agree that the Pentacon 6TL and the Exakta 66 could use some improvement there. Did you see a significant differences in film flatness and any sight of improved sharpness?

Otherwise, the only reason for sending my Exakta 66 to Pentacon are for the parts I mentioned.

Evan