Exakta 66 (1984)

Exakta · Pentacon Six mount · 6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures) or 220 (24 exposures) roll film, with a two-position pressure plate (Internationaler Foto Katalog 1990, via pentaconsix.com) · 1984

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Exakta 66 · Exakta66 · Exakta-66 · Exacta 66 · Exakta 66 Mod 2 · Exakta 66 Mod. 2 · Exakta 66 Mod II · Exakta 66 Mod 3 · Exakta 66 Mod. 3 · Exakta 66 Mod III · Exakta 66 Model 2 · Exakta 66 Model II · Exakta 66 Model 3 · Exakta 66 Model III · Exakta 66 Mk II · Exakta 66 Mk III · Exakta 66 MkII · Exakta 66 MkIII

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Exakta 66 (Mk I)	Pentacon Six	1984–1992	177298–182858, the lowest and highest Mk I serials known to pentaconsix.com; the ranges of all three versions overlap	—
Exakta 66 Mod. 2 (Mk II)	Pentacon Six	1989–1997	176907–188521, the lowest and highest Mod. 2 serials known to pentaconsix.com	—
Exakta 66 Mod. 3 (Mk III)	Pentacon Six	1996–2000	180478–184566, the lowest and highest Mod. 3 serials known to pentaconsix.com, lower than some Mod. 2 bodies	—

Production is not recorded. camera-wiki cites a plan of 200 a month from January 1985 (Popular Photography, October 1984) and Mandermann's statement to fotoMAGAZIN in August 1990 that the camera had been a flop at first and sold 600–700 a year with final assembly reduced to one man; from those and the Pentacon lots used, it guesses 5,000–6,000 in all.
Hummel's Pentacon Six production figures, as tabled by pentaconsix.com, include the bodies sent west to become Exakta 66s.
The Schneider Curtagon MF 4/40 was listed in the 1986 system brochure and promised by Exakta Foto for early 1987, but in March 1989 Exakta Foto said it had not been made, and it was missing from the January 1990 brochure; pentaconsix.com doubts it entered series production. Foto Oehling quoted it at DM 2,502 in January 1988.
Schneider also offered lenses for the Exakta 66 bellows only: Symmar-SF 5.6/135, Symmar-S 5.6/180 and M-Componon 4/28 and 4/50 macro lenses, and a 2× Tele-Converter of 7 elements in 5 groups that passes the aperture to the TTL prism (pentaconsix.com).
Four 80mm standard lenses were sold: the Schneider Xenotar MF (7 elements in 6 groups) and three lenses in Exakta 66 barrels, badged Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar, Schneider-Kreuznach Xenotar E or plain EXAKTA, which camera-wiki thinks were cheaper alternatives sharing the Biometar's 5-element design (camera-wiki; pentaconsix.com).
Weight and dimensions are left out: no primary source gives them.
Ralf Radermacher reported on Usenet in March 2001 that the Pentacon website had announced the end of Exakta 66 production and the handing of all stock to Foto Walser, and that Pentacon said it would go on servicing the Exakta 66 and the Pentacon Six (Robert Monaghan's archive).

How to tell them apart (expand)

EXAKTA 66 on the finder front, the 66 in blue (Wikimedia Commons photographs; Internationaler Foto Katalog 1990); thick black rubber covering over most of the body around a Pentacon Six shape (pentaconsix.com)
MOD 2 or MOD 3 in the middle of the advance lever; none on the original (camera-wiki; pentaconsix.com)
Pentacon Six breech-lock mount: takes Praktisix, Pentacon Six and Kiev-60 lenses (those marked Б, Latin B), not Kiev-88 lenses marked В (Latin V), which sellers often also write as B
Not the Ihagee Exakta 66 roll-film SLR of 1939 or the vertical-transport Ihagee Exakta 66 of about 1948–54, which are unrelated cameras whose lenses do not fit (pentaconsix.com; German Wikipedia)

Exakta 66 (Mk I):

