Praktica Appreciation Thread

darthj · Aug 2, 2015

If you are used to SLR's the B-type feels rather compact. The weight may surprise todays cellphone-photographers but was nothing special for its time.

Trying to hide behind the BC1 is a 1986 Canon T-90, inspired by the T-800 series no doubt (*). So futuristic, so ergonomic ... and so totally obsolete by 1987 when it was replaced by the Eos system.

(*) 1980"s knowledge referring joke.

cuthbert · Aug 2, 2015

Xmas said:
AP did a review of all the 5cm lenses then on sale about '91 and the kit Practica came out best...

Eat heart out Nikon and Leica luvvies.

Let's be honest, with lenses like the Pancolar 50mm f1.4, 80 mm f1.8, the Vario-Sonnar, Vario-Pancolar, Flektogoon 35 mm and 20mm and Sonnar 135 mm it's not difficult to understand why.

darthj said:
If you are used to SLR's the B-type feels rather compact. The weight may surprise todays cellphone-photographers but was nothing special for its time.

Trying to hide behind the BC1 is a 1986 Canon T-90, inspired by the T-800 series no doubt (*). So futuristic, so ergonomic ... and so totally obsolete by 1987 when it was replaced by the Eos system.

(*) 1980"s knowledge referring joke.

OT: the T90 is usually called Tank, but IMO it should be called the Terminator, as it looks like the camera from the future that travelled in the past until the mid 90s to change the history of (D)SLRs.

The fact that it wasn't autofocus means little to me and it was discontinued in 1990, its real replacement was the EOS-1 that is like the T90 but autofocus, the 650 looks like a toy in comparison to the T90.

benjiboy · Aug 4, 2015

So were we wrong when we uses to call them "Crapticas" ?

miha · Aug 4, 2015

May be of interest: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.u...-Corner-No-40-Carl-Zeiss-Jena-Praktica-lenses

and: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.u...1-The-quot-Nick-s-lens-comparison-quot-thread

Xmas · Aug 4, 2015

cuthbert said:
Let's be honest, with lenses like the Pancolar 50mm f1.4, 80 mm f1.8, the Vario-Sonnar, Vario-Pancolar, Flektogoon 35 mm and 20mm and Sonnar 135 mm it's not difficult to understand why.

noooooooooooo

They did a lens test chart on 5cm lenses.
and drew graphs of LPM high and low contrast from on axis out to edge.

You have slipped into louvies world.

They said they were surprised.

cuthbert · Aug 4, 2015

Which 50 mm? There were at least three, the Pancolar 50mm f1.8 (some say it's the best normal lens in M42 mount), the Pentacon 50mm f1.8 (simpler but I get good results, IMO better than the Canon FD) and the rare Prakticar 50 mm f1.4 that is outstanding, at least those who are familiar with this lens say that.

Of course the quality of a Praktica BC 1 is not comparable to a Pentax LX but even as a body it's a pretty decent camera tough.

Xmas · Aug 4, 2015

cuthbert said:
Which 50 mm? There were at least three, the Pancolar 50mm f1.8 (some say it's the best normal lens in M42 mount), the Pentacon 50mm f1.8 (simpler but I get good results, IMO better than the Canon FD) and the rare Prakticar 50 mm f1.4 that is outstanding, at least those who are familiar with this lens say that.

Of course the quality of a Praktica BC 1 is not comparable to a Pentax LX but even as a body it's a pretty decent camera tough.

From memory the kit lens on the last model gold spots for electrical transmission etc.
The (last) camera on sale in 1990 or 91 just before they stopped.

They used slow film and tripod.
If you are curious I'll PM excerpt if I can still find it, but it is copyright.

Mine is a pancolar /2 on exakta IIa circa 59... All my shots are rubbish anyway... Not the body or lens fault...

darthj · Aug 7, 2015

Quote :

The (last) camera on sale in 1990 or 91 just before they stopped.

Not counting a few rare versions and prototypes the Praktica BX20S was the last Pentacon SLR, produced from 1990 till 2001.

The 'old' Pentacon ceased to exist in 1990 but was taken over and this company still exists. Production of Praktica cameras (import from China) has finally ceased this year.

AgX · Aug 9, 2015

darthj said:
Quote :

The 'old' Pentacon ceased to exist in 1990 but was taken over and this company still exists.

Not true at all.

Pentacon was liquidated at the end of 1990. A process that ended with last remnants in 1992, but practically in January of 1991.

The only exceptions were the "new Pentacon" which arouse out of the buy of the military plant of Pentacon and the incomplete restitution of the Niedersedlitz plant which then formed the Noble factory.

Both new companies together had about 200 employees. Out of 5500...

klownshed · Aug 9, 2015

My first real camera was an MTL-3 as a 12/13 year old. I got a paper round and saved for months to buy it!

it came with the Carl Zeis Jena 50mm f2.8. I still have it! The body seems to work fine but the aperture blades are stuck. I will stick some new seals in it and try and fix the lens with a few pints of isopropyl and use it again.

in hindsight, the results I had from the old Praktica were far better than I achieved with later film SLRs. I ended up being swayed by the auto focus zoom lenses plastic crap they sold us in the late eighties which almost destroyed photography as a hobby for me. I fondly remember my MTL-3. I hated the Plastic craptastic Canon we had. I can't remember the model, I think it was an early EOS, but that nasty thing put me off Canon for life! I've never had another Canon...

this thread has motivated me to try and fix my Jena. If I can't, I have a M42 50mm f1.8 lens from my Mums old Chinon that seems to have survived storage that I'll stick on to the old Praktica and run a roll or two through it soon!

