Hi Roger, Your enthusiasm for film cameras, high-end, and low-end is a good thing. Too many YT channels concentrate on high-end Leicas and Nikons. I still remember drooling over Prackticas and Zenits through shop windows in the early 70's. My camera at the time was a Kodak 126 instamatic!
This was my first camera, given to me by my boss/mentor in 1981. It was, along with Zenit the budget camera of the time, and no professional that I knew used this system. The wedding photographers I knew tended to use medium format 6 x 6 cameras. Not many non-pros owned an SLR, so just by having my Praktica Super TL gave me some kind of status and I would get asked to do friends social functions. It became a paying hobby and after a few jobs I bought my self a Minolta X-700 kit. 25 years later I eventually became a full time photographer. But it all started with my Praktica Super TL.
I just flipped through eBay saw a super TL body only for £5 reduced to £2.50 lol had to buy I suppose I will have to strip and service it But after watching you it had to be part of my collection again 😂👍👍thanks lol
Hi Roger, all Prakticas (ever since they employed TTL-light-metering) do have voltage correction circuits built in. So does your Super TL! Thus, you can use modern 1,5V batteries having the camera correctly light metering! You can use a VARTA V625U (expensive but the perfect fitting replacement!) or adapt an LR44 cell with a rubber band around (cheap and my solution). As said ... that luckily applies for every Praktica ever made they do not have any battery-replacement all of them accept replacement batteries with higher voltages wothout damage or wrong metering. The Prakticas are widely underestimated as far as their production quality and their outstanding long term reliability is concerned! I can recommend them very much. If a camera simply works without a problem (even without servicing for years), it could be a Praktica! VALUE FOR LITTLE MONEY .... that hits the nail! Enyoy it! Regards Klaus Rickert
Back in 1969 was stationed in Germany and this was my second camera I bought there with a 50 and 135mm lenses after two years of my hobby. First camera was an Exacta and that was more awkward to hold. It was like holding to bits of cheddar cheeses on the narrow ends! Brought back nice memories. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Roger, I owned a Minolta 303 and later a Canon A1. Unfortunatelly the Canon had been stolen and I returned to a Minolta Xi Series, which was a mess due to battery hunger. Then moved to NIKON and starting in 2010 to collect Praktica cameras. I learned to love those great, easy to use and robust cameras. Today I own about 15 Prakticas, all working.
I own only 4 Prakticas (LB, LB2, 2x MTL 5B) but I got a whole bunch of Pentacon, Meyer-Optik Görlitz and Carl Zeiss Jena lenses for them. In combination they are astonishing and giving a feel of being professional. Already got some great shots but now I more often use my Pentacon six with Carl Zeiss Jena lenses, which feels like the mother to the Praktica cameras. I recommend you to try a Pentacon six if you haven't already.
I bought a job lot of cameras and lenses, this camera along with helios 50s . The items came from a punter whos father who was a scene of crimes photographer back in the 70s .
Praktica cameras were made in Dresden in what was before " the Wall" came down East Germany by Pentacon. They were almost certainly used by East German press photographers! Back in the early 70's as an amateur photographer I was the proud owner of a Praktica LTL. It was a beast. very heavy but with a superb 50mm f2 lens. I eventually traded it part exchange for a Pentax MX which was smaller lighter and didn't stop down to meter. A friend of my father's was a stills photographer for Tyne-Tees television (the local ITV franchise). He was " Old School". He used a Mamyia C330 (might have been a C220) with two lenses, wide angle and portrait, and a Weston Master V meter.
Hi Roger I started taking pics in 1968 as a young boy. I used a Canon Model 7 Rangefinder which I still use today. I have an original Canon F1 , a Canon 1V a Zenit E and a Minolta Dynax 4 SLR’S. I just prefer Rangefinders so the 7 is the one I use the most. The build quality of the 7 is excellent mostly stainless steel and for such a small camera it is very heavy. They knew how to make them then 😂😂😂
@ mine was originally was my fathers. However he lost interest in photography, so I ended up with it. To this day I still think this is the best camera they ever made, baring in mind I own an F1 and 1v as well. Ilford FP4 or HP5 the results are unsurpassable. I hope you enjoy years of service have fun with it. Fun fact it as only ever had 1 roll of colour film through it 😂😂
My dad was a commercial photographer from the time he was discharged from the Army at the end of WW2 until he retired in the 1990. He primarily used a 4x5 press camera or a Koni-Omega Rapid. He owned a few 35 mm cameras. His primary 35mm camera was a Nikon.
(68-73) Was a Press Photographer.... used Minolta SRT101 + Rollie TLR Company choice, also used a Pentax Spotmatic ( personal use ) Love your channel... All on Kodak Tri X 400asa Developed in D76.
Hi Roger. My first SLR was a Praktica Nova. Looks very similar to the Super TL, but the Nova didn’t have any metering. I got the camera in about 1970 or 71, when I was 14 or 15. Great camera! I really enjoyed your story about the Super TL. Cheers, David
I owned one of these, having been given it in an almost new condition in 1978 by someone one who bought it, along with a set of fantastic lenses, all in a really nice leather briefcase style carrying case, because they decided to upgrade to another system. Thousands of rolls of film with no jams or other camera related problems, every messed up shot was my fault and would have happened regardless of the camera I was using. I used it when I was the official mayors photographer for my town, and our twinning society. I also sold an image for an album cover. I used this camera and set of lenses for almost twenty years until it was lost during a house moving accident. Three years later I bought a digital camera, and that was directly responsible for my losing a photograph, the one and only time the gear I’ve used has been responsible instead of me, and the shot in question, which was inside the tomb of eagles on Orkney, has been impossible for me to replicate since just seven years after that, when I became severely disabled. A return trip was being planned at the time. That camera awful canon DSLR was long gone, I was back to using film by then, but that tomb which was already hard to get in to, is impossible for me now.
My first good 35 was my dad’s Minolta SRT101. My first 35 that I bought myself was a Fujica ST801 in 1974. I still have it and a good selection of lenses for it.
My first SLR, around 1968, was a secondhand Praktica Nova 1B, that had a Selenium cell match-needle light meter and two concentric shutter speed dials, one for slow and one for fast. The shutter failed, with the second curtain being sticky and sometimes failing to close at all! It's probably still in one of the boxes in my cupboard... I replaced that with a MTL 5, that used the now unobtainable mercury batteries. I also have a 5B that uses a Lithium button cell, but I gave that to my granddaughter, together with a couple of extra lenses. Unfortunately the aperture blades on the 50 mm multicoated lens that I kept stuck together and when I tried to clean them I found they were eaten away. My fault for not using it for a few years. I keep my eyes open for a replacement as the body is still in good condition. Nowadays my main film cameras are Nikon F100 and F80.
Hi Roger I started as a professional film photographer in 1972 the company I worked for provided me with a Nikon F and a Pentax spotmatic , If you had turned up to a shoot with a Praktica you would not be taken seriously. My elder brother had a Praktica he was 16 in 1968 at the time and definitely holiday pictures only Later on I use the wonderful Pentax 6x7 for high end shoots. regards Robert
I was a child in the 1960s. My dad was using a Leica back then. He had posh tastes. I have since inherited it. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic 126. These days I use my smartphone on a daily basis, otherwise, I have a Nikon F2 that I use less frequently.
Lovely photographs Rog. In the late 70s I had an FE and an EM. I read that Praktica had a 20% share of the camera market in the UK in 90s. Quite a a follwing I should say. They do remind me of the old Zeiss folding cameras of the 30s and 40s.
