Will somebody please talk me out of a Praktica/Praktina?

batterytypehah,

The early WLF Prakticas were sold in the US under a variety of brand names, by several unconnected distributors. Widen your search and you might come across ones that others overlooked.

To my mind they are honest cameras and relatively easy to fix, and they were designed to be as such; as well as Praktica screw mount lenses, anything can fit them: the FX-2 and later ones have a disengageable diaphragm actuator, so you can fit even the earliest lenses to them, and of course those which are even earlier have no problem unless the lens cannot be used in manual diaphragm mode: say if you have an earlier Meyer/Pentacon Oreston, you need to remember to push its stop-down button before releasing the shutter, or the iris would stay open regardless of the aperture set.

The Praktina is a different beast altogether, they were favoured by many professionals due to the features which were very advanced for the time. To provide the features, mechanical complexity was needed, and that also means they are tougher to fix.
 
Thanks for the tips.

This particular GAS attack pretty much passed by now but I can't help noticing that we may have had an effect on some ebay auctions. The most recent two bodies with good lenses--one Primoplan 58/1.9, one Biotar 58/2--went for $150 and $113 (for a moldy garage find!! Is the Biotar more collectible in black?).

I'm still going to keep an eye out for a nice Praktica but after reading up about the Praktina mount (very long register i.e. not very many lenses can be adapted) I must say they're not for me.
 
batterytypehah! said:
Thanks for the tips.

This particular GAS attack pretty much passed by now but I can't help noticing that we may have had an effect on some ebay auctions. The most recent two bodies with good lenses--one Primoplan 58/1.9, one Biotar 58/2--went for $150 and $113 (for a moldy garage find!! Is the Biotar more collectible in black?).

I'm still going to keep an eye out for a nice Praktica but after reading up about the Praktina mount (very long register i.e. not very many lenses can be adapted) I must say they're not for me.
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The advent of DSLR certainly made screw mount lenses desirable, I do believe the buyers of those two Prakticas were after the lenses and the cameras hit the bin as soon as the packages were unwrapped!

While the M42X1 thread mount was designed by Zeiss-Ikon before the war, its use in the Winzenberg-designed Contax S of 1948/49 established the mount-to-film distance. Not that it is long, but it is early, and subsequent cameras by other makers deliberately made their mounts bigger and shorter so that they could offer adapters to tap into the vast number of screw mount lenses available. Nowadays the situation is somewhat similar, but it was the reason why screw mount lenses became expensive. It was about 15 years ago that I bought four 50/1.8 Pancolars at a camera show at $5 a piece, nowadays they're worth a lot more!
 
I think you mean the PraktiCa mount. I was referring to the PraktiNa. Not only is it a proprietary bayonet (actually a breech lock), but it also has a flange distance of 50mm. This means you can use Praktina lenses with lots of other systems, provided you find the proper adapter, but not the other way around. All major SLR lenses for 35mm--except Tamron which are designed to be adaptable--need to be closer to the film for infinity focus.
 
I am familiar with the Praktina as well, and the inherent incompatibility between the two main models, FX and IIA; I thought you were still talking about the Praktica. Nevertheless collectors interest still keeps Praktina prices quite buoyant, and there must be a fair few who're prepared to modify any lens to fit their DSLRs at any cost too.
 
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