Which Praktica do you have? Identify all models—from the Super TL to the BX 20

Two Prakticas lie side by side on a flea-market table, both silver, both with the same lettering on the prism. Yet there is a generation between them. Three narrow contact strips around the black ring in the lens mount reveal the difference: they appear only on the VLC, the only M42 Praktica with a removable viewfinder and metering at full aperture. With the MTL 5, by contrast, you press a button, the viewfinder image goes dark, and then you take the reading. This guide will tell you which of the two you are holding in two minutes—and identify every other model in the series as well.

Cover image: Yaskin Nikita — CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Already know your model and just looking for the right battery? You’ll find it in our Praktica battery overview, covering around eighty models with the battery, adapter, and user manual.

Table of contents

1. The three-question test: which Praktica do you have?
2. Decoding the model designation—and its pitfalls
3. The M42 series: all models by year of manufacture
4. The B series: bayonet mount instead of screw mount
5. Which series needs power at all
6. Lenses: what fits your Praktica
7. Typical faults, prices, and an honest assessment
8. Read more: Sources, manuals, forums

1. The three-question test: which Praktica do you have?

Three simple steps are enough to place a Praktica in the right family. After that, identifying the model is just a matter of fine-tuning.

Photo: David Herrmann (Hedavid), CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Three B-series bodies and, lying in front, an MTL 5 from the M42 series. The angular, silver design compared with the rounder black bodies is the quickest way to tell them apart.

Question 1: Screw mount or bayonet mount?

Turn the lens counterclockwise. If you can unscrew it over several turns, you have the M42 screw mount in front of you—the design that Praktica used from 1948 to 1989. If, on the other hand, there is a release button and the lens comes off after just under a quarter turn, it is the Praktica B bayonet mount, built from late 1979 onward.

That already roughly dates the camera and, more importantly, places it in one of two technical worlds. Apart from the brand name, the two have little in common: different lenses, different electronics, and different availability of spare parts.

Question 2: Where is the name—and does it even say “Praktica”?

On almost all models in the M42 series, the model designation appears to the left of the prism viewfinder on the front plate, in small raised letters: MTL 3, LTL 3, LB 2, super TL. The PRAKTICA logo is centered on the prism. On the B series, the designation usually moves to the other side or onto the prism cap.

If it says something completely different there—Revueflex, Porst reflex, Jenaflex—you still have a Praktica. Exports to the West were largely sold under other names. The corresponding cross-reference table is in Chapter 2.

Question 3: How does the camera meter the light?

This is the question that reveals the most about the camera’s production year, its equipment level, and the power supply it requires. Four possibilities:

Features based on the description of the L series at Wikipedia and the model description of the Praktica LTL.

Photo: Dnalor 01, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT via Wikimedia Commons. The light-colored segments in the black ring are the contact tracks for transmitting the aperture value. The gold-plated mating contacts are on the lens, on the right in the image. If you can see them, you have an LLC, PLC, VLC, or EE.

Practical tip: It’s worth looking from below. The country-of-origin marking is on the base plate, and it also provides a rough indication of the date. Early bodies bear “PENTACON GERMANY (EAST)”, while later ones say “PENTACON MADE IN GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC”. Next to it, all models with a light meter have the battery cover, a coin-slot disk.

An LTL on the left — photo: Thomas Altfather Good, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. An MTL 5 on the right — photo: Banffy, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Same location, different embossing.

2. Decoding the model designation — and its pitfalls

The names of the M42 Prakticas seem arbitrary, but they follow a system. Each letter stands for a technical feature, and once you have the key, VLC 3 reads like a specification sheet.

Nomenclature based on Wikipedia, “Praktica” article, section on the third generation.

This makes it possible to read any model. VLC 3 is the third version of the camera with an interchangeable viewfinder and open-aperture metering. MTL 5 has the stabilized meter and meters at the working aperture. DTL 3 is the same, but with LEDs. super TL 1000 goes up to 1/1000 s, while the super TL 500 only goes up to 1/500 s.

The four pitfalls

In four places, the system leads you astray, and those are precisely the places where identification goes wrong.