I had an FE a few years ago I showed on the channel. It was for auction, not by me, I wish I had got it though! Thanks Lensman. Interesting to hear a 20% share. I know Praktica were popular in the UK back then. I would have thought more as Dixons were probably involved.
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss Yes, they were. They also had the upmarket Chinons and something called Prinz. In the mid 1970s I was an A Level student in what was then called Salford College Of Technology in Manchester doing double maths & physics. There was a Dixon shop in the old Salford Precinct. I remember that I used to lurk around the shop at lunch times looking at what cheap crap they had. I bought an old Sinclair Black Watch from them for about £15.00 or so (a lot of money back then) , and I also bought a Prinz Auto 110 camera from them. It only lasted about three rolls of film before it gave up the ghost. The Black Watch is a collectors item now and goes for silly prices.
Good Solid shots which gave me some ideas and a welcome boost of motivation. This video shows you dont have to have expensive Leicas etc to get great photographs. Our daughter got into film by buying a cheap Praktica BMS electronic, she shot a few rolls and said she enjoyed the experience and the look of film images. Recently bought her an Olympus OM2N as an upgrade for her birthday. I took it out for a test shoot and thoroughly enjoyed using it. Reminded me of my days with film back in 70's and 80's. Well I only got all nostslgic and tempted to revisit 35mm film once more myself. So i ended up purchasing the full mechanical and manual version of the OM2N. The OM1N. Both cameras beautifully made and just simple photographic tools. Yes the cost of shooting film is not cheap over digital but I plan a roll or 2 every few months. Great video, Squire. You know your film photography for sure. 👍🏽
Great video. I appreciate that you put the camera's in the spotlight that no one else does. I am shooting with a Canon FTb. Fully mechanical is what I like but with a build in light meter. Developed today film. 2 empty frames and the onbe before and after were good. Can't fiigure out what went wrong. Also the way you look for subjects to photograph is inspiring. Autumn leaves rusty lamp posts. Great stuf.
My first camera was a Kodak Brownie instant. I think it cost less than two quid in 1972. My first 'professional' SLR was a Practica MTL5 in 1987. From Argos . It was in a bag kit, with a 50mm & 135 lens kit. £89.99.
First SLR back then was a Praktica MTL3 , after that was a Yashica ut cant remember which one,, the Praktica and lenses is the only one i kept and the camera that got me back into using film again 2 years ago out of curiosity to see if it still worked after all those years in a box, all it needed was new door hinge light seal
I have a MTL 5B which I got in the 80s and still use it now. The screen 's gone a bit dim but it still works fine. I got a 50mm, 135mm and 29mm Carl Zeiss lenses with it. The other year I bought a Flektogon lens and it cost nearly the same price as my camera and lenses from the 80s😂
I used Leica and Nikon F and F2 professionally but at college we learned with Zenith’s and Praktica’s so I have a soft spot for them, and yes underrated, the lenses can be great.
Thanks. Absolutely true. There is a stigma on sharpness and clarity but not so if the photographs mean something to someone, aesthetically pleasing anyway. One I took of the ducks was slightly blurry at 1/60th but one I would happily print and frame. Just cos I liked it for some reason.
My first 35mm SLR as a kid was a Super TL. It had shutter problems at 1/500 (dark edge), but I took a lot of decent-to-good photos on it anyway. I still think that stopdown button up front was one of those most convenient to use.
This model does not have a stop down button. Interestingly a camera also called Super TL exist, but that is from the Praktica L series and as any L series has the stop down lever at the right side of the prism.
I wasn't a Professional, but I did take a lot of pictures with my "junior grade" Nikkormat FTN in the 1960's with 35mm f/2 and 85mm f/1.8 Nikkors. I used Soligor and Vivitar brand longer/zoom lenses, because that was what I could afford as a college student. An about-to-become-famous Frenchman said that cheap lenses cost more in the long run. He had an off brand lens come apart in his hands, which steered him to OEM-only Nikkors. But those are "just tools," great images can be made on the most basic equipment. (I am recall that great World War II images were made by soldiers using the Argus C3.;)
For people who want to get one of these m42 prakticas, the MTL 50 is the one to get as it has an LED light meter, which is quite unique for any M42 mount camera. Not sure what meter cell it used (hopefully SPD/gallium, rather than CDS).
I have a Praktica Super TL. i didn't intend to have one it appeared screwed to a Meyer Optik Oreston lens I bought of Ebay. It was acting as a rear lens cap!! They were poplar amongst serious amateur photographers who didn't want to spend a fortune. The one a have is remarkably clean and the shutter sounds sweet too.
In 1961 I was using a 1939 CONTAX 111 with 50mm f1.5 un coated SONNAR bought in Berlin for £38 when I was in the Army Then for Medium Format I had my 1953 ENSIGN SELFIX mod II 16 on with 75mm f3.5 XPRES lens then got an ASAHI PENTAX S3.part exchanged for Contax for my Press Work
In Western Germany, the Prakticas were the cheapest SLRs money could buy new. They were sold under various brands like Revue or Revueflex (the brand owned by the Quelle mailorder retailer) or Porst (for the Photo Porst camera shop chain owned by Hannsheinz Porst, who turned out to be an agent for the East German Stasi after 1989). My sister had a Porst in the late 1970s. While the cameras were not really well regarded, some of the lenses produced in the GDR were just great and are still great value for the money. I
Those lenses are very good! Except the one I have that came with the camera is broken inside! The apertures are stuck. I took the lens apart and I saw it had a bit of metal missing but wasn't inside so someone else must have got there before I did. Shame.
Yep, started with a Praktica and took many decent shots with it - by my standards, anyway! The only thing was its weight. I eventually moved on to a Pentax Spotmatic. This also had a M42 lens mount so I could still use all my existing lenses. I learned the basics with that old Praktica, which I still have - along with the Pentax - in the attic.
Great video (as usual). When I started photography in the mid seventies (as a hobbyist) many used Praktica cameras. However, my first camera was a Mamyia M42 camera. This seems to be a forgotten brand of M42 cameras/lenses. I wonder why? They were not bad quality as far as I remember. I later moved on to Nikon and have stayed there ever since, though I have purchase also other vintage cameras when they became cheap in the digital age, like Konica, which is another forgotten brand, although they had great cameras and lenses.
I think Pentax, Praktica, Olympus, Minolta, Nikon and Canon were widely recognised then and today - the Mamiya brand not so, for 35mm. Talk MF and Mamiya pops up every time.
I shot professional at that time & I used Topcon Super D's. To me they were better than the Nikon but it never got the the same following. Really an excellent camera & more innovative than the Nikon. I loved it!
I moved from a Practica to the Topcon Super DM, my first unabashedly professional level SLR. The problem with the Topcon was the tiny Exacta mount that would never support a fast wide angle shorter than 28mm, which was becoming popular at the time. I moved on to a Canon F-1 in 1976. I’ve shot Canon ever since.
I remember the B200 fondly. But I have a B100 or something slightly older in a box somewhere, with metal curtains. It has horrendous mirror slap and most slow handheld speeds turn out a bit blurry
After using my mother’s Kodak box camera for a very short time I graduated to a Kodak 110 camera or two until I switched to a more modern point and shoot camera. Now at 68 years of age I have several Nikon 35 mm cameras. I was told some years ago by a very wise man that Nikon makes (made) the best 35mm cameras and I have no reason to disagree with that opinion. How soon we forget about the Nikon F 6 the Rolls Royce of 35mm cameras.
