I’ve recently been shooting with a Praktica BX20, which was one of the last Praktica models produced by Pentacon before they were wound up in the wake of German unification.
The company Pentacon was born out of a merger of various East German-based camera manufacturers after the war. Most prominent of these was Zeiss Ikon AG Dresden. Over the years KW, Welta, Ihagee and Meyer were absorbed.
As a 15 year old I got my first ever SLR for a Christmas present. It was a Soviet made Zenit and served me well for a while. When I opted for ‘A’ Level Photography at school, I decided to upgrade. With a small budget made up from part-time work, the only new camera I could afford was a Praktica, the latest model being the MTL5b. Literally made in their millions in the old GDR (or East Germany as we knew it), Prakticas were relatively cheap and had a decent reputation for reliability. And perfect for learning with. Others in my cohort also had Prakticas. One class mate had a neat, sleek SLR which looked rather impressive. I worked out years later it was an Olympus OM.
