Pentacon !

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

It still exists Exclamation

http://www.pentacon-dresden.de/

And with the same logo! Very Happy

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Yes, but no lens maker any more.

rick_oleson · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 12:49 am Post subject:

i believe i heard that after the reunification, the pentacon headquarters was taken over by an adult book store, or a sex-toy shop or something of that nature......

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

rick_oleson · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:27 pm Post subject:

that was a long time ago, hopefully things are better now.

i just went hunting and found this very impressive presentation on Dresden - and yes, Pentacon is featured!

http://www.dresden.de/media/pdf/wirtschaft_extern/infoblaetter/Dresden_Pictures_2005_2006.pdf?PHPSESSID=jngqked0jc0pamr5i1d21i81b4

An extraordinarily beautiful place, with what appears to be a hopeful and prosperous future.....

montecarlo · Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 1865 Location: Romania

Hello,

...and Praktica (& Exakta too)

http://www.praktica.de/index.php?iL=2&iO=0&iM=1

...but only in some relatively cheap products, made somewhere in Asia, I think, and yes, no lenses. Even the some of the late SLR lenses (for the BX series) were made in Asia (Sigma ?).
I don't know the quality of these Prakticas (P&S) an I didn't see no reviews about them.
Some of the products might be good, though, if not the digital cameras, the other accessories.

Did anyone used or owes one of their lately made products ?

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

Hi!

I once have tried a Praktica digiam...well, let's say, I would not really recommend it! Sad

MTHall · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 120 Location: England UK

Today Praktica is a cheap far east manufacturer of digital cameras, I have a HD video camera, it isn't very good, the autofocus is awfull and no I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Past glories.........sigh.........!! There should have been a better way to reunify Germany, but it is all done and dusted now.

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3439 Location: Netherlands

yinyangbt · Expire: 2012-12-27

They were sitting ducks ... Shifting from manual focus to autofocus, analog to digital,from CAER to a global market , from the centralised economy to the free market... The fact that the company still exists is already a performance . But the good old days are gone (forever ,it seems)

fermy · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 1974

Wow, some horrible shit on their website. Reminds me of 50 Euros Rollei digicams that you can see in some supermarkets here. Who buys this?

OPAL · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 354

MTHall · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 120 Location: England UK

It is a sad fact that NONE of the top brands of yesteryear's cameras survive and are just shadows of their former products. Some are better than others, true. But none measure up to the quality of a late fifties Rolei or Lieca. Praktica too, along with many east European companies, dissolved with that wall, leaving their names to be devoured by the tiger economies of the far eastern producers.
But there's another sad fact too. If things were different and production had continued normally after the wall fell down. Would we be able to afford those cameras, new, today? A Rolei TLR in '57, cost about £125, about three months pay for a skilled man, (in '89 anyone?), about 7 grand today's income. Now there are modern offerings costing more than this and they're quality products too, BUT nowhere near the build quality of a fifties Rolei or Lieca! and IF they were to go for that build quality today, you'd be looking at 60 grand and more for a new rangefinder. I should think that a `new' MTL50 made to the same spec today, would cost £5/6 Hundred, minimum!
So look at your old cameras with a little respect as far as their monetary value. Back when Dixons were knocking out Praktica's at £50 in the mid eighties, that was well over a weeks pay for ordinary folk.

I, rightly or wrongly, disagree with selling a brand name. Once a brand goes out of production, it's name and logo should die with it. Then all that went before, retains an intact identity.

Just my tupence worth of course, a happy Spring to everyone.

buerokratiehasser · Joined: 12 Jun 2011 Posts: 470

Exakta, Praktica have become brand names of the vivitar and sigma market, like soligor, sakar, whatever. There was even a CZ labeled japanese zoom 1991 or so which gave way to lots of confusion.

The quality depends, vivitar lenses can be nice for their price. IF you get the C/D UMCS lenses like the 60-300 or the weird 'sakar beercan' 75-200 or the UC 28-70 3.5-4.5...

I think I have a praktica digicam with 1.something megapixel and those floppy multimedia "cards".. somewhere. It's not very popular with me. Also maybe a post-1990 scope.