First: MTL 5, MTL 5B, and MTL 50 are three different cameras. The 1983 MTL 5 is an MTL 3 with a smooth covering. The 1985 MTL 5B loses the additional flash socket and gains a battery compartment for standard button cells. The MTL 50 from the same year replaces the needle meter with LEDs, and therefore requires a different power supply from its two namesakes.

Second: With the LTL, the higher number does not indicate progress. The 1975 LTL 2 displays the exposure using two illuminated fields. The 1976 LTL 3 returns to the needle. The sequence of numbers therefore says nothing about the technology, only when it was introduced.

Third: There are two “super TL” models. The original Praktica super TL belongs to the second generation, built from the mid-1960s onward, with a cloth shutter. The super TL 2 and super TL 3 are L-series models from 1976 and 1978 with a steel-blade shutter. Same name, different cameras, about ten years apart.

Fourth: The name on the camera does not have to be Praktica. Pentacon supplied large quantities to the West under other brand names, through the Quelle mail-order company as Revueflex, through Photo Porst as Porst reflex, as well as under Jenaflex, Hanimex, and others.

Photo: Jacek Halicki, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. This camera is called the Porst Reflex CX6. Apart from the top plate, it is a Praktica LTL.

Assignment based on the model overview in the Baier-Foto-Forum (based on Richard Hummel, “Spiegelreflexkameras aus Dresden”) and the object descriptions at the German Camera Museum. The list is not complete; there were additional export names for individual markets.

In practical terms, this means that a Revueflex TL 202 takes the same lenses, has the same shutter speeds, and uses the same battery as a Praktica LTL 3. If you are looking for spare parts or a manual, it is best to search under the Praktica name.

Photo: Radoslaw Ziomber, CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons. The MTL 3 with textured covering is on top, and the MTL 5 with smooth covering is below. Technically, they are the same camera; on both, the model designation is to the left of the prism.

Video: “How to Take Photos with the Praktica MTL5 / Revue ML,” on the Analogtechnik channel. The title immediately gives both names of the same camera. If you want to see the operation step by step, this is more useful than any written explanation.

3. The M42 series: all models with production years

The L series is at the heart of Praktica’s history and the reason these cameras still turn up everywhere today. It ran from December 1969 to December 1989, comprised 49 models including six prototypes, and reached 4,836,879 cameras built. At Pentacon in Dresden, a camera left the production line every thirty seconds. The responsible designer was Rolf Noack.

Numbers from praktica-collector.de, periods from Wikipedia. The generations overlap because several model series ran in parallel.

The eponymous “L” stands for the vertically traveling steel-blade shutter that replaced the rubberized-cloth shutter of the predecessors. It was virtually wear-free and, unlike cloth, insensitive to cold. This shutter is precisely why L Prakticas are still running today more often than average.

Photo: Runner1616, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. The metal-blade shutter of the L series, viewed from the film side.

The models in order of appearance

Model table based on Wikipedia, “Praktica L”. Prototypes, special editions, and export variants are not included.

By far the most widely produced type is the one with TTL metering at working aperture: more than three million cameras from this subgroup alone. If you inherited a Praktica, there is a good chance it is an MTL 3, MTL 5, or super TL.

Photo: VSchagow, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. The dark rectangle on the right beneath the adjustment dial is the selenium cell of the LB 2. It generates its own metering current, so this camera has no battery compartment.

What Came Before the L Series

If your camera has a cloth shutter curtain instead of metal blades, it belongs to an earlier generation. The first Praktica was developed in 1948 based on the Praktiflex and introduced the M42 thread mount; the FX series with flash synchronization followed in 1951, then Models IV and V. The second generation comprises the nova series, the Prakticamat, the original super TL, and the Praktica elektronik.

Ken Davis, who describes more than twenty working Prakticas on 35mmc, gives this transitional generation a sober assessment: It was “nowhere near as reliable” as the later cameras, and shutter failures were common on the super TL. By contrast, he considers Models IV and V better built than the nova series. If you are looking for a Praktica to take photographs with rather than collect, you are much better served by the L series.

Photo: Hubert Link, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE via Wikimedia Commons / German Federal Archives. Final inspection at VEB Pentacon Dresden. The company originated from the camera workshops founded by Guthe & Thorsch in Dresden in 1919 and operated under the name Pentacon from 1964.