I owned a Practica super TL back in 1970. It was my first slr and it performed well with its standard Jena 2.8/50 mm lens. However, I bought 2 Exaktas RTL because they had metal shutter blades which were more reliable. These were also real system cameras with interchangable viewfinders. But soon after I purchased my first Nikon, a Nikkormat FTN and have been using Nikon cameras ever since because of their superior optics. But the GDR cameras were also good considering their price.
Can't help it, but I have an Edixa Flex A, in M42, and Petri Flex V with Petri mount. Both feel really solid, even if, the internet is right, they've had issues. Both I've managed to get serviced, even if way more than the value of them. Something about keeping an old camera alive. Thanks Roger, as usual, a great video
Well don't for servicing them. I'm guilty of not entertaining a write off and getting another the same. I usually give the broken ones away to someone who can fix them. I can't!
@ShootFilmLikeaBoss I've mostly only got them done Roger, because they were camera's my dad owned at some point. Not THE cameras he owned, but somehow special to me, so.... serviced 🙂 Even sending them off to have them done by specialists is cheaper than having yer car serviced I think. Only trouble for me... is I have a "few" lol
east germany had some of the best german photographers around. gdr and the soviets had the zorki cams and great lenses, that praktica was the masses cam model. there were the highclass models too. namely the pentacon six or contax and zeiss lenses.
At the end of the day, most cameras of that era comprised a box with a standardized set of shutter speeds which had to be chosen manually and a lens mount, and at the deepest level I suspect there is very little to choose between them apart from some wrinkles in the metering - e.g. Pentax did not have open-lens metering until the aperture-priority electro-Spotmatics arrived in 1971 and the more plain-Jane Spotmatic F in 1973, just two years before Pentax dumped the M42 system for the K mount. The larger manufacturers might have a broad system of add-ons (flashes, high-capacity film backs with or without motor drives, intervalometers, macro bellows, etc.), but when it comes down to just one guy (or sometimes gal) with a camera and a 50mm prime lens around their neck, the race does not so unequivocally go to the big boys.
Hi, I'm an East German born guy and of course Praktica was top notch back in the day behind the Iron Curtain. Today I'd rather choose a Spotmatic which feels way more pleasing that these bricks.
Frame counter doesn't work on either of my Prakticas but thé cover on thé window is there. Thé counter works on both Cosinas but thé window covers are both missing!
Prakticas are nice cameras. I had few, inherited from my dad and granddad. VLC was cool, with exchangable viewfinder. Bayonet (B series) was pretty modern and accurate, even if limited compared to western equivalents. M42 Prakticas and Zenits are my favourite M42 cameras. Even Pentaxes, despite being mechanically better, were not "as cool". But then, with my family being part of THE PARTY! made top quality goods, like double checked cameras more freely available. All my Zenits and Prakticas are working like charm till this day despite heavy use. Normal cameras were not that good and you needed to be lucky to get something that was reliable.
That Art Deco hotel near the start is amazing man! Surprised it hasn’t been snapped up by some millionaire, like the one on Burgh Island. I apprenticed at my local newspaper in 1980 and it was Nikon. 👍📸
…oh yeah, and as you also mentioned, my 500th sec camera was laughed at by the paper’s ‘snappers’ as they were derogatorily called by the journalists. I remember being given a roll of film to shoot on my Zenit for a cycling road race. I got one acceptable shot when the riders were lined up at the start line!🙄🤣
I bet they were nice and cheap back then, but I don't really go for those with mechanical shutters AND/OR PX625 batteries, I noticed the problem with ie. the Fujica ST801 which is also dirt cheap today, but the curtain shutters are likely to be out of sync which shows on the faster times like 1/250 and 1/500. In the end I went for the Chinon CE-3 which has a electronic shutter and LR44 batteries. Lovely M42 camera and the (last?) M42 of the chinon series.
Roger probably doesn't know that this camera has a shutter release lock. The letter L-ock. Then we won't take a photo by accident. And I think the trigger itself, i.e. its location, is brilliant. And I don't know why other manufacturers don't do it. Definitely more comfortable and handy. only in Miranda cameras there is also a trigger at the bottom, but not at an angle like Praktica.
another great video! I've never been attracted to this brand before, I'll have to give it a try! Not very good for my Gear Acquisition Syndrome! At least it's not very expensive, until when, given the soaring prices.
Not sure about anything like a Praktica Super TL😮 Our family camera during the 1970s was a trusty old kodak instamatic. Sunny or cloudy was the only setting to adjust on it!😳😲 I still have all the old B/W photos tgat were taken on it of family holidays and day trips out to places like Alton Towers when it was just a gift shop, gardens and donkey rides.😁
Back in those days I mainly had Prakticas because they were affordable. I did eventually step up to a Petax Spotmatic which of course used the same lens mount as the 3 or 4 lenses I'd acquired. I have to say the Pentax was far superior in quality and ease of use but obviously quite pricey compared to the Prakticas. I evolved ultimately into a Canon enthusiast which has lasted to this day in both digital & analogue form. PS I still own a Spotmatic.
haha, I love my Soligor TM (although with new viewfinder its now going by Miranda). Its just a nice, hefty, well built camera that takes m42 lenses and does everything I want it to and nothing more. Good meter, and honestly my favorite viewfinder out of the SLR's I own. My only concern is that out of the Miranda's available it seems a bit harder to get. I had to buy the only condenser screen I could find online to get it working so parts may be an issue some day.. but until then I'm enjoying it. I was actually choosing between it and a Praktica, and honestly feel that either would have been a great choice.
The narrative drastically changes if you consider eastern block countries. These might have been the cheapest slr's money could buy in the west but behind the iron curtain you would have been really lucky to have one. It is somewhat up to the western standards of quality which REALLY couldnt have been said for MOST of cameras here which mostly were rangefinders based on leica designs (good but arhaic) and small plastic scale focus cameras with manual exposure and no lightmeter. So most people working for the local press would be using something like this or a zenit (which is arguably worse if you ask me). The most top level photographers in the eastern block used medium format soviet cameras which were copies of mamiyas and such
The very early Praktica cameras, made right after WWII, were professional cameras. At that time, SLR cameras were rare. Although a surprisingly nice camera, the Praktica Super TL was definitely a more low end amateur camera. Of course, any camera can be professional if you get paid for your photos!
Practikas have rather simple lightmeters which are NOT dependant on voltage, which means you can use a 1.5v battery and it will give you correct exposure, and it will give you the right exposure even as it is running out of charge. I think the issue is actually at the battery contacts corroding
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss No worries! Just take a look for oxidation around the battery terminals, and maybe go at them with sandpaper. And also if 1.5v battery is a bit too small for the battery compartment, you can stuff some aluminium foil so that it isn't loose, but it would still conduct electricity
Very much an anecdote. My dad had multiple Prakticas back in the day. And the ones he got, all of them tended to fail. He then just switched over to Canon. I wonder if there is a confirmation bias around these cameras. You know the ones that were already poorly built or suffered from bad quality control, already failed in the 80's and 90's. Whereas the ones that were properly built and had properly quality control are reliable and live on to this day without major issues? Resulting in two groups. Group 1: "Praktica's are bad and always fail". Group 2: "Ah yes, old reliable over here never ever failed on me!" It is one of those cameras people either seem hate or love in my experience!
Interesting. I've owned both Prakticas and Zeniths as well as Pentax in 35mm. The Zeniths were terrible. The prakticas, solid and reliable, but with a fair amount of mirror slap. My Pentax Spotmatic F felt very refined in comparison, though it didn't improve my photography one bit! I found I prefer medium format to 35mm in the end.