No MOD marking on the film advance lever, and the lever has no ribbed extension (pentaconsix.com)
The flash-sync position on the shutter-speed dial carries a flash symbol, with no red segment (pentaconsix.com)
Interchangeable focusing screen in a black plastic frame; the screen supplied with the body was the MP5 (pentaconsix.com; Foto Oehling quotation of 1988)
TTL prisms made for it have rectangular release buttons on each side; prisms for the Mod. 2 have lower, curved ones (pentaconsix.com)
Back catch without a spring lock (pentaconsix.com)
MADE IN WEST GERMANY on the body (pentaconsix.com)

Exakta 66 Mod. 2 (Mk II):

MOD 2 on the film advance lever, which has a ribbed extension for the thumb (pentaconsix.com; camera-wiki)
A bright red segment on the shutter-speed dial marks the flash-sync speeds, and 30 is printed where the Mk I has the flash symbol (pentaconsix.com)
Spring-loaded back catch that locks itself when the back is closed (pentaconsix.com)
Fixed Rollei focusing screen without a black frame: larger and brighter, with faint grid lines and rangefinder wedges, held by a wire spring (pentaconsix.com)
Curved, low-profile release buttons on the TTL prism, so the longer lever clears them (pentaconsix.com)
All-black rubber shoulder pad on the cradle strap (pentaconsix.com)

Exakta 66 Mod. 3 (Mk III):

MOD 3 on the film advance lever (pentaconsix.com; camera-wiki)
A cable-release socket for the mirror pre-release on the back of the camera, just below the wind lever (pentaconsix.com)
An original Mod. 3 reads MADE IN GERMANY; a Mk I upgraded by the factory usually has a new label stuck over MADE IN WEST GERMANY, though not always (pentaconsix.com)
The Mod. 2 screen, spring back catch and lever (pentaconsix.com; brenner foto versand, as quoted in Robert Monaghan's archive)

Exakta 66 (Mk I): The original camera, which the maker never called Mk I. TRA at pentaconsix.com dates it "1984-1992 (?)": announced in 1984, generally on sale from early 1986, and still shown beside the Mod. 2 in the Internationaler Foto Katalog advertisements of April 1990 and 1992. The LCD metering prism came in late 1986 for this body, not with the Mod. 2. TRA bought his body new with the prism in Germany on 31 March 1989, before the Mod. 2 was available, and cites a letter from Exakta Foto GmbH of June 1986 and a Foto Oehling price list of January 1988 that lists the prism and no Mod. 2. Reviewers complained that the framed, user-changeable screen was small and dark, that the lever was hard to catch with the thumb and that flash synchronised only at 1/25s (pentaconsix.com).
Exakta 66 Mod. 2 (Mk II): The reply to the reviews of the first camera. TRA's Mk II page dates it 1989–1997: probably first on sale in late spring 1989, with a Mk II received for repair from the UK distributor George Elliott on 26 May 1989, and sold beside the Mk I at first. His FAQ page says "from about 1991", and German Wikipedia puts the Model 2 in 1986; see `disputed`. TRA found that the higher sync speed was only a relabelling: the 30 sits where the flash symbol was, so the sync is still 1/25s, and the detent for a real 1/30 remains between the marked 30 and 60. pentaconsix.com says some Mod. 2 bodies, and German Wikipedia the Model 3, were built after 1990 by the firm that succeeded Pentacon.
Exakta 66 Mod. 3 (Mk III): The Mod. 2 with a mirror pre-release worked by a cable release in the back socket. TRA's Mk III page dates it 1997–2000 and German Wikipedia gives 1997; camera-wiki and TRA's own FAQ give 1996. pentaconsix.com thinks probably all of them were built by the reconstituted Pentacon in Dresden under Mandermann; German Wikipedia names the successor firm Schneider Feinwerktechnik GmbH, at Laubegast and then Seidnitz. The factory also upgraded older bodies: Pentacon in Dresden brought TRA's Mk I to full Mk III specification, and a 1999 message in Robert Monaghan's archive, quoting a medium-format digest post, gives the German dealer brenner foto versand's figure of about 300–450 DM for adding the pre-release to a Mod. 2. An upgraded body keeps its serial and gets the new model name on its lever (pentaconsix.com), so MOD 3 on the lever does not prove a camera was built as a Mod. 3. TRA calls it the best of the three. Roskam Optics of Leiden quoted a new Mk III body with waist-level finder and strap at US$850 tax free in March 1999, a dealer price.

