page_title: History of the single-lens reflex camera
section_title: Exakta
hierarchical_section_title: History of the single-lens reflex camera / Development of the 35 mm SLR / Exakta
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kine Exakta 1 aus dem Jahr 1936, die erste serienmäßig hergestellte 35 mm Spiegelreflex-Systemkamera der Welt, Technisches Museum, Berlin
context_page_description: The history of the single-lens reflex camera begins with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura described in 1676, but it took a long time for the design to succeed for photographic cameras: the first patent was granted in 1861, and the first cameras were produced in 1884 but while elegantly simple in concept, they were very complex in practice. One by one these complexities were overcome as optical and mechanical technology advanced, and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats.
  The advent of digital point-and-shoot cameras in 1990s through the 2010s with LCD viewfinder displays reduced the appeal of the SLR for the low end of the market. The mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera is increasingly challenging the mid price range market. But the SLR remains the camera design of choice for most professional and ambitious amateur photographers.
context_section_description: The real first 35mm format SLR was the Ihagee Kine Exakta, produced in 1936 in Germany, which was fundamentally a scaled-down Vest-Pocket Exakta. This camera used a waist-level finder.
  Various other models were produced such as the Kine-Exakta, the Exakta II, the Exakta Varex (Featuring an interchangeable pentaprism eye-level viewfinder and identified in the United States as the 'Exakta V'), the Exakta Varex VX (identified in the United States as the 'Exakta VX'), the Exakta VX IIa, the Exakta VX IIb, the Exakta VX500 and the Exakta VX1000. Ihagee also manufactured less expensive cameras under the 'Exa' camera label such as the Exa, the Exa Ia, the Exa II, the Exa IIa, the Exa IIb (which was generally not considered part of the "official" Exa line), and the Exa 500. The Exacta sold well and triggered other camera manufacturers to develop 35mm SLRs. Sales were particularly strong in the medical and scientific fields. A large range of lenses and accessories were made by a variety of manufacturers, turning the camera into one of the first system cameras−-although motor drives and bulk loading backs were never produced by Ihagee.
caption: Ihagee Kine Exakta 1 of 1936
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