The Praktica was about the cheapest SLR at the time and notorious for its unreliability. A monday-morning-specimen would give you trouble for years to come. So it was absolutely not a workhorse. But like its brother the Zenith it was an excellent projectile in street fights. For a short time after the Berlin wall came down, quality control became a bit better. But Praktica completely disappeared in the early 2000ths.
you write nonsense. I have this model in perfect condition. it's made fantastically. I mean all these polishes. Engraving and the whole thing is completely metal. These models have a bridge circuit type light meter. battery voltage does not affect the reading itself, as is the case in Japanese cameras. brilliant solution. As for quality, this model was much better made than those with metal blinds. according to the Pentacon employees themselves in my country where the factory was located near the capital. This Praktica was simply indestructible
I have had a number of Prakticas' never had a single problem with any of them. If only I could say the same for the numerous Rolleiflexs' and Pentax 67 although I had only one example of a Pentax 67 and it only broke down once. The Rolleiflexs were always being repaired, even my SL66 needed repair and needs repair now. As for professional wedding photographers in the 1960's Twin lens Rollei or Hasselblad, as time went on Hasselblad and Bronica. Amongst the large number of Prakticas' I own I have a Super TL, Nova, LLC and BX20, all work and have never failed. Wish I could say the same for the Rolleiflex SL35. SL350, and SL35E's I own. I also used to have a SL35ME which must be the most unreliable camera of all time. As for lenses, the Zeiss Jena lenses were more than a match for Zeiss West Germany in optical quality, not as well finished but optically beautiful. Prakticas' were sold at a loss for hard currency. Sold cheap and under appreciated as a result. The Super TL was a wonderful camera for the time. Look at the competition of the time. The L series really did not keep up except the LLC and VLC cameras, the latter of which was had an interesting design The L series was definitely pitched at the entry level sector. Apparently very easy to work on. The reason for the shutter button on the front and at an angle is that reduces camera shake. 135mm lens, traditionally we would have said need to shoot at 125th second.
My recollection is that in the West Praktica was known for being low cost and decent bang for the buck, and with Zeiss-Ikon behind them, I think the glass was actually pretty good optically. In the east bloc, however, I think it was probably among the better stuff available. Where NASA took custom Hasselblads to the moon, the Russians took the Praktica EE2 to their early space station. My Praktica EE2 is still in perfect working order.
I don't think that Prakticas were used professionally anywhere outside the Eastern Bloc (but even in the GDR many pros might've used Nikon, Canon, Minolta etc.). My own experience with Prakticas (from different periods) is rather bad, and they don't play nicely with long focal lengths (finder blockage due to a rather tiny mirror). They are useable and not that bad - if one can get a fully working one (I think I finally found one, an MTL 5, not the "b" version, so it needs an exotic battery). Edit: Regarding shutter button position - just use the middle finger and put the index finger on the shutter speed dial. Well, granted, doesn't work that great with this old model, but works fine with newer models that have the exposure meter lever at the shutter button.
I never understood this "nostalgic" need to shoot in black & white though. I want to see the world in all its colour. I would charge that Super TL with a colour slide film.
Was it (the Praktica) used professionally? Well, the secret police of East Germany used them to "document" the lifes of suspicious people. And there were a few East German photographers using Praktica cameras, but of course the more professional ones tried to obtain a Pentacon six. Reporters and journalists in East Germany and Soviet Union might also used them for their work, but in Soviet Union I guess the Zorki, Zenit etc. were also pretty common amongst them.
I think I will get much better results with a Praktica than 50 years ago . The results I made at that time I call now junk . The colorfilms at that time were not good at all . The very few black and white films I made with the Praktica were some what okay . 7 years later I bought my first Mamiya in 1981 .
In the 60's, in former Yugoslavia, it wasn't a shame to shoot with anything, Practicas included, as long as your pictures where good. Humble times. Contrary to countries behind the iron curtain, we had access to everything, but usually western technology, especially new crap, was a bit too expensive for the average Joe. That was so until late 70's or early 80's when we got a bit more wealthier, and / or had access to used equipment from the west. At the same time brand loyalty was spotted. Humans behaving like humans...
No, No, NO..! Definitely NOT a professional tool in ANY sense of the word. Any pro photographer would never have dreamt of using any Praktica for paid work. Ok, the lenses were possibly up to a standard for the time but in no way equal to offerings from Nikon, Canon, Pentax or Minolta; the mechanics of the bodies let them down too often as well.
They didn't use them professionally because they were too cheap. And they were not system cameras. We usually see more expensive as better. Not always true, though.
Hi Roger, Your enthusiasm for film cameras, high-end, and low-end is a good thing. Too many YT channels concentrate on high-end Leicas and Nikons. I still remember drooling over Prackticas and Zenits through shop windows in the early 70's. My camera at the time was a Kodak 126 instamatic!
This was my first camera, given to me by my boss/mentor in 1981. It was, along with Zenit the budget camera of the time, and no professional that I knew used this system. The wedding photographers I knew tended to use medium format 6 x 6 cameras.
Not many non-pros owned an SLR, so just by having my Praktica Super TL gave me some kind of status and I would get asked to do friends social functions. It became a paying hobby and after a few jobs I bought my self a Minolta X-700 kit.
25 years later I eventually became a full time photographer. But it all started with my Praktica Super TL.
I just flipped through eBay saw a super TL body only for £5 reduced to £2.50 lol had to buy I suppose I will have to strip and service it
But after watching you it had to be part of my collection again 😂👍👍thanks lol
Hi Roger,
all Prakticas (ever since they employed TTL-light-metering) do have voltage correction circuits built in. So does your Super TL! Thus, you can use modern 1,5V batteries having the camera correctly light metering! You can use a VARTA V625U (expensive but the perfect fitting replacement!) or adapt an LR44 cell with a rubber band around (cheap and my solution).
As said ... that luckily applies for every Praktica ever made they do not have any battery-replacement all of them accept replacement batteries with higher voltages wothout damage or wrong metering.
The Prakticas are widely underestimated as far as their production quality and their outstanding long term reliability is concerned! I can recommend them very much. If a camera simply works
without a problem (even without servicing for years), it could be a Praktica! VALUE FOR LITTLE MONEY .... that hits the nail! Enyoy it!
Regards
Klaus Rickert
Back in 1969 was stationed in Germany and this was my second camera I bought there with a 50 and 135mm lenses after two years of my hobby. First camera was an Exacta and that was more awkward to hold. It was like holding to bits of cheddar cheeses on the narrow ends! Brought back nice memories. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Roger, I owned a Minolta 303 and later a Canon A1. Unfortunatelly the Canon had been stolen and I returned to a Minolta Xi Series, which was a mess due to battery hunger. Then moved to NIKON and starting in 2010 to collect Praktica cameras. I learned to love those great, easy to use and robust cameras. Today I own about 15 Prakticas, all working.
I own only 4 Prakticas (LB, LB2, 2x MTL 5B) but I got a whole bunch of Pentacon, Meyer-Optik Görlitz and Carl Zeiss Jena lenses for them. In combination they are astonishing and giving a feel of being professional. Already got some great shots but now I more often use my Pentacon six with Carl Zeiss Jena lenses, which feels like the mother to the Praktica cameras. I recommend you to try a Pentacon six if you haven't already.
I bought a job lot of cameras and lenses, this camera along with helios 50s .
The items came from a punter whos father who was a scene of crimes photographer back in the 70s .
Praktica cameras were made in Dresden in what was before " the Wall" came down East Germany by Pentacon. They were almost certainly used by East German press photographers!
