An afternoon of urban exploration looking for derelicted places gave me the chance to test a Praktica MTL 5b with its standard (pun intended) lens: the Pentacon 50/1,8, which I had never used before. To make things more complicated, I also took out from the basement a roll of Portra 400, expired in 2011.
Net of the limitation of a (poorly maintained) roll more than 10 years old, the shooting experience was not that exciting. Loading the film proved to be more complicated (at least for me) than with my Pentax ME Super, Nikon F3 or Voigtlander Bessa R2A, and I lost the first three frames. Maybe more training will make it easier, but so far the fact remains that some shots have been wasted before even starting the session.
I took all pictures wide open, and the lens showed a visible purple fringing.
Purple, Purple, Purple…
It does not look capable of producing razor-sharp images wide open.
Focusing is easier if you start wide open and then close the aperture to the desired value: this means that for impromptu photography zone focusing or hyperfocal shooting are mandatory.
Colour rendition is fair enough for a film that is decades old: the rust has been captured about correctly, as have the green and the blue, but a stint of purple fringing is visible in the vertical poles, together with an overall greenish tone.
Bokeh looks flat and lacks personality.
To sum up, the Pentacon did not impress me very much; still, I will give it another try, maybe with a non expired film to ascertain if the image quality issues are related to the age of the roll.
I tried to stick to the rule of thumb of over-exposing the film by one stop per decade, but I am not sure I always did, as I sometimes forgot to measure the available light with an external light meter. This reminded me of how lazy technology can make a photographer. Of course, there is no point in forbidding yourself from using the camera’s automatic features, but using them blindly is bad for your (photographic) eyesight.
As far as postprocessing is concerned, I first converted the images with Darktable (I crop them to have only the film in the frame, so as not to mess up Negadoctor’s results). The resulting images were exported in 16bit/Tiff and then furtherly processed with Pixelmator Pro.
P.S.: I know: I said ‘5 frames’. But I lied.
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Kai Lietz on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 28/03/2024
Genrerally, the Pancolar 50 1.8 is a way nicer lens. Both lenses, however, feature an automatic aperture. Check for a lever at the lens to switch from M to A. On M, aperture is closed always (say manual). On A, it will only be closed when you fire the shutter (automatic). Also, the Practicas feature a specific film guidance help intended to waste less film while loading. Check out the manual. That one should be same for all Prakticas with the letter L in their model name, just in case you cannot find the MTL 5 manual.
JC on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 28/03/2024
thanks for your short review.
The Pentacon 50mm f1.8 is a famous lens, like a Canon FD 50mm f1.8, a Pentax SMC-M 50mm d1.7 or a Zuiko 50mm f1.8 or a Rokkor 50mm f1.7, that should be clear. For my opinion we should treat these lenses with dignity.
The Pentacons are quite different, one copy is soft at f1.8, another copy can be sharp at f1.8. When your MC type isn't that good, try an early single coated Pentacon.
But : all Pentacon lenses are always wonderful in rendering colours !
Another choices for standard M42 lenses on the Praktica are the CZJ Pancolar 50mmf1.8 or the Helios 44M 58mm f2 ( i recommend 44M-4 and all higher versions up to 44M-7 ).
My recommendation for ALL analogue cameras : Please, please read the manual slowly and carefully !!!
TonyD on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 28/03/2024
Philip Lambert on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 28/03/2024
Geoff Chaplin on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 29/03/2024
Comment posted: 29/03/2024
Michael Zwicky-Ross on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 29/03/2024
Steviemac on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 29/03/2024
canapedemondongo on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 31/03/2024
Roger on 5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)
Comment posted: 02/04/2024