practeca 35m camera East German I think

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Does anyone know anything about practeca 35m camera (spelling probably incorrect)? Reliability Quality pros and cons ? thankyou

-- rory panton (rip3@apexmail.com), December 07, 1998

Answers

I used to own a Practica, about 20 years ago. It was unreliable, and the brand had a reputation for unreliability. I replaced it with a second-hand Nikon F, which is still going strong.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), December 08, 1998.

My first SLR was a Praktica Super TL1000. It's one of their models that took M42 screw mount lenses. I kmow that they did have a deluxe model or two were bayonet mount.

Short Review

Pro:
Cheap
Abundance of cheap used M42 lenses available
Cheap ;)
DOF preview
Cheap ;)
TTL metering
Cheap ;)
Fully mechanical shutter (works without batteries)

Cons:
Screw mount lenses (pain in the neck to change).
Stop-down metering
Dark viewfinder (50 2.8 is darker than my N6006 with 35-80 4-5.6 at long end)
Mercury battery
Un-reliable (meter went out on mine in less than two months)

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions. --Jeff

-- Geoffrey S. Kane (grendel@pgh.nauticom.net), December 08, 1998.


Practica 35mm SLR was made in former East Germany, it used Carl Zeiss Jena lenses, which were quite good. Now Practica in Germany makes compact cameras.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 30, 1998.

I have a Praktica B100, which is a bayonet-mount Praktica. I bought it in 1986, and it still works well, so I don't think they are so unreliable. The Praktica BX20S is still produced by Pentacon in Germany; it is a manual-focus SLR with aperture priority. Check at: http://www.pentacon-dresden.de

-- Alfredo Todini (mc0736@mclink.it), November 17, 1999.

I have a Praktica BX20s and until now i had excellent pictures.unfortunately I would say on my last vacation I had a shutter problem, so I would also say it's unreliable.I lost 5 films in a trip to Kenya .Damn it...

-- Juan Yamulki (yamulki@hotmail.com), January 21, 2001.


Hi,

I've got two Praktica SLR cameras. I'd like to address the issue that people have raised over reliability and quality. I have been using a Nova L for over ten years with no problems. I also have a BCA that I bought just after the wall came down. For many years this was my workhorse (I currently use an EOS system). A quick glance at the shelving unit behind me and some mental calculation leads me to believe that I have shot around 500 rolls of film through this camera. The only maintenance required in that time was to change the batteries once (4x SR44). I still use it on occasion due to it's lenses e.g. f2.8 135mm Carl Zeiss and f1.8 50mm Carl Zeiss. I also have a Carl Zeiss f3.5 135mm in M42 mount for the Nova. Even the standard Pentacon lens designs are really Carl Zeiss Jena designs. In short I feel that this is a much maligned camera system (the B series) that has inexpensive, but very high quality (Carl Zeiss) lenses. But then again, that keeps the prices down for me to snatch up all the goodies!

Julian.

-- Julian (ju1es1@netscape.net), February 06, 2001.


Myself after seeing a Praktica L being used weekly for over 30 years I realized that they are tough cameras I now own 5 of them. never had a lick of trouble with them.

-- Greg Pringle (Prakticaboy@hotmail.com), March 11, 2001.

I had 3 cameras. Praktica BX20s, Nikon F2 and Cannon EOS system. As my 15 year experiences, the new model camera is more useful and convenience. But when I take the BX20s is feel more challenge to take nice photo. Damm to said that the photo quality is not much different. But the way to take and adjust is more difficult. Anyway that is very good to try and learn more for BX20S. Yeah! different time of producing, that the new camera can't beath...."Very good lens as I see" Tony

-- Tony (tonysiam007@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.

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