Back in the early 70's as an amateur photographer I was the proud owner of a Praktica LTL. It was a beast. very heavy but with a superb 50mm f2 lens. I eventually traded it part exchange for a Pentax MX which was smaller lighter and didn't stop down to meter.
A friend of my father's was a stills photographer for Tyne-Tees television (the local ITV franchise). He was " Old School". He used a Mamyia C330 (might have been a C220) with two lenses, wide angle and portrait, and a Weston Master V meter.
Hi Roger I started taking pics in 1968 as a young boy. I used a Canon Model 7 Rangefinder which I still use today. I have an original Canon F1 , a Canon 1V a Zenit E and a Minolta Dynax 4 SLR’S. I just prefer Rangefinders so the 7 is the one I use the most. The build quality of the 7 is excellent mostly stainless steel and for such a small camera it is very heavy. They knew how to make them then 😂😂😂
I just bought a Canon 7 recently! Absolutely amazing rangefinder it feels like nothing else that Canon has
@ mine was originally was my fathers. However he lost interest in photography, so I ended up with it. To this day I still think this is the best camera they ever made, baring in mind I own an F1 and 1v as well. Ilford FP4 or HP5 the results are unsurpassable. I hope you enjoy years of service have fun with it. Fun fact it as only ever had 1 roll of colour film through it 😂😂
I have 3 Praktica's, fantastic cameras, never had a single problem with them, and just the placement of the shutter button makes it worth the money ;)
good to hear! Cheers.
My grandfather loved them. I supply lots of cameras to newbie film photographers and this is such a good starter ...
and some cracking lenses !
My dad was a commercial photographer from the time he was discharged from the Army at the end of WW2 until he retired in the 1990. He primarily used a 4x5 press camera or a Koni-Omega Rapid. He owned a few 35 mm cameras. His primary 35mm camera was a Nikon.
(68-73) Was a Press Photographer.... used Minolta SRT101 + Rollie TLR Company choice, also used a Pentax Spotmatic ( personal use ) Love your channel... All on Kodak Tri X 400asa Developed in D76.
Ahh so the agency had the choice. Interesting. I imagine tri-x was the go to film back then! And D76 being the most popular developer.
Hi Roger. My first SLR was a Praktica Nova. Looks very similar to the Super TL, but the Nova didn’t have any metering. I got the camera in about 1970 or 71, when I was 14 or 15. Great camera!
I really enjoyed your story about the Super TL.
Cheers, David
I owned one of these, having been given it in an almost new condition in 1978 by someone one who bought it, along with a set of fantastic lenses, all in a really nice leather briefcase style carrying case, because they decided to upgrade to another system.
Thousands of rolls of film with no jams or other camera related problems, every messed up shot was my fault and would have happened regardless of the camera I was using.
I used it when I was the official mayors photographer for my town, and our twinning society. I also sold an image for an album cover.
I used this camera and set of lenses for almost twenty years until it was lost during a house moving accident.
Three years later I bought a digital camera, and that was directly responsible for my losing a photograph, the one and only time the gear I’ve used has been responsible instead of me, and the shot in question, which was inside the tomb of eagles on Orkney, has been impossible for me to replicate since just seven years after that, when I became severely disabled.
A return trip was being planned at the time. That camera awful canon DSLR was long gone, I was back to using film by then, but that tomb which was already hard to get in to, is impossible for me now.
That was my first SLR back in 1970 when I was in high school was a Practika Super TL. I’ve still got it. Everything seems to still work.
Awesome Kirk!
I have a Super TL and still use in in rotation with other Old Timers. Another most enjoyable video here.
Awesome Terry. Cheers.
My first good 35 was my dad’s Minolta SRT101. My first 35 that I bought myself was a Fujica ST801 in 1974. I still have it and a good selection of lenses for it.
Both very good cameras. 👏
My first SLR, around 1968, was a secondhand Praktica Nova 1B, that had a Selenium cell match-needle light meter and two concentric shutter speed dials, one for slow and one for fast. The shutter failed, with the second curtain being sticky and sometimes failing to close at all! It's probably still in one of the boxes in my cupboard...
I replaced that with a MTL 5, that used the now unobtainable mercury batteries. I also have a 5B that uses a Lithium button cell, but I gave that to my granddaughter, together with a couple of extra lenses. Unfortunately the aperture blades on the 50 mm multicoated lens that I kept stuck together and when I tried to clean them I found they were eaten away. My fault for not using it for a few years. I keep my eyes open for a replacement as the body is still in good condition.
Nowadays my main film cameras are Nikon F100 and F80.
SO Love that the Intro is back!! Cracking video m8 🙂
Cheers mate.
LOVE that 28mm portrait. Brave to use it so close but it looks amazing!
The pictures look incredible. The portraits were my favorite. I might have to look for one of these! Great video.
Thanks. Emma is good to photograph. She owe a coffee shop. I often walk by if I am shooting some street and get a photo of her. EDIT: - OWNS..
This was my first 35 mm SLR, marketed in the USA as the Cavalier Super TL. 50 mm Meyer Optik lens. Still have it and it still works.
Hi Roger
I started as a professional film photographer in 1972 the company I worked for provided me with a Nikon F and a Pentax spotmatic , If you had turned up to a shoot with a Praktica you would not be taken seriously. My elder brother had a Praktica he was 16 in 1968 at the time and definitely holiday pictures only
Later on I use the wonderful Pentax 6x7 for high end shoots.
regards
Robert
I was a child in the 1960s. My dad was using a Leica back then. He had posh tastes. I have since inherited it. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic 126. These days I use my smartphone on a daily basis, otherwise, I have a Nikon F2 that I use less frequently.
Nice that the Leica was handed down! Cherish it
Lovely photographs Rog. In the late 70s I had an FE and an EM. I read that Praktica had a 20% share of the camera market in the UK in 90s. Quite a a follwing I should say. They do remind me of the old Zeiss folding cameras of the 30s and 40s.
I had an FE a few years ago I showed on the channel. It was for auction, not by me, I wish I had got it though! Thanks Lensman. Interesting to hear a 20% share. I know Praktica were popular in the UK back then. I would have thought more as Dixons were probably involved.
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss Yes, they were. They also had the upmarket Chinons and something called Prinz. In the mid 1970s I was an A Level student in what was then called Salford College Of Technology in Manchester doing double maths & physics. There was a Dixon shop in the old Salford Precinct. I remember that I used to lurk around the shop at lunch times looking at what cheap crap they had. I bought an old Sinclair Black Watch from them for about £15.00 or so (a lot of money back then) , and I also bought a Prinz Auto 110 camera from them. It only lasted about three rolls of film before it gave up the ghost. The Black Watch is a collectors item now and goes for silly prices.
Good Solid shots which gave me some ideas and a welcome boost of motivation. This video shows you dont have to have expensive Leicas etc to get great photographs. Our daughter got into film by buying a cheap Praktica BMS electronic, she shot a few rolls and said she enjoyed the experience and the look of film images. Recently bought her an Olympus OM2N as an upgrade for her birthday. I took it out for a test shoot and thoroughly enjoyed using it. Reminded me of my days with film back in 70's and 80's. Well I only got all nostslgic and tempted to revisit 35mm film once more myself. So i ended up purchasing the full mechanical and manual version of the OM2N. The OM1N. Both cameras beautifully made and just simple photographic tools. Yes the cost of shooting film is not cheap over digital but I plan a roll or 2 every few months. Great video, Squire. You know your film photography for sure. 👍🏽
The OM system is awesome. I have the OM20 and a few lenses. I bet she loved the gift!
