Few years after I got the first camera, Western SLRs were still too much for my pockets. Remaining choices was either some Zenith or this East German Praktica.
This MTL3 is an early model - angled and boxy, but quite sturdy and reliable. It has a separate trigger for light meter (see notes). When pressed, the aperture diaphragm snapped in place and a tiny pointer inside viewfinder pointed up (too bright), down (too dark) or middle.
Front mounted shutter is something you don't see these days anymore, though it's really great. All your fingers grab the camera and there's no need to bend the index finger upwards, which gives more stability. Until the large front bulge (seen on most modern cameras) came into use, this front-mounted shutter was far superior to anything else. The funny wired remote you got with the camera was also a nice feature. It was screwed into the shutter. Then you pushed in the syringe-like button on the other end, which in turn pushed in the shutter. Purely mechanical and fool proof, but limited in range (no auto-portraits with that one). Nice plus was also a small screw on the remote, that could lock the shutter open in bulb-mode and enable you to take minutes-long exposures, without straining your fingers.
Focusing was achieved with either one of two neat indicators: smaller circle at the center was split horizontally in two semicircles. When out of focus, picture was split apart in each one. Second indicator was a ground-glass circle around the first one. When out of focus even a little, the picture in this circle was blurred. Strange enough, the outer indicator worked only with original 50 mm lens, while the middle one worked just as well with tele/zoom lens (I got these years later - for a price considerably exceeding the whole camera).
It still works fine today - though not with original lens (during the years some dust collected inside and the aperture diaphragm got stuck). But since I bought the Espio, I've used this one only for some macro or bird shots. Just too bulky and heavy to carry around. Still, I might yet return to use it some day.
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Jumpin'Jack 70 months ago | reply
Indeed. Considering they were East-German products, Prakticas were of surprisingly good quality.
annovi.frizio 64 months ago | reply
my first camera.. I remember... :-)
Järnvarg 63 months ago | reply
i´m still in love with my M42 cameras and lenses ...my MTL3 are still a grea camera
Jumpin'Jack 63 months ago | reply
Yes, it sure is
(as long as you're into film and don't mind the weight/bulkyness)