Serial-range notes

176907–188521 (all known Exakta 66 bodies): The serial is the Pentacon Six body's own, without white paint in the engraving. The bodies came from Pentacon's 1985 production and some from 1986, but were finished in West Germany out of serial order, so a Mod. 3 can carry a lower number than a Mod. 2: the serial does not date or identify the version (pentaconsix.com).

Specifications

Format: 6×6cm on 120 (12 exposures) or 220 (24 exposures) roll film, with a two-position pressure plate (Internationaler Foto Katalog 1990, via pentaconsix.com) · 12 on 120, 24 on 220 exposures
Finder (waist-level): folding hood with magnifier (Faltlichtschacht with Einstellupe), interchangeable; the standard finder of the body as sold (Foto Oehling quotation, 1988)
Finder (eye-level): plain pentaprism, interchangeable (Internationaler Foto Katalog 1990; Roskam Optics 1999 price list)
Finder (eye-level, metering): TTL-Prismensucher MF: electronic metering prism with LCD readouts inside the finder and on its top, from late 1986 (pentaconsix.com)
Shutter: horizontal-travel cloth focal plane, mechanical; the Pentacon Six shutter, essentially unchanged (Kröger, zeissikonveb.de) · 1s–1/1000, B (Internationaler Foto Katalog 1990, via pentaconsix.com) · flash sync X marked 1/30 in Exakta's advertising and on the Mod. 2 dial; TRA finds it is really 1/25 on the Mk I and still 1/25 on the Mod. 2, which only relabelled the flash mark (pentaconsix.com)
Film advance: single-stroke lever, which also cocks the shutter; ribbed extension from the Mod. 2 (pentaconsix.com)
Back: hinged, fixed; switchable 120/220 pressure plate in a film channel cast for this camera; film-type reminder holder; spring-loaded catch from the Mod. 2 (pentaconsix.com; Kröger, zeissikonveb.de)
Meter: none in the body; electronic TTL metering prism with LCD, coupled to shutter speed and, with Schneider lenses, to aperture (pentaconsix.com)
Motor drive: Not compatible
Designed by: Stemme Otto — project manager (camera-wiki, after Fotomagazin 1984)
Country: West Germany, from 1990 Germany (final assembly in Nuremberg on Pentacon bodies from Dresden; some later bodies built in Dresden by Pentacon's successor)
Original price: DM 973 net of VAT for the body with waist-level finder, magnifier and MP5 screen, quoted by the dealer Foto Oehling of Mainz on 11 January 1988 to a buyer in England; the same quotation gives the TTL prism at DM 895 and the Xenotar MF 2.8/80 at DM 625, and warns that the maker's prices would rise at the end of February 1988 (pentaconsix.com, which reproduces the letter). A dealer quotation, not a list price.
Accessories: Waist-level finder with magnifier, plain prism and TTL metering prism MF (two versions of release button) · Interchangeable focusing screens for the original body (three types, MP5 standard); fixed Rollei screen from the Mod. 2 · Carrying strap with cradle and locking nut; four automatic extension tubes; automatic bellows unit; angle finder; eyecup; shutter-release extension; flash bracket (pentaconsix.com) · Schneider 2× Tele-Converter with aperture transmission to the prism