@ShootFilmLikeaBoss .. she was blown away! 🥰
Great video. I appreciate that you put the camera's in the spotlight that no one else does. I am shooting with a Canon FTb. Fully mechanical is what I like but with a build in light meter. Developed today film. 2 empty frames and the onbe before and after were good. Can't fiigure out what went wrong. Also the way you look for subjects to photograph is inspiring. Autumn leaves rusty lamp posts. Great stuf.
My first camera was a Kodak Brownie instant. I think it cost less than two quid in 1972.
My first 'professional' SLR was a Practica MTL5 in 1987. From Argos . It was in a bag kit,
with a 50mm & 135 lens kit. £89.99.
Back in the 80s Argos and Dixons were selling Prakticas by the thousands. Popular cameras back then I remember.
I have one I have not used yet. It was given to me. These photos youtook are nice. Long live film.
First SLR back then was a Praktica MTL3 , after that was a Yashica ut cant remember which one,, the Praktica and lenses is the only one i kept and the camera that got me back into using film again 2 years ago out of curiosity to see if it still worked after all those years in a box, all it needed was new door hinge light seal
I have a MTL 5B which I got in the 80s and still use it now. The screen 's gone a bit dim but it still works fine. I got a 50mm, 135mm and 29mm Carl Zeiss lenses with it. The other year I bought a Flektogon lens and it cost nearly the same price as my camera and lenses from the 80s😂
Except the Flektogon I guess the other 3 lenses you haver are not CZ. (The 29 mm for sure not.)
And the Flektogon lenses are not bad price either
I used Leica and Nikon F and F2 professionally but at college we learned with Zenith’s and Praktica’s so I have a soft spot for them, and yes underrated, the lenses can be great.
Just the tonic I needed to pick up one of my film cameras and go for a walk thanks Boss!
Have fun Steve. You're off the standard logo and onto the black logo! lol Thanks.
Beautiful photography, just goes to show it's the photographer that really matters and not so much the gear
Thanks. Absolutely true. There is a stigma on sharpness and clarity but not so if the photographs mean something to someone, aesthetically pleasing anyway. One I took of the ducks was slightly blurry at 1/60th but one I would happily print and frame. Just cos I liked it for some reason.
If this old camera could talk ,what tales it might tell.Lovely presentation👍
Many thanks. Can you imagine. Starting off when it was first put on a shelf! Could be an interesting movie!
My first 35mm SLR as a kid was a Super TL. It had shutter problems at 1/500 (dark edge), but I took a lot of decent-to-good photos on it anyway. I still think that stopdown button up front was one of those most convenient to use.
This model does not have a stop down button. Interestingly a camera also called Super TL exist, but that is from the Praktica L series and as any L series has the stop down lever at the right side of the prism.
Yes the big black button would stop my lens down for DOF preview.
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss no, it will not. It actuates the light meter.
i really need to try more closer shots like you do. its amazing how we are all different.
If you were with me Neil you'd probably have seen compositions I wouldn't have.
I wasn't a Professional, but I did take a lot of pictures with my "junior grade" Nikkormat FTN in the 1960's with 35mm f/2 and 85mm f/1.8 Nikkors. I used Soligor and Vivitar brand longer/zoom lenses, because that was what I could afford as a college student. An about-to-become-famous Frenchman said that cheap lenses cost more in the long run. He had an off brand lens come apart in his hands, which steered him to OEM-only Nikkors. But those are "just tools," great images can be made on the most basic equipment. (I am recall that great World War II images were made by soldiers using the Argus C3.;)
Yes when you look at those photos from the trenches on the VPC Kodak they truly are mesmerising regardless of sharpness and quality.
For people who want to get one of these m42 prakticas, the MTL 50 is the one to get as it has an LED light meter, which is quite unique for any M42 mount camera. Not sure what meter cell it used (hopefully SPD/gallium, rather than CDS).
I have a Praktica Super TL. i didn't intend to have one it appeared screwed to a Meyer Optik Oreston lens I bought of Ebay. It was acting as a rear lens cap!! They were poplar amongst serious amateur photographers who didn't want to spend a fortune. The one a have is remarkably clean and the shutter sounds sweet too.
Usually the other way round Matt.
Battery for this Praktica: V625U Varta 1.5V L1560 LR9 625A B1
Me use and works👍
In 1961 I was using a 1939 CONTAX 111 with 50mm f1.5 un coated SONNAR bought in Berlin for £38 when I was in the Army Then for Medium Format I had my 1953 ENSIGN SELFIX mod II 16 on with 75mm f3.5 XPRES lens then got an ASAHI PENTAX S3.part exchanged for Contax for my Press Work
In Western Germany, the Prakticas were the cheapest SLRs money could buy new. They were sold under various brands like Revue or Revueflex (the brand owned by the Quelle mailorder retailer) or Porst (for the Photo Porst camera shop chain owned by Hannsheinz Porst, who turned out to be an agent for the East German Stasi after 1989). My sister had a Porst in the late 1970s. While the cameras were not really well regarded, some of the lenses produced in the GDR were just great and are still great value for the money. I
Thanks for the comment and interesting history.
thanks Roger. Now I will have the opportunity to watch my camera take photos 👍. Only I have the Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f2.8
Those lenses are very good! Except the one I have that came with the camera is broken inside! The apertures are stuck. I took the lens apart and I saw it had a bit of metal missing but wasn't inside so someone else must have got there before I did. Shame.
Yep, started with a Praktica and took many decent shots with it - by my standards, anyway! The only thing was its weight. I eventually moved on to a Pentax Spotmatic. This also had a M42 lens mount so I could still use all my existing lenses.
I learned the basics with that old Praktica, which I still have - along with the Pentax - in the attic.
Agreed, it is heavy and proper solid. The Spotmatic has a more comfortable feel
Great video (as usual). When I started photography in the mid seventies (as a hobbyist) many used Praktica cameras. However, my first camera was a Mamyia M42 camera. This seems to be a forgotten brand of M42 cameras/lenses. I wonder why? They were not bad quality as far as I remember. I later moved on to Nikon and have stayed there ever since, though I have purchase also other vintage cameras when they became cheap in the digital age, like Konica, which is another forgotten brand, although they had great cameras and lenses.
I think Pentax, Praktica, Olympus, Minolta, Nikon and Canon were widely recognised then and today - the Mamiya brand not so, for 35mm. Talk MF and Mamiya pops up every time.
The Super TL! I think it's a lovely camera. Mine came with a Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm F1.8 and a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm F2.8
This one came with the Tessar but it was broken inside.
I shot professional at that time & I used Topcon Super D's. To me they were better than the Nikon but it never got the the same following. Really an excellent camera & more innovative than the Nikon. I loved it!
I moved from a Practica to the Topcon Super DM, my first unabashedly professional level SLR. The problem with the Topcon was the tiny Exacta mount that would never support a fast wide angle shorter than 28mm, which was becoming popular at the time. I moved on to a Canon F-1 in 1976. I’ve shot Canon ever since.
@@kirkdarling4120 Actually Topcon offered a 20mm lens & I had an 18mm lens form another manufacturer that I used extensively.
I've never shot a Topcon but I know they have excellent feedback.
I remember the B200 fondly. But I have a B100 or something slightly older in a box somewhere, with metal curtains. It has horrendous mirror slap and most slow handheld speeds turn out a bit blurry
Are you sure it is not a problem of you had forgotten your morning scotch?
