Praktica Appreciation Thread

[Sewin]

Interesting,

What does it say on the base, is it the usual

PENTACON
MADE IN GERMAN
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC?

 

[cuthbert]

There is an identical "duty paid" sticker inside the camera. I doubt Pentacon Italia was pleased with the overzealous outside sticker.

And this is the warranty sticker.

Yes that's the "standard" place you can expect to find the clearance from the customs and the warranty sticker, from it it appears the camera was imported in 1988.

At that time there were a lot of people who were "smuggling" goods from outside Italy because the tax regime was greedy (38% of VAT in some cases), it was common practice to ask a friend of your who was going to visit a foreign country to buy something there, of course in DDR it meant cameras, binocles etc...in the US leather jackets and sport shoes and from Soviet Union watches.

Goods from Eastern countries weren't cheap, at all.

 

[darthj]

Interesting,

What does it say on the base, is it the usual

PENTACON
MADE IN GERMAN
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC?

MADE IN GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

without Pentacon

 

[darthj]

Your camera for today.

 

[Sewin]

One of the things I like about the B series is the judas window.

It does the job without relying on electronics, using the KISS principle.

 

[cuthbert]

Your camera for today.

I'm still trying to understand if the BCX has a top made of metal, to be honest I don't like the plastic available in the DDR,and even if I have three Bs perhaps I might get another one, they are so cheap!

 

[AgX]

To my understanding once they started to make caps from metallized plastic (in 1969, thus long before Canon !) they stuck to it.

 

[darthj]

The process of turning plastic into metal is described down this page. In German but there are pictures too :

http://www.dresdner-kameras.de/praktica/praktica.html#L

 

[Sewin]

I use that reference page too.

As said previously the copper cap does looks similar to post 115.

 

[darthj]

Camera for today ... you tell me what is wrong with this one.

 

[cuthbert]

Camera for today ... you tell me what is wrong with this one.

The grip.

Just Jenaflexes and the BC3 had it, this is probably one of these cameras that received a top from an earlier BC-1.

 

[darthj]

Actually the whole body is a BC3, notice the golden logo. Another hybrid. The BC3 is a BC1 with only some cosmetic modifications. Meant for export to he UK and the Netherlands too I believe.

 

[cuthbert]

As said before I thought it was a retopped BC3, that was not officially imported in the UK because they already had the Jenaflex (aka BC2). Both cameras should have been introduced in 1986 while the BC1 came out earlier and some of them have the all metal rewind lever like the original B200.

My main Praktica is a Jenaflex that you can see earlier in this thread.

 

[Sewin]

The more I use and fiddle around with my B200 and BC1 including the Praktica lenses etc the more I realise just how good a system camera they are.

I also like my other Prakticas too

I sometimes wonder how many of those who repeatedly criticise and speak badly of them have actually ever used one.

True, they can be unreliable, but so can many cameras costing much, much more.

 

[mehguy]

Where can you find practikas? i remember seeing one at a thrift store but i dont think it was working correctly.

 

[darthj]

Where can you find practikas? i remember seeing one at a thrift store but i dont think it was working correctly.

Almost every Praktica I own I bought on Ebay : Ebay-Germany (in particular East-Germany, home of Praktica hence large choice) UK (lots of special export models) Italy (for Pentacon Italia) USA (for Hanimex-Praktica), France (for BC Auto).

Though each country has its own particularities : many Germans don't like Paypal and prefer bank transfers. French like checks. Nobody else does. British that don't want to send anything "overseas" (they mean the English Channel). And don't count on anyone speaking English. Nevertheless I managed to collect a few cameras.

 

[OptiKen]

My Praktica FX3 (just arrived today!) came from eBAY. They had 5 FX3's in various condition all with a $9 starting bid. I bid on the nicest one with both viewfinders and won it at $9. I don't think any of the others got a single bid and so were re-listed.

Before anyone gets too excited about the $9 winning bid, I think shipping was $30 so I really paid $39 for mine.
They are all over eBAY, however

 

[darthj]

I have won hundreds of Euro/Pound/dollars and lost 10 years of my life expectancy fighting Ebay sellers with exaggerated shipping costs.

 

[darthj]

Something different today : the Praktica Sport MD and MD-2. Typical 1980s boxy compact in black or red. Made in Hong-Kong according to the sticker on some samples. Some parts are of a very low quality plastic with odd patterns, Some models have a "spy" window through which you can check which film is in the camera. Handy but a possible cause for light leaks. Despite everything shoots decent pictures though.

Original camera : possibly a Cosina (CX-70 ?). Also rebadged as Jessop Quickshot 2.

Finding one on Ebay : 99% black MD's, the other ones are quite rare. Especially since some collector swept through Ebay and bought all the functioning/cheap ones.

What looks like "dust" is actually wear & tear of the cheap plastic.

 

[cuthbert]

Almost every Praktica I own I bought on Ebay : Ebay-Germany (in particular East-Germany, home of Praktica hence large choice) UK (lots of special export models) Italy (for Pentacon Italia) USA (for Hanimex-Praktica), France (for BC Auto).

Though each country has its own particularities : many Germans don't like Paypal and prefer bank transfers. French like checks. Nobody else does. British that don't want to send anything "overseas" (they mean the English Channel). And don't count on anyone speaking English. Nevertheless I managed to collect a few cameras.

I am pretty sure the Brit sellers do speak a reasonably intelligible form of English.

That's the right market if you want to buy cheap Prakticas as they were imported in huge numbers in the 70s and the 80s but it's more likely to get lemons as most the of the buyers were amateurs who considered their Prakticas "cheap" so they held them in little regard. A lot of them also got bored of taking pictures and left their gear in a cellar for decades.

 

[darthj]

By checking thoroughly seller (score, feedback) item and item descriptiion you can mostly avoid buying "lemons". And if you do get a bad one - and paid with Paypal - you are entitled to a refund.

Not all amateurs were careless with their camera, the set below survived more than 20 years in the cellar before they sold it to me for £ 6.05.

 

[AgX]

Interesting is that the set was sold in its original branding, with original papers and packaging. But within a Dixons kit-package.

 

[darthj]

Ca 1988-1990 this set was probably considered a cheap starter set so Dixons would have included anything that was available for a bargain price, such as an obsolete MTL5B and a Praktica 1600A flash made in Singapore.

 

[AgX]

There is said to be a japan-made Pentacon Prakticar 4.0-5.6/55-200mm autofocus lens.

I assume it to be a selfsustained AF lens like that Canon FD 35-70 from the 70s, but am puzzled nevertheless.

But can someone share some light on that Prakticar lens?

 

[Sewin]

Prakticas were everywhere in the 70's, Dixons, Boots had them everywhere and they still appeared in Argos catalogues well into the 80's.

When I was working in a city in the 70's you could stand for well over an hour to be served at Dixons in the High Street.

Strangely one of the more "select" independant camera shops who sold upmarket Nikons, Canons etc wouldn't stock Prakticas but stocked Zenits which sold out as fast as they came in.

I remember spending many a dinner hour aka lunch time ogling at cameras I couldn't afford which I'd read about in Amateur Photographer.

How times have changed.