Coupled to the shutter-speed dial through electrical contacts on the body, and to the lens aperture only with the Schneider lenses and the Exakta 66 versions of the 80mm, whose aperture ring turns the other way for it. Any Pentacon Six lens mounts, but other lenses need stop-down metering. TRA warns that the prism is hard to find and very expensive, and suggests a Kiev-60 prism on a Baierfoto adapter for mixed lenses (pentaconsix.com). The prism projects far enough forward to block some long lenses: TRA found that the Carl Zeiss Jena 1000mm mirror lens will not mount with it, though it mounts with the plain prism or another finder, and that his 1981 ZM-3 600mm fouls it while his 1974 ZM-3 clears it. Lenses without a stop-down lever, such as the Kaleinar-3B, cannot be metered stopped down at all, since the body has no preview lever (pentaconsix.com). The prism glass came from the Carl Zeiss Jena Pentacon Six prisms; camera-wiki credits the viewfinder design to Harwix of West Berlin (after Exakta Times).

Where sources disagree

Brand

Announced by the West German Ihagee Kamerawerk (Ihagee West) — camera-wiki, after McKeown
Exakta GmbH, Nuremberg, founded by Mandermann — German Wikipedia; pentaconsix.com also calls Mandermann the head of Exakta GmbH
Built by Schneider using the Pentacon Six chassis — pentaconsix.com FAQ; camera-wiki credits Schneider's precision-mechanics department with the back

Listed as Exakta, the name on the camera. camera-wiki also reports, after Exakta Times, that the Exakta name was bought from Cosina; German Wikipedia has it reaching Mandermann's Miranda Foto-Video in 1982.

Years

1989–1997, first on sale probably late spring 1989 — pentaconsix.com Mk II page
from about 1991 — pentaconsix.com FAQ (2005)
1986 — German Wikipedia, which also ties the aperture transfer to the Model 2

Better supported: 1989: TRA cites a dated Mk II repair (26 May 1989), his own purchase of a Mk I with metering prism in March 1989, and a 1988 price list with the prism and no Mod. 2

First

1996 — camera-wiki; pentaconsix.com FAQ
1997 — pentaconsix.com Mk III page; German Wikipedia; Camera Legend

Last

about 1990 — pentaconsix.com FAQ
1992 (?) — pentaconsix.com Mk I page, from catalogue advertisements of 1990 and 1992

Flash sync

1/30 — Exakta's advertising (Internationaler Foto Katalog 1990); Mod. 2 dial
1/25 on the Mk I and still 1/25 on the Mod. 2, the change being a relabelling — pentaconsix.com

What reviewers say

Sam, Camera Legend (blog) — A used Mod. III bought from KEH in 2013 jammed with the mirror up and the advance locked after every shot, and went back for a refund. A repairer told him these bodies often have problems and parts are scarce; he concludes it is a costlier version of the same camera as the Pentacon Six or Kiev-60 and that those are the better buy, though he allows his may have been a bad example. single source, unconfirmed

History

The Exakta 66 is a 6×6 single-lens reflex on 120 or 220 film, made from Pentacon Six bodies and finished in West Germany. It was announced at Photokina 1984 and on sale from 1986, and the last one was built in 2000. Heinrich Mandermann was behind it. His Beroflex firm had imported East German cameras for decades, and he had recently bought Schneider-Kreuznach. camera-wiki says the West German Ihagee firm announced it, and German Wikipedia names Mandermann’s Exakta GmbH of Nuremberg as the maker. Dr Otto Stemme managed the project, Schlagheck & Schultes styled it, Schneider’s precision-mechanics department designed the back and Harwix of West Berlin the finder (camera-wiki). Inside is a Pentacon Six: Marco Kröger writes that the shutter is the Praktisix design of the 1950s, essentially unchanged. The camera has no connection with the two Ihagee cameras called Exakta 66, the roll-film SLR of 1939 and the vertical-transport model of about 1948–54, and their lenses do not fit it.

