The Praktica L series - high quality, low cost

Was your first film SLR a Praktica? John Gilbey looks back at the Praktica L series – a family of cameras which influenced a generation of photographers

- John Gilbey

If you were starting out in photography in the 1970s and 1980s, and wanted a single-lens reflex, you had a few decisions to make. For many of us, budget – or the lack of it – was the biggest problem, not least when the rate of VAT for ‘luxury items’ zoomed from 10% to 25% in the autumn of 1974.

The thickness of your wallet had a direct impact on where your camera would originate from. For the lucky few at the top of the market, Japan was emerging as the market leader for SLRs, with Nikon, Canon and Pentax all making a strong showing. At the opposite end, the truly budget option was to go for a Zenit from the USSR, and many folk did just that. Lurking between the two extremes, and from just beyond the Iron Curtain in East Germany, was the Praktica range of cameras. These were still relatively cheap but had a level of sophistication above the Zenit.

Features

The entry-level Praktica L, made by Pentacon of Dresden, was a step change from the previous Praktica designs such as the Super TL. It had a clean, radical new design that fitted well with the minimalist styling of the early 1970s. While basic, it offered most of what someone starting out with 35mm SLRs needed, including robust construction, nearly all of it metal.