MTL 5 with the standard Pentacon 50mm/1.8 lens by the other Martin Taylor

The Praktica MTL5 was a 35mm SLR made in East Germany by Pentacon between 1983 and 1985. About 574,000 examples were built^[1] before the camera was upgraded slightly and replaced by the MTL 5 B. The camera features TTL exposure metering, triggered by a switch next to the front-mounted shutter release; this stops down the lens, and operates a needle-centring display on the right edge of the viewfinder. The meter is powered by a mercury battery fitted in the base, and its film speed set by lifting and rotating the shutter speed dial.

The vertical, metal-curtained focal plane shutter runs from 1s to 1/1000s +B, with a self-timer giving a delay of about 7 seconds. The vertical blades allow X-flash sync up to 1/125s.

Interchangeable lenses are fixed with an M42 screw mount.

The camera gives an impression of solid, but basic engineering - and has an incredibly strong mirror slap recoil.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ According to praktica-collector.de

Links Edit

• Manual available for free here on Kar Yan Mak & Henry Taber's site
• MTL5 Manual on Mike Butkus' site
• Praktica Collector - MTL5 Specific Page
• Pentacon Praktica MTL5 in Sylvain Halgand's collection.