4. The B Series: Bayonet Instead of Thread

In 1978, Pentacon unveiled the Praktica B 200 at the Leipzig Trade Fair; series production began in December 1979. The “B” stands for bayonet: instead of the screw thread, there was now a proprietary mount, the PB mount, along with a new lens family called Prakticar. The bodies became more rounded, and the controls electronic.

Photo: Lysippos, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. The B 200 was the base model of the higher-end line, with automatic and manual settings.

Between December 1979 and December 1990, 17 models were produced, totaling 1,164,707 units. Pentacon divided them into three lines, and this classification is the quickest way to categorize a B model:

Figures according to praktica-collector.de.

The BX series and the end

Starting in December 1987, the BX series followed with four models and 201,797 units: BX 20, BX 10 DX, BX 21 DX, and BX 20s. New features included a different drive for the leaf shutter, an ergonomically redesigned body, TTL flash control according to SCA 321, a matching winder, and DX coding for automatic film-speed setting. The X in the name stands for precisely this innovation.

Sources disagree on which BX models actually have DX contacts: praktica-collector.de lists them as a feature of the entire series, while the review of the BX 20 says that only the BX 20s received them. The model names support the second interpretation—BX 10 DX and BX 21 DX do, after all, carry the abbreviation in their names. More reliable than any theory is a look inside the film chamber: where the film cartridge sits, you can see either bare contact fingers or none at all.

Photo: NoRud, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. The BX 20s was the last model still developed under the traditional Pentacon Dresden.

The series has one ironic twist: DX-coded films were practically unavailable on the domestic market. The BX 20 still sold well, thanks to its flash control and winder. After reunification, the BX 20S continued until 2001, when production of analogue Praktica SLR cameras finally ended.

Warning: The B series relies on its electronics. M42 Prakticas are mechanical cameras with a light meter on the side; if the meter dies, you simply keep taking photos. In the B and BX models, the electronics control all shutter speeds, including those set manually. Without a battery, you are left only with the mechanical emergency speed of 1/90 s, and if the circuit board fails, even that is gone. Spare parts are now virtually impossible to find. That is the more important difference between the two worlds—more important than the mount.

5. Which series needs power at all

Once you know the model, the power question is quickly answered. Praktica cameras fall into four groups, and they correspond exactly to what you saw in Question 3:

On all M42 models with a meter, the battery compartment is in the bottom plate—the cover with the coin slot shown in the photos above. On the B series, it is usually located in the grip.

The “M” tells you how tolerant the meter is. The M in MTL stands for meter bridge compensation, a bridge circuit that stabilizes the light meter against fluctuations in battery voltage. In practical terms, this means an MTL is less sensitive to a cell with a slightly different voltage than an LTL or super TL, which do not have this circuit. That is one reason why the MTL models are still considered the easiest in the series to use.

Exactly which battery type belongs in your model and which adapter replaces it today is listed in our Praktica overview. Around eighty models are listed individually there, along with their manuals for reference, from the Jenaflex AC-1 to the Praktisix.

A note about our own interests, so it’s clear where we stand: We manufacture battery adapters and replacement parts for these cameras ourselves and earn money from them. That’s why we keep the recommendation straightforward: for most models with a needle meter, a standard cell in the appropriate adapter is sufficient, and if your light meter is already dead anyway, you don’t need any of this. The detailed background on the most common Praktica battery is in our PX625 article, including the options that cost nothing.

6. Lenses: what fits your Praktica

M42 — the largest selection of lenses ever available for a mount

The M42 thread was not unique to Praktica, but a quasi-standard. Pentax, Zenit, Yashica, Fujica, Chinon, and dozens of third-party manufacturers made lenses for it. Any of them will fit a Praktica MTL 3, as long as they have an M42 thread.

Photo: Carlosdisogra, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. A super TL with the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 50 mm 1:1.8.

The East German optical designs are the real reason to take an interest in Praktica. Ken Davis sums it up on Macfilos by saying that the bodies are inexpensive and the lenses are worth the money:

Practical tip: “electric” on the lens is not an obstacle. Lenses marked electric with gold contact pins belong to the open-aperture models LLC, PLC, VLC, and EE. On an MTL or super TL, they work normally; the contacts simply remain inactive. The reverse is also true: a lens without contacts can be used on an LLC, but you’ll need to switch to stop-down aperture operation and stop down as with the MTL.