What changed was outside the chassis and in the system around it. The body has a new outer casting and a thick black rubber covering. The back has a film channel and a two-position pressure plate for 120 and 220. The new metering prism, available from late 1986, shows its reading on an LCD and takes the shutter speed from contacts on the body. It takes the aperture only from the Schneider lenses made for the camera, and from the three cheaper 80mm lenses in Exakta 66 barrels, which are badged Biometar, Xenotar E or simply Exakta. It fits the standard Pentacon Six breech-lock, so every Praktisix, Pentacon Six and Kiev-60 lens mounts and stops down normally. Lenses for the Kiev-88 do not fit: their mount letter is the Cyrillic В, which sellers often write as “B”. The Schneider range was the point of the camera: Xenotar MF 80mm, Curtagon 60mm, Tele-Xenar 150mm and 250mm, two Variogon zooms and a 55mm PCS Super-Angulon. A 40mm Curtagon was announced but probably never made. In January 1988 a Mainz dealer quoted the body with waist-level finder at DM 973 net of VAT, the TTL prism at DM 895 and the PCS Super-Angulon at DM 6,890. Sales did not follow. In August 1990 Mandermann admitted to fotoMAGAZIN that the camera had been a flop at first, selling 600–700 a year, with final assembly reduced to one man. camera-wiki guesses 5,000–6,000 were made in all.

There are three versions, and the advance lever tells them apart. The original body has a plain lever and an interchangeable screen in a black frame, which reviewers found small and dark. Its flash setting is a symbol on the speed dial. The Mod. 2 has MOD 2 on a lever with a ribbed extension and a fixed Rollei screen with grid lines and rangefinder wedges. It also has a spring-loaded back catch and a red sync segment on the dial. Its “1/30” sync is a relabelling, and TRA at pentaconsix.com finds it is still 1/25. TRA dates the Mod. 2 from spring 1989, against “about 1991” in his own older FAQ and 1986 in German Wikipedia. The Mod. 3 of 1996 or 1997 adds a mirror pre-release, worked by a cable release in a socket on the back below the lever. After 1990 at least some Mod. 2s and probably all Mod. 3s were built in Dresden by the firm that succeeded Pentacon. The factory also upgraded older bodies to Mod. 3, relabelling them and often sticking a new country-of-origin label over MADE IN WEST GERMANY. The serial does not help: the bodies came from Pentacon’s 1985–86 production, which was finished out of order, so the known serial ranges of all three versions overlap.

When buying, check the lever and the back first. MOD 3 on the lever may mean an upgraded body, which is a factory job but not an original Mod. 3. A meter prism is worth having only with Schneider lenses, and TRA warns it is scarce and dear. The problems are those of the Pentacon Six. Owners writing on Usenet and the Rollei mailing list around 1999–2001 describe overlapping frames, and Camera Legend’s Mod. III jammed with its mirror up. The repairer that reviewer consulted said the bodies often had problems and parts were hard to find. Run a test roll for spacing, fire the shutter at every speed, check that the mirror returns on winding, and try the pre-release with a cable release. Pentacon in Dresden was still servicing these cameras after production ended. A Pentacon Six or Kiev-60 takes the same lenses for much less, which is the main argument against paying for the Exakta.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Exakta 66 (1984) — Exakta 66 Mod. 2 with the waist-level finder, no lens — Mustafa Dogan, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,000 across 10 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $490–$1,000). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