After using my mother’s Kodak box camera for a very short time I graduated to a Kodak 110 camera or two until I switched to a more modern point and shoot camera. Now at 68 years of age I have several Nikon 35 mm cameras. I was told some years ago by a very wise man that Nikon makes (made) the best 35mm cameras and I have no reason to disagree with that opinion. How soon we forget about the Nikon F 6 the Rolls Royce of 35mm cameras.
I think the wise man was right Rick.
I owned a Practica super TL back in 1970. It was my first slr and it performed well with its standard Jena 2.8/50 mm lens. However, I bought 2 Exaktas RTL because they had metal shutter blades which were more reliable. These were also real system cameras with interchangable viewfinders. But soon after I purchased my first Nikon, a Nikkormat FTN and have been using Nikon cameras ever since because of their superior optics. But the GDR cameras were also good considering their price.
I think once you got into Nikon back then you couldn't go backwards.
Can't help it, but I have an Edixa Flex A, in M42, and Petri Flex V with Petri mount. Both feel really solid, even if, the internet is right, they've had issues. Both I've managed to get serviced, even if way more than the value of them. Something about keeping an old camera alive. Thanks Roger, as usual, a great video
Well don't for servicing them. I'm guilty of not entertaining a write off and getting another the same. I usually give the broken ones away to someone who can fix them. I can't!
@ShootFilmLikeaBoss I've mostly only got them done Roger, because they were camera's my dad owned at some point. Not THE cameras he owned, but somehow special to me, so.... serviced 🙂 Even sending them off to have them done by specialists is cheaper than having yer car serviced I think. Only trouble for me... is I have a "few" lol
east germany had some of the best german photographers around. gdr and the soviets had the zorki cams and great lenses, that praktica was the masses cam model. there were the highclass models too. namely the pentacon six or contax and zeiss lenses.
At the end of the day, most cameras of that era comprised a box with a standardized set of shutter speeds which had to be chosen manually and a lens mount, and at the deepest level I suspect there is very little to choose between them apart from some wrinkles in the metering - e.g. Pentax did not have open-lens metering until the aperture-priority electro-Spotmatics arrived in 1971 and the more plain-Jane Spotmatic F in 1973, just two years before Pentax dumped the M42 system for the K mount.
The larger manufacturers might have a broad system of add-ons (flashes, high-capacity film backs with or without motor drives, intervalometers, macro bellows, etc.), but when it comes down to just one guy (or sometimes gal) with a camera and a 50mm prime lens around their neck, the race does not so unequivocally go to the big boys.
The Royal York is a listed building, used to have some lovely art deco features inside, been empty since the early 2000s.
Thanks Don. I didn't know it was listed. I am trying to get inside, speaking with someone.
Hi, I'm an East German born guy and of course Praktica was top notch back in the day behind the Iron Curtain. Today I'd rather choose a Spotmatic which feels way more pleasing that these bricks.
Thanks for the info!
Frame counter doesn't work on either of my Prakticas but thé cover on thé window is there. Thé counter works on both Cosinas but thé window covers are both missing!
Prakticas are nice cameras. I had few, inherited from my dad and granddad. VLC was cool, with exchangable viewfinder. Bayonet (B series) was pretty modern and accurate, even if limited compared to western equivalents. M42 Prakticas and Zenits are my favourite M42 cameras. Even Pentaxes, despite being mechanically better, were not "as cool".
But then, with my family being part of THE PARTY! made top quality goods, like double checked cameras more freely available. All my Zenits and Prakticas are working like charm till this day despite heavy use. Normal cameras were not that good and you needed to be lucky to get something that was reliable.
Good to hear!
That Art Deco hotel near the start is amazing man! Surprised it hasn’t been snapped up by some millionaire, like the one on Burgh Island. I apprenticed at my local newspaper in 1980 and it was Nikon. 👍📸
…oh yeah, and as you also mentioned, my 500th sec camera was laughed at by the paper’s ‘snappers’ as they were derogatorily called by the journalists. I remember being given a roll of film to shoot on my Zenit for a cycling road race. I got one acceptable shot when the riders were lined up at the start line!🙄🤣
I bet they were nice and cheap back then, but I don't really go for those with mechanical shutters AND/OR PX625 batteries, I noticed the problem with ie. the Fujica ST801 which is also dirt cheap today, but the curtain shutters are likely to be out of sync which shows on the faster times like 1/250 and 1/500. In the end I went for the Chinon CE-3 which has a electronic shutter and LR44 batteries. Lovely M42 camera and the (last?) M42 of the chinon series.
I have the CE-5. It's been brilliant.
Roger probably doesn't know that this camera has a shutter release lock. The letter L-ock. Then we won't take a photo by accident. And I think the trigger itself, i.e. its location, is brilliant. And I don't know why other manufacturers don't do it. Definitely more comfortable and handy. only in Miranda cameras there is also a trigger at the bottom, but not at an angle like Praktica.
Yes I found it! At first I was trying to turn under the button and it didn't turn and assumed it didn't have one! ha ha. Cheers.
another great video! I've never been attracted to this brand before, I'll have to give it a try! Not very good for my Gear Acquisition Syndrome! At least it's not very expensive, until when, given the soaring prices.
I think thats the ideal. For the price having another camera saved.
Not sure about anything like a Praktica Super TL😮
Our family camera during the 1970s was a trusty old kodak instamatic.
Sunny or cloudy was the only setting to adjust on it!😳😲
I still have all the old B/W photos tgat were taken on it of family holidays and day trips out to places like Alton Towers when it was just a gift shop, gardens and donkey rides.😁
Kodak Instamatic. I remember that coming out for that weekend away to the caravan
The big black button in front of camera activate lightmeter, it's not a depth of field preview 🙂
It does. I also noticed it activates DOF
Back in those days I mainly had Prakticas because they were affordable. I did eventually step up to a Petax Spotmatic which of course used the same lens mount as the 3 or 4 lenses I'd acquired. I have to say the Pentax was far superior in quality and ease of use but obviously quite pricey compared to the Prakticas. I evolved ultimately into a Canon enthusiast which has lasted to this day in both digital & analogue form. PS I still own a Spotmatic.
I got a my Spotmatic F with 50mm takumar for £10! Around 2010. Was a bargain! Solid too!
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss Wow! A bargain indeed. 😲
haha, I love my Soligor TM (although with new viewfinder its now going by Miranda). Its just a nice, hefty, well built camera that takes m42 lenses and does everything I want it to and nothing more. Good meter, and honestly my favorite viewfinder out of the SLR's I own. My only concern is that out of the Miranda's available it seems a bit harder to get. I had to buy the only condenser screen I could find online to get it working so parts may be an issue some day.. but until then I'm enjoying it. I was actually choosing between it and a Praktica, and honestly feel that either would have been a great choice.
Great to hear!
Fantastic Art Deco Hotel would love to photograph it
It is. You can't walk around it though. Only from the front. I'm talking with someone to see if I can get inside.
The narrative drastically changes if you consider eastern block countries. These might have been the cheapest slr's money could buy in the west but behind the iron curtain you would have been really lucky to have one. It is somewhat up to the western standards of quality which REALLY couldnt have been said for MOST of cameras here which mostly were rangefinders based on leica designs (good but arhaic) and small plastic scale focus cameras with manual exposure and no lightmeter. So most people working for the local press would be using something like this or a zenit (which is arguably worse if you ask me). The most top level photographers in the eastern block used medium format soviet cameras which were copies of mamiyas and such
That makes sense. I did read most sold were in that region.
The very early Praktica cameras, made right after WWII, were professional cameras. At that time, SLR cameras were rare. Although a surprisingly nice camera, the Praktica Super TL was definitely a more low end amateur camera. Of course, any camera can be professional if you get paid for your photos!
