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Praktica Appreciation Thread

What made me wonder was the size of the battery chamber
Probably an LLC or MTL battery chamber.
 
http://praktica.planetaclix.pt/lenses.html
After the fall of the FSU , appears Schneider took over the organisation of production, some of the lens production was outsourced to Samyang.
Here are two apparently identical 28-70 lenses sold in identical blue boxes marked Schneider Dresden, apart from the knurled ring and the fact that they focus by turning the front ring in different directions.
So these Samyang lenses seem to have varied in design over the years.
Hard to resist at house clearances and car boot sales.

 
Pentacon was located in the GDR and not in the Soviet Union.
 
Sewin said:
How about posting your results from your Praktica, good and bad experiences,stories etc.

Good cameras, bad cameras, experiences with lenses etc.
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Decided to test the Praktica waters recently with a TL Super. The viewfinder seemed dimmer than I expected; maybe GDR engineering wasn't state of the art. Looking into the mirror box, I saw the mirroe was misaligned - sitting askew on its mounting plate. Then, I made the mistake of touching it, and the mirror broke free from the clip that should have been holding it in alignment.

Oh, well, I thought, let's try again, and I got an MTL3 with 50 mm f/1.8 lens and functioning meter that agreed with Sunny f16. All seemed OK until I noticed that the shutter fired at high speed, possibly X-sync, on alternate shots at slow speeds.

The Pentacon 50 mm lens is now screwed onto a Fujica ST605n, and two Praktica bodies, one with a broken mirror mount and the other with an erratic shutter, await an indefinite fate.
 
Within the L-family there were two versions of the self-timer offered/built: with triggering by the release button or by a button on the self-timer.
What are the benefits of one over the other?
 
Off topic nusproizvodjac, but post more of architectural sights from the East as in the first photographs.
 
Back to the Praktica:
AgX said:
Within the L-family there were two versions of the self-timer offered/built: with triggering by the release button or by a button on the self-timer.
What are the benefits of one over the other?
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Half a year of silence.
Anyone who would make me wiser?
 
Was there any manufactuer who made more models? Likely all Praktica models ever produced will never be known.
 
nusproizvodjac said:
I will @AgX l am fascinated with the architecture from the socialist period, and Belgrade has lots of it.
My LTL doesn't even have a self timer, which l found rather strange.
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I have the L, and it is devoid of any fancy options, except for the microprism screen and an odd mechanism which prevent the release of the shutter.

PS: Nice pictures.

nusproizvodjac said:
Yes it seems that minor changes led to different name, l can't really find any differences betwenn LTL and MTL except for the leatherette or something insignificant.
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The MTLs have a split screen and a sync terminal on the side of the lens mount.

AgX said:
Was there any manufactuer who made more models? Likely all Praktica models ever produced will never be known.
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There is an awful lot of versions, like the Minolta SRTs, also several models were sold under the banners of Revue, Porst, JC Penney, Cavalier & Hanimex.
 
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You can also find good technical information on Dresdner Kamera.
 
AgX said:
Within the L-family there were two versions of the self-timer offered/built: with triggering by the release button or by a button on the self-timer.
What are the benefits of one over the other?
Click to expand...
As an avid collector of L series cameras, I have never seen or heard of one that the shutter button triggers the self timer.
 
The all mechanical L is probably my favourite.

Also about self timers, when was the last time you used the facility?
It must be over thirty years ago the last time I used it on a LLC.

Nice to see the thread is still running.
 
Sewin said:
The all mechanical L is probably my favourite.

Also about self timers, when was the last time you used the facility?
It must be over thirty years ago the last time I used it on a LLC.

Nice to see the thread is still running.
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I exercise the self timers on my cameras every 6 months or so to keep them functional. I haven't shot film since the demise of local developers.
 
blockend said:
What is it with Praktica cameras and outsiders?
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I don't think the association is that surprising, particularly in a European context. Outsiders (by their marginal and sometimes precarious nature) may not have the inclination, and will almost certainly not have the money, to concern themselves with the "Leica glow." Likewise it isn't necessarily meaningful to them to consider which company has the best or most complete professional reflex system, for the true artist is immune from GAS and their needs are in any case usually more ascetic. Instead they'll look for something that's simple, available and affordable - but which is nonetheless good enough to be capable of fine results and gets the job done. The Praktica fits that bill quite well.
 
I agree, and more proof that the camera brand has no bearing on the art world's appreciation of the photograph. Or maybe the Praktica's bear trap shutter lends an impressionistic glow to everything it touches ; )
 
What is a "bear trap shutter"? I found impressive shutter sounds at most different cameras.

"Bear trap shutter" would be rather appropriate though for an Exa.
 
AgX said:
What is a "bear trap shutter"? I found impressive shutter sounds at most different cameras.

"Bear trap shutter" would be rather appropriate though for an Exa.
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One photographer I follow who accumulated thousands of unique photographs from the 70s on his Praktica, claimed it blurred below 1/250 of a second owing to the shutter. I've only ever borrowed a Praktica, and that was many years ago, but still recall the shutter sounded like a town hall clock.
 
blockend said:
maybe the Praktica's bear trap shutter lends an impressionistic glow to everything it touches ; )
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I just had a weird vision of Prakticas lying on the ground to trap bears.
 
I'm happy to report that I caused a few heads to turn at a charity burlesque show last weekend, shooting HP5+ and Kodak Max400 in two Praktica BX20X bodies. I was assuredly the only person shooting film, and obtained some unique images.

I don't know if it was the BX20S or my giant Kiev 6C which turned the head of a fellow photographer in Oxford a week ago....she had a lovely pink Hasselblad over her shoulder.

I've got to say....25 years and several attempts to convert me to Nikon....and I still use the BX20S more than any other film body. I think my MTL5 may be calling me from it's resting place in the garage, though...
 
nusproizvodjac said:
I will @AgX l am fascinated with the architecture from the socialist period, and Belgrade has lots of it...
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Nice photos. As for architecture, I like those three buildings in the distance which form a pyramid.

It seems so appropriate to be using a Praktica in eastern Europe.

BTW, my paternal grandfather was born in Perlez, Serbia, before travelling to Hungary.
 
The L-family model EE from 1977 was the first Practica with autoexposure, electronically controlled. The manually set shutter speeds were electronically controlled too, but their setting only stretched from 1/30-1/1000.
Why no longer shutter speeds? Pennysaving for some more resistors? No space for more resitors?
The AE range went from 1s-1/1000.

Well, the much earlier Nova model Electronic from 1968 had already electronically controlled shutter speeds. World Premier. Ranging from 30s -1/1000, in 15 steps!


To be fair, the L family model EE2 got a manual, electronically controlled shutter speed range from 1s-1/1000.
 
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