A short-lived 35mm SLR system produced by Ihagee Kamerawerk A.G. (West Germany). The Exakta real had noteworthy differences from the classic Exakta models produced by Ihagee East, such as two front-mounted shutter release buttons allowing right- or left-hand operation, and a dial for controlling all shutter speeds. It also had a larger-diameter (46mm) lens mount to accomodate internal automatic aperture mechanism (cameras made in Dresden relied on an external mechanism). Ihagee West produced an adapter which allowed original Exakta lenses to be mounted to the real.
Production began in 1966, but ceased already in 1967: the high price and the lack of pro features (exposure meter, for example) did not contribute to sales. The exact number of units produced is unknown, but it is definitely small (in 2010, a camera body with number 001289 was sold at auction).
In 1970, Ihagee West made another attempt to market their version of the 35mm Exakta camera called the Exakta Twin TL, but this time with built-in TTL stop-down exposure metering. Like the real, it did not become popular.
The following 13 lenses were produced for the Exakta real:
- SCHACHT: S-Travegon 35/2.8, S-Travelon 50/1.8, Travenar 50/2.8, M-Travenar 50/2.8, Travenar 90/2.8, Travenar 135/3.5, Tele-Travelon 200/4;
- SCHNEIDER: Curtagon 28/4, Curtagon 35/2.8, Xenon 50/1.9, Xenar 50/2.8, Tele-Xenar 135/3.5, Tele-Variogon 80-240/4.