Buying Praktica MTL 5 - what to look for?

The MTL 5 was produced between 1983-1985. The camera uses the Varta 625 battery for the light meter and flash sync. is 1/125 sec. however,the camera has a tendency to suffer from spacing problems in the shutter because the internal parts of this camera was made quite weak.

If you are looking for a screw mount SLR to use I highly recommend the Pentax SP series.

Is there any way to check for this problem with the shutter other than waiting for it to fail?

Also, keep in mind that we're talking $10 here - I can handle some risk for that amount of money.

I agree with the shutter leak problem. That was my first real SLR and I learned everything on it. I loved the simplicity of the controls, and few if any cameras I've owned since then have felt as good in actual use. Seriously. And yes, check out the Pentax screw lenses if you like sharpness. The end came when I started getting faint narrow bands of increased density in the middle of negs that I couldn't ignore. The solution for you would be to put a roll of film through before buying, but as d+p could end up costing more than the camera itself you could just ask the seller. If it were me, at that price I'd take the chance. Good luck.

That is a Tessar lens from Carl Zeiss Jena. It is an excellent lens worth the $10 for the lens alone. The MTL 5 is a very good camera. I own 3 of those models. The shutter is vertical, metal bladed; one of the best designed and made. You can test the shutter against a TV set with pictures running. Remove the lens, hold the camera against the TV a few feet away, open the back of the camera, look through the frame and fire the shutter at different speed settings starting with 1/60 sec and go higher. Fire several times at each speed. At 1/60 sec it should show full frame. At 1/125 sec it should show half frame. At 1/250 sec it should show 1/4 frame. At 1/500 sec it should show 1/8 frame/ And at 1/1000 sec it should show 1/16 frame. Full frame would be all of 24mm. And 1/16 frame would be only 1.5mm wide strip of the TV picture. Usually these shutters are very accurate, unless someone had mishandled them. Check the lens clarity, aperture, focusing mechanism and the automatic pin. Inside the front of the camera check the mirror and levers as to whether they are clean. If these are okay and the rewind button works from the bottom then you have a very good bargain. As suggested above you may also try a film roll in it to see the results. All the Best!

Regarding the battery you can use the modern button cell battery no 357 or D357. It works very well. No need to search for the Varta 625.

I'd agree with Subbarayan - it is a really excellent and accurate shutter. Quality control at Pentacon was perhaps not the best, but as long as you get one that is still working 25 or more years later, it should keep going indefinitely. About 9 out of 10 Prakticas have a disintegrating light seal at the hinge end of the back, but this is very easily replaced.

The MTL5B used a SR44 silver oxide button cell which I think is still available. You may need to make a simple adapter to use some button cells in place of the 625 cell used in the MTL5 and earlier, but as the meter uses a bridge circuit, the voltage is not critical as long as it is somewhere near. Always check before buying that someone has not left a leaky cell in the camera. If they have, and the circuit board is corroded, it is really only good for spares.

Praktica prisms sometimes show some brown defocussed marks at the edge of the field of view. They don't get in the way of picture-taking and are quite easy to ignore, but worth checking for if this sort of thing annoys you!

I just got the camera earlier today. It didn't have a battery in it (which is good - there's no corrosion), so I need to find one. Overall, it seems to be in very good condition, even the lens (which does focus at infinity), and the shutter seems to work. It's a little dirty in some areas, but a little gentle cleaning should have it looking about as good as new! Again, worst case is I'm out $10, but I still have the lens and a nice neck strap.

Subbarayan - that's a very clever trick for checking shutter speed. I will try it not only on this camera, but on my mom's old Nikon FE (which I occasionally use) as well!

I plan to check the light seals for any obvious problems and then put a roll of film in it and see what happens! I'll keep you all posted and try to take some photos of it with my D70s later.

OK, I got a battery and the meter appears to work properly, but I still have to double-check against the metering in my D70s to make sure they roughly agree. I'm not sure yet whether the shutter speeds are accurate - I have to test them as well.

There is one problem - the lens does not stop down! In retrospect, this would've been something obvious to check before. The problem is with the lens, I believe - if I push the pin down, the lens' aperture blades do not move. It's stuck at f/2.8. Is it possible to take this apart to fix it?

All those things, and a little cleaning and light seal checking, and I might be good to go!

It turns out that the lens was stuck in 'manual' mode, meaning that the automatic step-down was disabled. The switch for M/A was stuck, so I figured that since it only cost $10 it couldn't hurt to take it apart. It wasn't too bad - I only took off the very back ring that mounts to the camera. I found that a small bearing which the switch relies upon had fallen out of place, so I replaced it and now the lens works almost perfectly. The diaphragm blades are still stick sometimes; I think there's a little oil on them.

