Ihagee was a

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

manufacturer based in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Its best-known product was the

Exakta The Exakta (sometimes Exacta) was a camera produced by the ''Ihagee Kamerawerk'' in Dresden, Germany, founded as the Industrie und Handels-Gesellschaft mbH, in 1912. The inspiration and design of both the VP Exakta and the Kine Exakta are the w ...

single-lens reflex camera In photography, a single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a type of camera that uses a mirror and prism system to allow photographers to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. SLRs became the dominant design for professional a ...

History

Johan Steenbergen, a Dutchman, founded a camera company called ''Industrie- und Handelsgesellschaft'' in

in 1912. The name was shortened to Ihagee (based on the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

pronunciation of the acronym IHG, ''ee-hah-geh''). In 1918, six woodworkers joined Steenbergen at what was known from then on as Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen & Co. Ihagee's most successful camera by far was the

, which was produced between 1933 and 1976. The series began in 1933 with the Standard, or VP, Exakta, which used 127 rollfilm. This was followed in 1936 by the popular 35mm Kine Exakta. Ihagee also made a smaller, less complex, version of the Exakta called the Exa. The company was greatly affected by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Steenbergen left Dresden in 1942, never to return, and the Ihagee factory was destroyed during the Allied

bombing of Dresden The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Ro ...

in February 1945. The partitioning of Germany after the war left Dresden and Ihagee in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

, later

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

quickly reestablished Ihagee, producing some Exakta and Exa cameras from the parts and machinery that had survived the bombing. The company was taken over by

Pentacon Pentacon is the company name of a camera manufacturer in Dresden, Germany. The name Pentacon is derived from the brand Contax of Zeiss Ikon Kamerawerke in Dresden and Pentagon, as a Pentaprism for Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras was for ...

, the maker of the successful

Praktica Praktica was a brand of camera manufactured by Pentacon in Dresden in eastern Germany, within the GDR between 1949 and the German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign s ...

camera, in 1951. Steenbergen returned to West Germany and created a new company in 1959 which was called Ihagee West and had its headquarters in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. In 1966 the company marketed its own camera, the Exakta Real, without much success. After Steenbergen's death in 1967, Ihagee West ordered and sold the Exakta TwinTL, which was built by

Cosina is a manufacturer of high-end Optics, optical glass, optical precision equipment, cameras, video and electronic related equipment, based in Nakano, Nagano, Nakano, Nagano prefecture, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History Cosina is the successor ...

. The company was dissolved in 1976. Ihagee in Dresden was very successful in the development and sales of the Exakta SLR. In 1970, however, the company was completely absorbed by Pentacon and camera production under the Ihagee nameplate ceased. The last Exakta model, the RTL 1000, was a cooperative effort with Pentacon. It is possible that the Ihagee company still exists on paper. Since 1997, the Steenbergen Foundation (Steenbergen Stichting) in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

has commemorated Johan Steenbergen by awarding the Steenbergen Stipendium to a graduate of one of the Dutch photo academies, and to a university graduate, supporting a study of a historical aspect of the Dutch province of Drenthe, birthplace of Steenbergen.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Ihagee and Exakta Products and History

Full List of Ihagee Cameras

Exakta Circle, promotes use, collection, and historical study of Ihagee cameras and associated accessories
1912 establishments in Germany Manufacturing companies based in Dresden Photography equipment manufacturers of Germany Photography in East Germany Technology companies established in 1912