Sewin · Aug 9, 2015

Glad you've been motivated again klownshed.

I'd give it a go with the Chinon lens.

Good luck.

darthj · Aug 10, 2015

Quote :

Not true at all.

The VEB Pentacon Dresden was a Kombinat that existed out of several companies or "Werke". After the liquidation of this Kombinat some of these companies went to other (former) owners, such as the VEB Kamera-werke Niedersedlitz which went back to the Noble family. The core - which meanwhile had become Pentacon GMBH - however was sold to Heinrich Manderman and incorporated in his Schneider group with another name switch back to Pentacon GMBH in 1997.

As mentioned before the last real Praktica was the BX20S, sold until 2001. After 2001 the only Prakticas left were compacts imported from China (which started in the 1980s).

Summarized from here (concurring with other sites and articles) :

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacon

Dali · Aug 10, 2015

klownshed said:
this thread has motivated me to try and fix my Jena. If I can't, I have a M42 50mm f1.8 lens from my Mums old Chinon that seems to have survived storage that I'll stick on to the old Praktica and run a roll or two through it soon!

The beauty with the M42 is that you have a lot of lenses available for your camera. Currently, I use my Praktica with a Tokina 28mm, a Mamiya 50mm and an Helios-44...

cuthbert · Aug 10, 2015

klownshed said:
My first real camera was an MTL-3 as a 12/13 year old. I got a paper round and saved for months to buy it!

it came with the Carl Zeis Jena 50mm f2.8. I still have it! The body seems to work fine but the aperture blades are stuck. I will stick some new seals in it and try and fix the lens with a few pints of isopropyl and use it again.

in hindsight, the results I had from the old Praktica were far better than I achieved with later film SLRs. I ended up being swayed by the auto focus zoom lenses plastic crap they sold us in the late eighties which almost destroyed photography as a hobby for me. I fondly remember my MTL-3. I hated the Plastic craptastic Canon we had. I can't remember the model, I think it was an early EOS, but that nasty thing put me off Canon for life! I've never had another Canon...

this thread has motivated me to try and fix my Jena. If I can't, I have a M42 50mm f1.8 lens from my Mums old Chinon that seems to have survived storage that I'll stick on to the old Praktica and run a roll or two through it soon!

Yesterday at the Ford Transit rally at Gaydon I met the first photographer with a film camera I've seen around: he had a MTL3 and I think a 50mm f1.8, he was very proud of his camera and told me it took excellent pictures.

darthj · Aug 11, 2015

Mystery camera for today : L2 with red "Praktica" inscription and "L2" only outlined.

Could simply be an unfinished camera missing the final layer of black paint. Then the red we see is probably the red copper layer which contributed to the metallic feel. I have only seen 1 other camera like this before.

baachitraka · Aug 11, 2015

Outlines may be a paint loss. I have MTL 3 have just outlines but with black paint for Praktica.

Sent from my GT-I9301I using Tapatalk

AgX · Aug 11, 2015

darthj said:
Could simply be an unfinished camera missing the final layer of black paint. Then the red we see is probably the red copper layer which contributed to the metallic feel.

Sparing the letters from chroming makes no sense technically.

darthj · Aug 11, 2015

Paint loss would be rather odd for a Praktica camera, certainly for a camera that is otherwise in good condition. It seems rather a failing printing machine made a "dry run", stamping the L2 without releasing any ink. Maybe the Praktica inscription suffered a similar fate. I'm only guessing though, who knows what happened to this camera.

AgX · Aug 11, 2015

There was no embossing (in case someone misunderstood "stamping"). The caps are injection moulded and then metallized. Then the lettering would be filled with paint.

(And even if there is a pure metal part, it would have been embossed before chroming and not as part of letter-painting.)

In any case a weird sample...
Though I know several samples of fine looking Prakticas where the paint at the body part has rubbed off.
Thus this likely is a red (re-)painted sample where one part has rubbed off already

Sewin · Aug 11, 2015

Strange,

Sometimes you'll see a commemorative , anniversary or export camera usually from the USSR, GDR with red lettering, but that's not the case here.

Guess we'll never know :confused:

darthj · Aug 11, 2015

In the GDR they typically used chromed objects as commemorative gifts. Including miniature vehicles made by Espewe which were chromed at a kitchen appliances factory. Outsourcing à la GDR.

After close inspection of a "normal" L2 and other L-types it seems to me as if the inscriptions are separate pieces pressed into the plastic. The paint on these does fade away. If someone with a better eyesight cares to check.
The Praktica inscription however is engraved and should have been filled with black paint.

darthj · Aug 11, 2015

The subject for today is an organisation that really appreciated Praktica and other East-German cameras. So much that they became one of Pentacon's most important customers. If not the most important one.

This was their headquarters. Today it's a museum.

(to be continued)

AgX · Aug 12, 2015

The photograph shows the central building out of the complex housing the Ministry of State Security of the GDR.

But I very much doubt them being the most important client.
By the way, they also bought cameras from Robot.

Xmas · Aug 12, 2015

The UK's MI5 ie military intelligence used Exaktas for survellisnce photography!

Xmas · Aug 12, 2015

AgX said:
The photograph shows the central building out of the complex housing the Ministry of State Security of the GDR.

But I very much doubt them being the most important client.
By the way, they also bought cameras from Robot.

Important and largest are not synonyms...

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