Also, the meter has now stopped working. This is upsetting because it worked, then I went to get dinner, and when I came back an hour later it had stopped working. Maybe next I'll take the front of the camera apart to see if the switch has a bad connection :)

Other than that, I just need to replace the light seals near the hinge. Where do I get replacements? Would black felt work? What do I use to remove the existing residue? (Google, here I come!) Then I can start looking for these outrageously cheap M42 lenses I keep hearing about :)

Chris, the lens may have one of two problems. Not difficult to fix. (1) the spring that makes the aperture return to smaller openings may have gone weak; it is difficult to replace. (2) the other possibility is that the aperture blades are stuck due to non usage. First, try to switch to manual mode and work the aperture ring back and forth. It may release it. If it does not you can open the rear end and use a copper wire [0.5mm dia.] to tie the rotating ring to the aperture lever inside; then the automatic mode will not work. But you will be able to set the stops in the manual mode. I did that on my Tessar. I shall try and give a reference site on how to disassemble and clean the Tessar lens if you would like it and want to DIY, later in the day. I think you will enjoy this camera, really, in spite of the many "put downs" people do on "oh! those Commie" cameras! :) haha! I have posted some sample pictures on this site earlier under "CZJ Tessar". Please take a look; all the best.

The light seal is very simple. Open an old 35mm cassette and peel off the felt from its opening edges. Cut to size and fix it in place near the hinge with rubber solution or Pliobond. Use the old one for size as a template. Please do not use hardening cement. The other light seals on the grooves ought to be okay. The Dresden Camera makers were conservative [rightly so] and used rope thread in the grooves. They last a life time. If they have been damaged then you may clean the grooves and stick black woollen thread [the knitting type, there will be some spare at home] with the same Pliobond or equivalent. Try to avoid sponge rubber as it disintegrates over time and leaves small particles around. All the Best. I must acknowledge that I learnt the shutter testing method from Ed Romney and Rick Oleson, great teachers, both. Salute them!

Regarding the meter check the bottom battery compartment; there is small pressure spring contact in brass or aluminum in it. That may have to be lifted to apply full pressure contact on the cell. Also make sure that you have the terminals right [sorry, it happens to all of us!]. If it still does not work the battery may be old stock and may have run down. The meter is easy to adjust and calibrate. Let me know if it needs to be done. I shall send you my experience with it and some reference on it. Regards!

I think the lens has one of two problems: (1) The spring that makes the aperture return to the widest opening after stopping down is weak. (2) The diaphragm blades are sticky.

I'm pretty sure it's #2, because occasionally the aperture doesn't close down all the way when I press the pin in, and sometimes it doesn't return to the widest aperture after stopping down. Switching from the smaller f-number to f/2.8 causes it to open up all the way.

I'm not too concerned; I can make it work, usually, and M42 glass can be found cheaply (that's why I bought this camera).

I have replaced the light seals now as suggested. I think they're a little thicker than the originals because the camera is now a little harder to close, but it's not a big problem. One interesting thing - under the light seal near the hinge on the camera itself is an engraved number. Is this a serial number? Why is it hidden under the light seal? (My # is 104133).

Now, the meter - after some work with cardboard and aluminium foil, I have it working consistently. It has two problems: (1) it stops working at shutter speeds of 1/2 and slower. (2) it is way off, according to my D70. The D70s, when pointed at my computer screen and set to ISO 200, f/2.8, meters it at 1/320, while the Praktica with similar settings meters it at about 1/4. So calibration is in order.

Other than that, it seems I'm getting closer to having a working camera!

Congratulations! I think you can refine it to good working condition. It is late at night here and my gray cells don't work very well now. I shall send you the reference on the meter and its calibration. It is somewhere in my computer. Recently I did calibrate a couple of them. I shall also send you the reference on the Tessar repair. Tomorrow. I hope the felt seal you used is not making the back of the camera bend near the hinge. Just make sure that the pressure is just right and light. The sticky aperture blades may start working if you use them a little every day. Most lenses will have this problem if they are not used for a long time. All the best! I think you have a very good buy. Make some pictures and post them. I shall look forward!

I am attaching a file on CZJ repair from a good samaritan.

Subbarayan,

Thank you very much for all your help! I haven't had much luck finding a lot of information about this camera and lens on the Internet, and you have been extremely helpful.

I can't wait to see the reference on the meter. I'll try to follow the instructions you've posted if the lens doesn't improve (and if I feel brave). For the record, I found what seems to be the original page with images: http://oomz.net/tessar/

Also, out of curiosity, where are you? I'm in the eastern United States.

Hi! thanks for the kind words. I am in Bangalore, India. I used to live in the US from 1966 to 1978. Studied in UW Seattle,WA for my Masters and Ph.D in urban Planning. Taught in Wayne State U, U of Memphis and UW. Then Back in India at Indian Instt. of Management, Bangalore. Now I am retired and am doing some research and writing on my own and guiding theses in Urban Planning from several universities [some from India, some from the US] among other things. I am also trying to revive my photography and learn more "useless" things, just to keep happy and young! Need to find more time for it. I am impressed by your enthusiasm. Best regards, let me know your progress.

