Wirgin Edixa-Mat Reflex B – A Brief Look at a Camera I’d Never Heard of 

For a long time at least, I hadn’t known or paid attention to the names ‘Wirgin’ or ‘Edixa’. And that’s despite the fact that I’ve been involved with analogue photography for decades now. I could most often be found with my favourite Pentax, the MX or LX. Then about a year and a half ago I came across the Edixa-Mat Reflex on YouTube. In the video, the beauty and the interchangeable viewfinders were given special mention. This was my first brief contact.

Less than two weeks later I spotted such a camera at a flea market and could hardly believe my luck. The state… well, there was a lot of work to do. After a few hours of cleaning, lubricating and adjusting, the Edixa-Mat Reflex B finally ran again; at the end she received a new, self-cut leather dress.

In the picture you can see her with the Revuenon 50mm f/1.8; a very nice, no-frills lens that’s cheap to get and with good imaging performance. Despite the age, the adjustments are absolutely smooth and the optics are absolutely clear.

The Pentagon 50mm f/1.8 is even sharper, and also quite cheap to find, just I don’t find it to be quite as stylish. The original lenses for the Edixa models look much more stylish, of course, but when used on the street, the practicality prevails – in this case bright and smooth-running, clear lenses make for a more pleasant shooting experience.

The waist level finder reduces the overall height considerably. When open, an additional magnifying glass can also be folded out for focusing. If you press the two buttons on the side, you can change the finder.

The bright viewfinder image is simply amazing. The focusing screen is a really big chunk, mostly made of glass – there were also models with a focus screen made of plastic

The Edixa Reflex – made by WIRGIN in Wiesbaden, Germany –  first appeared on the market in 1954, with various models being released over the following years. Depending on the model, the shutter speeds usually vary between 1/500 and a maximum of 1/1000, and not all of them have the very slow times. Of course, the interchangeable viewfinder is ingenious. The waist level viewfinder is fun to use, also it is very bright – although portrait orientated photos are hard to take.
The lens selection is huge with the M42 mount.

Since my first purchase at the flea market, I can’t keep my hands off these models and have bought one or two more, refurbished them nicely and sold them again to other enthusiasts. I use Pentax, Pentacon and Revue lenses.

I’d like to show you some pictures below that I have taken with the Edixa in 2022.

Since I am enthusiastic about these cameras (like many others), I will certainly write more detailed posts about them in the future. Until the next post there will always be new pictures on my f16.ch Instagram account. I look forward to your opinion on this camera

Andy Hertig