The PB mount — a proprietary system with strict limitations

Photo: Lysippos, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. A Prakticar 50 mm 1:1.8 for the B mount.

The PB mount was developed in-house and was compatible with nothing else. A dedicated lens lineup was created for the B series—Prakticar lenses from 20 to 300 mm, plus zooms and later even autofocus lenses. Anyone with a B camera is dependent on this lineup; Pentacon did at least supply an adapter for mounting M42 lenses on B bodies.

In the other direction, things get tight—literally. The flange focal distance of the PB mount is 44.40 mm, while Canon EF is 44.00 mm. That leaves just 0.4 millimeters of build height for an adapter, and no bayonet adapter can be made that thin. As a result, no commercially available PB-to-SLR adapter can reach infinity focus without a corrective lens, and the error becomes even more pronounced with short focal lengths. This is not an issue on mirrorless cameras such as Sony E or Micro Four Thirds; Prakticar lenses work without limitations there. Anyone wanting to check the measurements can find them on the Praktica mount overview page at manuelle-objektive.

Photo: Jelle (Netherlands), CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. The VLC models are the only M42 Prakticas with interchangeable finders, shown here with a magnifying finder insert instead of a pentaprism, and a Flektogon 35 mm 1:2.4 lens attached.

7. Typical defects, prices, and an honest assessment

What breaks on these cameras

There is a long repair thread about the L series in the APHOG forum, where the same four cases keep coming up.

1. The slow shutter speeds stick. From 1/15 s downward, the shutter does not complete its cycle; sometimes the mirror lifts without triggering the shutter. The cause is almost always congealed grease in the escapement. Matthias Laur explicitly advises against hitting the camera “with the palm of your hand” in the thread; that only frees the mechanism temporarily and spreads the problem. The proper solution is cleaning and regreasing, and that belongs in experienced hands.
2. Streaks on the first photos. The light seal at the rear-panel hinge has disintegrated. Christof-G describes the repair as gluing in 1 mm foam rubber or the felt from a cartridge mouth. This is a genuine twenty-minute job that you don't need a workshop for; we've written a step-by-step guide for it.
3. The mirror stays up. This occurs with M42 and B models alike. Sometimes it’s the same grease that has hardened; sometimes it’s a disengaged lever in the mirror box. Without disassembly, it’s rarely possible to tell for certain.
4. The light meter shows nothing. Often it’s just a corroded contact in the battery compartment; sometimes it’s a broken wire leading to the metering cell. Before writing off a camera for this reason, remember that the rest will generally continue to work.

Photo: Banffy, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. The opened MTL 5. Clearly visible are the guide rails of the rapid-loading system and the surrounding groove where the light seal sits.

Warning: The top cover is not a beginner’s project. When someone asks on the forum about taking it apart, they regularly receive the same advice: The L-series shutter-speed dial has bonded points that are difficult to loosen and even harder to reassemble properly. If you don’t regularly open up cameras, a repair shop is the cheaper option at this point.

How much a Praktica costs today

On 20 August 2026, we evaluated listings on Kleinanzeigen in the photography category—asking prices, not sale prices, and most listings include at least one lens:

Our own survey, as of 21 August 2026, sorted by median. Part of the price range is explained by the lens set: bodies only are at the lower end, while sets with three lenses are at the upper end.

The order in this table is the actual answer to the question of which Praktica is the one you’re looking for. The VLC is clearly at the top; its median is twice that of the MTL 5, and the upper quartile starts at 200 euros. It is the only M42 Praktica where you can remove the pentaprism and replace it with a waist-level finder or magnifying eyepiece, and it meters with the aperture open instead of forcing you to stop down. Next comes the EE 2 with its shutter-priority automatic exposure. At the other end are, of all things, the two most modern bodies: the B 200 and BX 20 are electronic, unrepairable, and therefore cheaper than a mechanical 1978 MTL 3.

The most striking figure does not appear in the table. Ken Davis puts sought-after lenses such as the Biotar 58 mm 1:2 or a good Pancolar at around £100—a single lens can therefore cost more than the body it is attached to. When you buy a Praktica, you are usually really buying the optics.

