Prakticas

[dadsm3]

A freind has a pristine version from the early eighties, with 35mm and 50mm fast primes, plus a 70-200 zoom and a flash.
They seem to be going for nothing on epay........
Are they worth loading and playing with?
-Mike

 

[xayraa33]

I like them.
my first good camera was a Praktica with a Tessar lens.

the 1970s L series are rough but rugged cameras, these have never let me down, something I cannot say about cameras that cost in their thousands that I used.
some would say it is all a matter of luck.

the optics for these cameras are very good, esp. the CZJ glass and the Hugo Meyer optics.

 

[VictorM.]

The "L" that I had was very reliable- the earlier "Nova B" was very unreliable. The Tessar 50/2.8 that came with the "L" was very sharp.

 

[pschauss]

I have three Prakticas. My first was an LTL which was dead on arrival with a jammed shutter. The other two, an MTL3 and a PLC3 have been very reliable. One feature that I praticularly appreciate is the accuracy of the meters on the MTL3 and PLC3. On my Zenit TTL and Fujica ST605, the meter tends to underexpose at higher f stops because of light coming through the eye piece. My Prakticas do not have this problem.

If you can find electric lenses for it, the open appeture metering on the PLC3 is very convenient.

 

[hans voralberg]

Is there a camera not worth playing with ? Get them !!

 

[MartinP]

My first SLR was an MTL3, bought new about thirty years ago. I sold it five years later when I bought a Contax 139 (which I still use as my 35mm SLR). The Praktica was completely reliable and the lenses seemed good at the time, but the battery for the meter was one of those mercury ones which are no longer available.

 

[Uwe_Nds]

MTL works with alkaline batteries

MTL works with alkaline batteries

My first SLR was an MTL3, bought new about thirty years ago. I sold it five years later when I bought a Contax 139 (which I still use as my 35mm SLR). The Praktica was completely reliable and the lenses seemed good at the time, but the battery for the meter was one of those mercury ones which are no longer available.

According to this and my own experience, the MTLs work fine with the current alkaline batteries.

Best regards,
Uwe

 

[tripod]

If you can get it for a low price, it's worth it.
The lenses are better than the bodies, which suffer from reliability issues, regardless of the anecdotal praise given so far.

 

[santino]

If you can get it for a low price, it's worth it.
The lenses are better than the bodies, which suffer from reliability issues, regardless of the anecdotal praise given so far.

well, I'd disagree. The MTL 3 series are the most reliable cameras I've ever used (the shutter has to be cocked slowly). I've used my Praktica bodys at nearly all conditions and no failures at all. I don't think there is any Nikon, Canon or what ever SLR far more reliable than the 80s Prakticas plus it's low price. PS: The 1.8 50mm Pancolar is a superb lens.

put any camera down, but leave the Prakticas alone 😀 😉

 

[shadowfox]

I have two Prakticas, an FX-something, and an LTL, the FX is actually pretty cool. Besides that one accident of the back popping-off in mid-roll, it's giving me good pictures so far.

But the lenses.. ahh, the lenses, M42 CZJ are the 6-letters/numbers you need to remember when going for good optics.

The Biotar that came with the FX is probably my favorite lens of all time. The LTL, that thing jammed the first time I tried to fire it, I just harvest the Flektogon that came with it 🙂