Topic: minolta ,praktica any advice?

[euge...]

Somebody in work is offering a Minolta srt101,sr7 and a practika mtl 5 plus some lenses for £75 .Not having any experience of any of the brands or cameras does anybody have any thoughts or advice about them(or indeed the price)

[Late Developer]

Buy buy the Minolta but leave the Practica alone is my advice, unless you like crappy East German engineering. Just my two penneth, rhough........

[sapata]

It's worth getting the Praktica just because of the lens (if in good condition) . I bought a mint MTL on ebay but it broke straight after, I kept the Pentacon lens and mounted in my Pentax and I got excellent results... and I even use it in my DSLR with the M42 adaptor... it's a great lens!

Got some results in here: http://www.picturenoise.blogspot.com.br/search/label/Pentacon

[Pete_R]

Sounds expensive to me but check ebay completed listings for typical selling prices.

[Lino]

The mtl5 fells like it's gonna break at any second! But it should work ok (maybe ? probably ?)
But as mauricio already said, the pentacon lens is pretty good.

[Ordinal]

Prakticas are usually very solid beasts - they'd have to be really badly treated to fall apart. If it goes BANG when you take a picture, it's meant to, it's the mirror slap. The lightmeters are known to go sometimes, though.

I have an MTL3 as well as a B200 (broken) and a BX20 (one of the last SLRs they made iirc). I prefer the MTL3 as a camera to look at, hold and use, but the BX20 does have a lot more features, and doesn't have a broken meter.

[MJL]

To my experience, Minolta and Practika lenses are keepers, no so much on their 35mm SLRs.

[euge...]

Thanks for the advice and experiences,I spent too much time chin stroking and let them go.Still now for I can turn my attentions to a konica autoreflex a3 and Zenit moskova 80 em(Its an olympic fervour hangover!) in one of my local charity shops....

[SLVR]

Almost every Praktica ive seen has been jammed. Except for two, one which wasnt mine (MTL) and my LTL before someone kicked it off a table and then it jammed after it smashed on the floor. They are interesting cameras though

[Francois]

I have a Praktica L (somewhere) that is jammed too. Problems with the shutter. But the lens seems pretty good. I got me an adapter on eBay so I can use it with my Nikon. Still have to try it out but I think it's going to be good.

If you want an old M42 camera, Mamiya used to make a nice 35mm that takes them. I also have an old Argus (can't remember which model) which is built like a Sherman tank (and has the same weight too!).

[SLVR]

francois, i have a ton of M42 lenes! I also have the same adapter so i could use them on my F mount nikons. Does your adapter have a magnifying element in it? If it doesnt you will lose infinity as the adapter spaces out the lens just a little too much.

[Francois]

Yep, I got the one with the lens in it!

Actually, that's a pretty sweet story...

I ordered it from Hong Kong on ebay. But when the package finally arrived three weeks later, they had sent me the wrong product! I got the one without lens. So I told the seller there had been an error in my order. They asked me to send pictures of the item and they replied that they would send the proper adapter right away. They never asked for the old one. So, three weeks later, I got the right one in a little envelope. That was one very happy customer!