Anmyone know anything about this camera or lens'? (6 Images)

[Brendan1980]

I've got hold of an old camera of my Dad's. He said it was very exspensive at the time of buying, but he knows nothing about it. Neither do I, as I'm fairly new to photography. So, I've taken some photo's and wondered if anyone knows anything about it.

This is the Camera. It's a Praktica MTL5





This is the first lens, which I assume is a "kit lens"





This is the lens that interests me, as it's a Carl Zeiss. I know that this is a great make of lens, but I've no idea.

[Benchista]

Yeah, I know lots about it and have quite a few of them. They were actually comparatively cheap when current in the early 80s - among the cheapest SLRs available, in fact, and very common.
They were made in the DDR - East Germany, and were fairly reliable and simple machines capable of decent results - the lenses were actually pretty good, either Pentacon branded or Carl Zeiss Jena branded. The cameras used the M42 screw thread, used stop-down manual TTL metering via the black lever on the front of the camera, and had a respectable (for the time) shutter speed range of 1 second to 1/0000.

Worth very little now - mine were all around a fiver.

The lenses are both much more interesting - the first is a Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4, a very good lens indeed in good condition, although this one sadly looks rather tatty.
The CZJ lens is also pretty decent - they were cheap enough at the time, but good ones are worth around £65 these days, twice what mine cost new

[Brendan1980]

Yeah, I know lots about it and have quite a few of them. They were actually comparatively cheap when current in the early 80s - among the cheapest SLRs available, in fact, and very common.
They were made in the DDR - East Germany, and were fairly reliable and simple machines capable of decent results - the lenses were actually pretty good, either Pentacon branded or Carl Zeiss Jena branded. The cameras used the M42 screw thread, used stop-down manual TTL metering via the black lever on the front of the camera, and had a respectable (for the time) shutter speed range of 1 second to 1/0000.

Worth very little now - mine were all around a fiver.

The lenses are both much more interesting - the first is a Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4, a very good lens indeed in good condition, although this one sadly looks rather tatty.
The CZJ lens is also pretty decent - they were cheap enough at the time, but good ones are worth around £65 these days, twice what mine cost new

They are rather battered. They were in a Morrisons carrier bag in the garage!!! They are sat in the house drying out as we speak. I thought it might be fun to see if it still worked.

I wonder if it would be possible to get someway to connect to my DSLR? (canon EOS500D) But I doubt it.

[Benchista]

They are rather battered. They were in a Morrisons carrier bag in the garage!!! They are sat in the house drying out as we speak. I thought it might be fun to see if it still worked.

I wonder if it would be possible to get someway to connect to my DSLR? (canon EOS500D) But I doubt it.

Yeah, you can get pretty cheap M42 to EOS adaptors - I still use my copy of the Zeiss lens from time to time on my DSLRs. You can actually play about just by holding the lens up to the camera and not actually mounting it - switch to Av mode and fire away.

[P_Stoddart]

Have you opened the back and fired the shutter with the lens off?

Does the duration of light vary with adjusting the control on top marked 1-1000. Should be 1 second at 1 and very fast at 1000.

As said not worth alot. I got a mint one with box for £10.



You could get some lens cleaner and cloth.

Do it the real way. It can be a challenge and fun. Especially while you can.

Get some film, run it through the camera.

One other point it takes I believe the small silver 1 penny battery. The mercury ones were outlawed. Therefore you need a compatible one which is the correct voltage. They are available online.

This might interest you, there is a MTL5 on the right of the page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3830187...7619206330728/