EXAKTA66専用マクロリング — ¥8,850 · Rakuten Rakuma
Exakta 66 マクロリングエクステンションリング — ¥9,800 · Rakuten Rakuma
EXAKTA66 リングマクロ付きアダプター純正 — ¥11,000 · Rakuten Rakuma
SERVICED TOP Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2,8/80 Pentacon Six Exakta 66 — €145.00 · eBay
SERVICED MINT Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2,8/80 RED MC Pentacon Six Exakta 66 — €195.00 · eBay
SERVICED MINT Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2,8/120 Pentacon Six Exakta 66 — €249.00 · eBay
Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2,8/80 RED MC MINT Condition Pentacon Six Exakta 66 — $275.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 Lichtschacht Waist Level Finder Sucher — €274.00 · eBay
Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2,8/120 RED MC MINT Condition Pentacon Six Exakta 66 — $399.00 · eBay
Schneider Kreuznach f. Exakta 66 pre-war 2.8/8cm Xenar clean glass — €399.00 · Arsenal Photo
Schneider Kreuznach f. Exakta 66 pre-war 2.8/8cm Xenar clean glass — $491.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 Model 2 6x6 Medium Format Waist Level Finder. No u18483 — £399.99 · eBay · likely mod-2
Schneider Kreuznach XENOTAR E 2.8/80 MC S für Exakta 66 An-Verkauf ff-shop24 — €699.97 · eBay
(31) EXAKTA MC 80/2.8 lens f/Exakta 66 Pentacon both caps great cond clear glass — $875.00 · eBay
Hugo Meyer f. Exakta 66 5.5/18cm Tele Megor pre-war, very rare! — €799.00 · Arsenal Photo
Very rare Exakta 80mm F/2.8 MC Schneider Lens Exakta 66 #14419347, Pentacon Six — £715.60 · eBay
EXAKTA 66 Exakta 2,8/80 2.8 80mm 1:2.8 80 mm Objektiv + 1 Jahr Gewährleistung — €849.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 TTL Prisma + 1 Jahr Gewährleistung — €850.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 Mod 2 Kamera Body Gehäuse + 1 Jahr Gewährleistung — €850.00 · eBay · likely mod-2
Hugo Meyer f. Exakta 66 5.5/18cm Tele Megor pre-war, very rare! — £733.45 · eBay NEW

Show 20 more listings

Exakta 66 Converter 2x Genuine Made by Schneider Kreuznach mount Exakta 66 — $999.00 · eBay
Schneider Kreuznach Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 MC S Exakta 66 Mount Medium Format Lens — $999.00 · eBay
[Near MINT+] Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f2.8 Biometar Lens Exakta 66 From JAPAN — $999.99 · eBay
Exakta 66 w/ 80mm f2.8 — A$1,600.00 · The Camera Exchange
Exakta 66 camera plus Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 80mm f2.8 lens — £820.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 Mod 2 Mittelformat Spiegelreflexkamera - 6×6 - Westdeutsch — £1,023.00 · eBay · likely mod-2
Exakta 66 Mod 2 mit Spiegelvorauslösung und Biometar 2,8/80 plus Geli — €1,250.00 · eBay · likely mod-2
Exakta 66 2,8/80 2.8 80mm 1:2.8 80 mm Objektiv + 1 Jahr Gewährleistung — €1,250.00 · eBay
【N MINT+++】EXAKTA 66 6x6 Medium Format Film Camera 80mm f2.8 Lens From JAPAN — $1,499.99 · eBay
EXAKTA 66 Mittelformat Filmkamera 6x6 80mm f2.8 Schwarz Aus Japan — €1,433.90 · eBay
Exakta 66 Mod.2 with Lens Schneider Kreuznach Xenotar E 2.8/80mm Multicoating S — $2,199.00 · eBay · likely mod-2
Exakta 66 Schneider Kreuznach Xenotar MF 80mm 2,8 FSE 203226 — €2,149.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 Model 2 6x6 Medium Format Camera & 80mm F2.8 + Prism. No u18482 — £1,994.99 · eBay · likely mod-2
Exakta 66 Body mit Schneider Kreuznach Xenotar MF 2,8/80 Lens 80mm f/2.8 — €2,670.00 · eBay
Exakta 66 - Mod.2 - New Old Stock! Getestet! Ultra RAR! — €2,999.90 · eBay · likely mod-2
Exakta 66 Pre-War Set w. 4x Lenses full working — €4,500.00 · Arsenal Photo
Exakta 66 Pre-War Set w. 4x Lenses fully working — $5,537.57 · eBay
EXAKTA 66 spare parts lens mount item and few other little bits — £3.31 · eBay junk / for parts
Exakta 66 Kamera - Mittelformatkamera & Biometar 2,8 x 80mm Body leicht defekt — €499.99 · eBay junk / for parts
220810C☆ EXAKTA 66 MULTICOATING MADE IN GERMANY レンズフィルター ♪配送方法＝おてがる配送ネコポス♪ — from ¥5,399 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-11

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Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.