Chuck Bjorgen
Was watching the last half of Alfred Hitchcocks "Rear Window" today on cable and started wondering about the camera and telephoto lens used by Jimmy Stewart to spy on his neighbor. After a brief Google search I found out it was an Exakta SLR with a 400mm Kilfitt f5.6 lens. The movie was released in 1954, the same year I went into the Army. I was stationed in 1955 in Germany at an Army hospital and it was that same year I developed my love for photography. The Exakta was, I believe, the first SLR, and was known in my circles as a doctors' favorite because of its ability to record close ups.

Curiously in the movie the Exakta logo on the camera was blacked out but I had guessed it was that brand. At the time the only other quality SLR brand was the Alpa, of Swiss manufacture. When I came home from Germany in 1957 I brought back an Edixa SLR with three lenses. That brand had just been released.

Of course I always regretted never bringing back a suitcase full of Leicas. However, I actually shot with Kilfitt telephoto lenses in my newspaper job, all with pre-set apertures though. Had to use adapters for my Nikons. Just a bit of personal nostalgia...