Photo: Alexey Komarov, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

When a Praktica is the right camera—and when it is not

We sell replacement parts for these cameras, so we will say it plainly: a Praktica is not the best choice for everyone, and some of the alternatives are objectively more pleasant to use.

It is the right camera if you want to get into analogue photography cheaply and are prepared to set the aperture and shutter speed yourself. The L series’ steel-blade shutter is exceptionally durable, replacement parts are easy to find because millions were produced, and the East German lenses deliver image quality for their price that is far beyond what the bodies cost. If you are also interested in how cameras were built in Dresden, you get a piece of industrial history as well.

It is the wrong camera if you want automation or coupled metering without having to press a button first while the viewfinder goes dark. A Pentax Spotmatic offers the same M42 thread with smoother operation, while a Canon AE-1 or Minolta X-300 costs little more and takes care of shutter-speed selection. And if you happen to be looking at a nova, mat, or early super TL, the risk of shutter failure is significantly higher than with the L series, so it is better to keep looking.

And if you have inherited a B- or BX-series camera: Use it while it still works, but do not invest much in it. The lens mount is a dead end, and the electronics cannot be repaired. The more appealing heirloom is almost always the M42 camera next to it.

Video: “Praktica MTL3, German Hipster Camera, Analogue Camera Review,” channel Flanell, Kameras & Film. A review of the most widely produced Praktica, with sample images.

Replacement parts that are still available

Two parts are particularly often missing from used Prakticas because they seem to have been designed to get lost: the battery compartment cover and the body cap. We reproduce both in Würzburg because they are otherwise no longer available anywhere. The light seal is not a Praktica part, but it fits anyway.

For the B series, there is the matching body cap for PB, B 100, and B 200 as well as the rear lens cap for Prakticar PB.

Read more: Sources, manuals, forums

Almost everything in this article comes from work others have done. These pages are more detailed than we can be here, and in several respects simply better.

Models, numbers, factory history

• Mike's Praktica Pages, the most accurate source for production numbers, model numbers, and designers, broken down into the L series, B system, and BX series. The site looks like it's from 2005 and is still the best resource available.
• Wikipedia: Praktica and Praktica L — The source of the nomenclature table and the model years in this article.
• filmphotography.eu: Praktica, German-language model pages with pictures and brief descriptions, useful for cross-checking.
• German Camera Museum — Revueflex models with photos and their corresponding Praktica models.

Instruction manuals

• Mike Butkus' manual archive — Instruction manuals for virtually every Praktica model as PDFs, free with a voluntary donation. If you want to know how the self-timer on your LTL 3 works, it's in there.

User reviews

• Ken Davis on 35mmc (October 2025), the best overview of Praktica lenses, written by someone with more than twenty working bodies.
• Casual Photophile: Praktica MTL 5B, a detailed review of the most widely distributed late model.
• Alex Luyckx: Pentacon Praktica LTL — Long-term review with sample images.
• David de Groot: Praktica BX20, one of the few serious reviews of the BX series.
• Photrio: Praktica Appreciation Thread, the large English-language discussion thread, active for years.
• APHOG Forum: Praktica L Series Repair, German-language repair help from people who regularly open up these cameras.

Video

• Praktica MTL 5B — World-class! (Kolibri channel) — An introduction to the late model in German.
• Praktica MTL 50 camera portrait — More would be a luxury (S. Schüngel channel), exactly the model most often confused with the MTL 5.
• Praktica MTL3 in 2023, with sample images (Gideon Liddiard Photography channel), in English, with sample images.

From us

• Praktica battery overview, around eighty models with the appropriate cell, adapter, and instructions.
• Replacing light seals, the most common repair on an old Praktica, step by step.
• Repair shops for analog cameras, for anything beyond light seals.
• Buying an analog camera on eBay, what to look out for before you bid.

And if it isn’t a Praktica at all: The battery finder covers more than a thousand camera models, from Agfa to Zenit, each with a suitable cell and adapter.

Is a model missing, or does any information not match your camera? Write to us and we’ll add it to the overview. All photos in this article are from Wikimedia Commons and are credited with the author and license next to the respective image.