Oliver G Pike

Exakta Camera

In the late 1930s he acquired a VP Exakta camera. This was called a "miniature" camera at the time. The VP stood for "Vest Pocket", although it was fairly big for a standard pocket size. It was a very good SLR (Single-lens reflex) camera and it could handle long telephoto lenses because of its robust case. Oliver Pike used this camera for most of his still shots for many years.

Exakta camera

VP Exakta B Chrome Model 6

This is a photo of a camera of the same type owned by Oliver Pike, courtesy of Chris Turner. The Exakta camera was designed and manufactured by a German company called Ihagee from 1933. The Exakta B Chrome dates from 1938.

These cameras took photos on to 127 roll film, so they were much easier to use than the big, old cameras that used glass plates. The frame size of the 127 film used in the Exakta VP is 6.5 x 4 cm, just over half the size of the quarter plates that Oliver Pike had been using.


It is notable that the shutter release on this type of camera is on the left-hand side, unlike more modern cameras that now usually have it on the right.