More About the Exakta Circle

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Sphere of activity

The Exakta Circle is a group of enthusiastic collectors from all over the world who share a common interest in the products of the Ihagee company. Originally set up in the early 1980s to gather what data could be found about Exakta cameras, the Circle has widened its sphere of activity with time so that we are now dedicated to the collection and use of and research into all things Ihagee, but we have retained our historic name.

Foundation and Rules

The Circle was founded in the early 1980s by Marc Bramson and Terry Calvert, both of whom are still members.
   The Rules of the Circle were last updated in Winter 2004, and are supplied to new members when they first join.

Membership

In October 2007 there were 84 UK members, 25 European, and 30 North American, Australasian and South African; 139 members in all. This is a slight increase on this time last year, and a trend which we hope will continue. Subscriptions are reviewed from year to year; a Membership Application and Renewal form in English, or in French, or in German, can be downloaded from this site

Meetings and Journal

The Circle holds two formal meetings each year, one in the springtime and the Annual General Meeting about six months later. These meetings are held near Oxford, to allow the majority of UK members to reach them without a long journey. Even so, by far the most important method of remaining in contact with all our members is our quarterly journal the Exakta Times. This carries articles of technical and historic interest, together with notices and reports of meetings and articles on members' activities.
   The planned dates of future meetings are also published on this site and in Exakta Times.
   The Exakta Circle is recognised as a Special Interest Group by the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain, and is always well represented at the annual international camera fair Photographica, organised by the PCCGB in London, usually in May.    Back to Top

Booklets

Members can also communicate with each other and with the Circle by using the Booklets scheme. Booklets are simply small blank exercise books, circulated among members by the Booklets Co-ordinator and his Assistant Co-ordinator in North America. Members write about their camera activities or problems, add photographs if relevant, and return the booklet to the Co-ordinator. From time to time the Co-ordinator puts together a selection of the entries and they are published in Exakta Times. Members can request a booklet from either Co-ordinator if they have something on their mind: but please remember that the system is useless, and valuable information is lost, if booklets are not returned!   Booklets are now available on this web site (see Booklets link below).    Back to Top

This Website

Besides pages of information of general interest about the Exakta Circle, one of which you are reading now, the website carries reports of meetings and competitions and a regular résumé of the contents of Exakta Times.    Back to Top

Library

A very large collection of reference material is held by the Librarian, who is always willing to consider members' requests for copies of documents. Most of these documents are in fact the personal property of the Librarian and most of them are irreplaceable, so access to the original documents is very restricted. There are hundreds of brochures, instruction manuals, articles and books, some available in more than one language.
   The Library also contains a Bibliography, which is a list of, so far as is known, everything printed about Ihagee and its products, including all the material in the Library and much more besides. The Bibliography was published by parts in Exakta Times, starting with issue No 53 Winter 2003 to No 63 Summer 2006.    Back to Top