What in the HECK is this crazy two-lens camera?

I love weird and wonderful cameras, especially weird and wonderful film cameras. And I think this is the weirdest and most wonderful I've ever seen!

What we have here is an Exakta Varex – which is already pretty exotic as not only is it the grandaddy of 35mm SLRs, it's also a left-handed camera with the film advance and shutter release on the left of the body rather than the right.

However, this one in particular is even more special thanks to the unique Exakta Magnifying Finder featuring a second lens, giving the setup a very Frankenstein feel… as well as the effect of looking like a piece of bad AI image generation.

However, it's 100% real, and was shared by the fine folks at Blue Moon Camera and Machine, a vintage camera and processing shop in Portland, Oregon. "File this post in the 'cool stuff our customers bring in to share'," wrote the store in its Instagram post (below).

"Longtime customer and Exakta collector @darryll_decoster brought by his Exakta SLR with the Exakta Magnifying Finder (also known as the 'Magnear Finder') atop it. The Magnifying Finder was an interesting accessory made by Ihagee for their Exakta cameras. On one hand, the idea of a top-down, magnifying chimney finder is not terribly strange.

"But the Exakta version was a bit different in that you could detach the magnifying optic and the finder had a standard Exakta lens mount atop it allowing you to use normal lenses as your new magnifying optic. This could result in some interesting combinations with strange results. We suppose it could be an alternative means of keeping a second lens attached to the camera.⁠"

When asked the inevitable "but why tho" by someone in the comment section, DeCoster himself chimed in: "There's a specific eyepiece that goes along with the finder which was sold separately, which makes it more like you would expect, but you can get some serious zoom into that finder with a lens on it."

I thoroughly recommend checking out Darryll's Instagram page (linked below) as well as Blue Moon's, as they both showcase some glorious analog cameras from days gone by!

If you're looking for something a little more modern, take a look at the best mirrorless cameras that feature some of the best Canon, best Nikon and best Sony cameras.