Professionals really didn't use the tiny formats then. Sharpness was of prime importance.
Maybe not for fashion / magazines. I used to buy football match negatives from the 1960s off a retired press photographer. 35mm.
Those portraits are really nice 👌🏻
Thanks Martin. Emma is easy to photograph.
@ yeh, she’s very cool!
Practikas have rather simple lightmeters which are NOT dependant on voltage, which means you can use a 1.5v battery and it will give you correct exposure, and it will give you the right exposure even as it is running out of charge. I think the issue is actually at the battery contacts corroding
So my meter must be a bit off them. Thanks for the heads up!
@@ShootFilmLikeaBoss No worries! Just take a look for oxidation around the battery terminals, and maybe go at them with sandpaper. And also if 1.5v battery is a bit too small for the battery compartment, you can stuff some aluminium foil so that it isn't loose, but it would still conduct electricity
Very much an anecdote. My dad had multiple Prakticas back in the day. And the ones he got, all of them tended to fail. He then just switched over to Canon.
I wonder if there is a confirmation bias around these cameras.
You know the ones that were already poorly built or suffered from bad quality control, already failed in the 80's and 90's. Whereas the ones that were properly built and had properly quality control are reliable and live on to this day without major issues? Resulting in two groups. Group 1: "Praktica's are bad and always fail". Group 2: "Ah yes, old reliable over here never ever failed on me!"
It is one of those cameras people either seem hate or love in my experience!
Interesting. I've owned both Prakticas and Zeniths as well as Pentax in 35mm. The Zeniths were terrible. The prakticas, solid and reliable, but with a fair amount of mirror slap. My Pentax Spotmatic F felt very refined in comparison, though it didn't improve my photography one bit! I found I prefer medium format to 35mm in the end.
True!
Local press guy near me shot with Pentax Spotmatic and a Rolleiflex for more formal events.
The Praktica was about the cheapest SLR at the time and notorious for its unreliability. A monday-morning-specimen would give you trouble for years to come. So it was absolutely not a workhorse. But like its brother the Zenith it was an excellent projectile in street fights. For a short time after the Berlin wall came down, quality control became a bit better. But Praktica completely disappeared in the early 2000ths.
you write nonsense. I have this model in perfect condition. it's made fantastically. I mean all these polishes. Engraving and the whole thing is completely metal. These models have a bridge circuit type light meter. battery voltage does not affect the reading itself, as is the case in Japanese cameras. brilliant solution. As for quality, this model was much better made than those with metal blinds. according to the Pentacon employees themselves in my country where the factory was located near the capital. This Praktica was simply indestructible
I have had a number of Prakticas' never had a single problem with any of them. If only I could say the same for the numerous Rolleiflexs' and Pentax 67 although I had only one example of a Pentax 67 and it only broke down once. The Rolleiflexs were always being repaired, even my SL66 needed repair and needs repair now. As for professional wedding photographers in the 1960's Twin lens Rollei or Hasselblad, as time went on Hasselblad and Bronica. Amongst the large number of Prakticas' I own I have a Super TL, Nova, LLC and BX20, all work and have never failed. Wish I could say the same for the Rolleiflex SL35. SL350, and SL35E's I own. I also used to have a SL35ME which must be the most unreliable camera of all time. As for lenses, the Zeiss Jena lenses were more than a match for Zeiss West Germany in optical quality, not as well finished but optically beautiful. Prakticas' were sold at a loss for hard currency. Sold cheap and under appreciated as a result. The Super TL was a wonderful camera for the time. Look at the competition of the time. The L series really did not keep up except the LLC and VLC cameras, the latter of which was had an interesting design The L series was definitely pitched at the entry level sector. Apparently very easy to work on. The reason for the shutter button on the front and at an angle is that reduces camera shake. 135mm lens, traditionally we would have said need to shoot at 125th second.
@@davidjenkins8009
Exacly👍.
I have it and Carl Zeisa Jena 50mm F2.8. Black color full metal/mode A/M. This camera has fantastic look vintage
I totally agree with you but the Zenith was a bit cheaper both awful things, pros never used em you would be a laughing stock if you did.
@@user-ve3gh5xg9q It means you have a specimen that survived the terrible quality control. Many didn't.
Praktica was a dream for photographers in comunism time in east EU.
Comunism you have now in 🇺🇲🇪🇺
My recollection is that in the West Praktica was known for being low cost and decent bang for the buck, and with Zeiss-Ikon behind them, I think the glass was actually pretty good optically. In the east bloc, however, I think it was probably among the better stuff available. Where NASA took custom Hasselblads to the moon, the Russians took the Praktica EE2 to their early space station.
My Praktica EE2 is still in perfect working order.
It for sure was distributed to institutions. So there you have your answer regarding professional use.
I don't think that Prakticas were used professionally anywhere outside the Eastern Bloc (but even in the GDR many pros might've used Nikon, Canon, Minolta etc.). My own experience with Prakticas (from different periods) is rather bad, and they don't play nicely with long focal lengths (finder blockage due to a rather tiny mirror). They are useable and not that bad - if one can get a fully working one (I think I finally found one, an MTL 5, not the "b" version, so it needs an exotic battery). Edit: Regarding shutter button position - just use the middle finger and put the index finger on the shutter speed dial. Well, granted, doesn't work that great with this old model, but works fine with newer models that have the exposure meter lever at the shutter button.
Tried the middle finger trick. Much more comfortable. Talk about finger memory!
I never understood this "nostalgic" need to shoot in black & white though. I want to see the world in all its colour. I would charge that Super TL with a colour slide film.
Prakticas used to be for Profesionals an few decades before the WWII
Was it (the Praktica) used professionally? Well, the secret police of East Germany used them to "document" the lifes of suspicious people. And there were a few East German photographers using Praktica cameras, but of course the more professional ones tried to obtain a Pentacon six. Reporters and journalists in East Germany and Soviet Union might also used them for their work, but in Soviet Union I guess the Zorki, Zenit etc. were also pretty common amongst them.
I think I will get much better results with a Praktica than 50 years ago . The results I made at that time I call now junk . The colorfilms at that time were not good at all . The very few black and white films I made with the Praktica were some what okay . 7 years later I bought my first Mamiya in 1981 .
In the 60's, in former Yugoslavia, it wasn't a shame to shoot with anything, Practicas included, as long as your pictures where good. Humble times. Contrary to countries behind the iron curtain, we had access to everything, but usually western technology, especially new crap, was a bit too expensive for the average Joe. That was so until late 70's or early 80's when we got a bit more wealthier, and / or had access to used equipment from the west. At the same time brand loyalty was spotted. Humans behaving like humans...
How did you like the Hanimex lens? According to my experience they are utter rubbish...
We used to bang in fence posts with them.
Nikon. I knew a few newspaper photographers and all of them shot Nikons
praktika heavy lump but reliable you knew you had a camera in your hands
No, No, NO..! Definitely NOT a professional tool in ANY sense of the word. Any pro photographer would never have dreamt of using any Praktica for paid work. Ok, the lenses were possibly up to a standard for the time but in no way equal to offerings from Nikon, Canon, Pentax or Minolta; the mechanics of the bodies let them down too often as well.
They didn't use them professionally because they were too cheap. And they were not system cameras. We usually see more expensive as better. Not always true, though.
Nobody ever used a Pracktica professionally. Slow to use and heavy.
F
practica was ans is crap.. Nikons , «canons, «penax and Leica were the pro choice..
This one still works.
@@carlosoruna7174 😱😱😱😱