I found a page which said the MTL3 had some adjustments in the bottom of the camera, so I took the MTL 5's bottom plate off thinking they might be similar. I didn't see any adjustments, and now I can't get the bottom back on! It seems like there's something between the battery holder and the film rewind button preventing me from getting the bottom flush with the camera. Do you have any experience with this?

Now I have to fix this, the meter, and the lens... one step forward, two steps back!

It turns out that the problem is that the rewind button can't be pushed. This is weird because it worked earlier; I know I tested it.

So now I have to fix the rewind button, the meter, and the lens...

I'm sorry to keep replying to my own thread, but I figured out how to put the rewind button and the bottom back together! So now I only need to fix the metering and the lens.

I thought I'd take some photos of the camera...

Here it is with lens cap.

And without lens cap...

Lughtroom 2's copyright watermarks aren't pretty..

And last, the lens.

Now, if only I could get it all to work right :)

Subbarayan, thank you for posting the helpful info on checking shutter speeds against your TV. Now if I only had a TV. We tend to get absorbed into them (like the internet), so having one is not a good idea, but maybe if we buy a $10 thrift store one and don't hook it up to the cable it will be ok. I am always buying cameras w/ questionable shutters, and this sort of test should get me in the ballpark.

If you have a CRT monitor (old tech now, I know) and set its refresh rate to 60 Hz, I think that would work just as well.

Good Morning! from Bangalore. I just woke up and saw that you have done a lot of work! Please do keep notes make sketches and even photograph the small repairs you do. They will come in handy later. Between us, perhaps, we can even put together a manual for maintenance of Practica MTL5 ! Ah! your camera looks spanking new; that is a great buy for $10. If ever you sell it keep me in mind. :) Can you post a picture of the bottom meter board? My MTL3 and MTL5 have almost the same PCBs. Only the battery size is different in diameter. The adjustment screws for the Variable Resistors are below the PCB. You reach them through three holes in the PCB with a small screw driver. Please see if you can find them. Oh the rewind release button at the bottom fits only one way in a groove; but you have to fire the shutter fully and then press the lever down to make it sit; then fit the bottom plate and release the button by cocking the shutter. I had the same problem figuring it out initially. I shall get back to calibrating after you locate the VRs. Best of everything.

It's 10 in the evening here, so I'll be going to sleep soon, but I'll look for those adjustments. The camera is in good condition; I'm very happy with it.

I will try to photograph all these things. I'd like to at least put together a Web page with all this information... it seems like very few people actually know about all this, and I'd love to share the knowledge!

I think it will take me less than two hours to put the bottom back on this time :)

I can see exactly the adjustments that I need now. Now, the calibration...

Steve, please check Rick Oleson's website on "tech notes". He is the Guru on these things! He has a good illustration on how the display will be seen at different shutter speeds for the focal plane shutter. I learned a lot from his notes and CD. He also has a CD version for sale. Please verify. Regards sp.

Now that I know where the adjustments are, I suppose that these directions are OK? http://www.vf.utwente.nl/~schooten/photos/praktica/index.html

Subbarayan, do you have any hints as to which variable resistor does what? Is there a specific procedure you use to calibrate the camera?

Yes, that seems okay; I also tried that trial and error method first. It took me a long time. Then it struck me that in the bridge circuit VR2/VR3 should be equal to VR1/LDR. So I set the VR2 and VR3 in equal position by rotating about a quarter turn from the zero position at 9 O'clock to 12 O'clock. I assumed that they would be equal. [Not so scientific; but I guessed that they won't be using different types of VRs for such a small circuit.] Then exposed the camera at bright sunlight for Sunny 16. [It means you have to set the film speed for and the aperture for the EV16; any combination in the range 1/125 to 1/500sec should work. If you don't have sunlight use any suitable light condition.] Then you have to adjust only VR1 till the match needle comes to zero! [as you have made the other Resistors constant.] Very low values in VR2, VR3 will make the meter very sensitive. Very high values will make it the other way around. I followed this logic and it worked for me in about 3 tries. I kept comparing with a hand held Gossen meter. You may do it with your digital too. I hope it works for you.

I will try that tomorrow evening...until then, good night from the United States!

LDR is Light Detecting Resistor [the CDS cell plus the scales for film speed and shutter speed]. There is no adjustment to it other than setting the shutter speed and film speed. those knobs set the resistance value. I assume that you are familiar with the Sunny 16 scale for EVs. If you set the film speed at ASA 250 then set the shutter speed to inverse of the same at 1/250 sec. So any ASA xxx will be matched by shutter speed 1/xxx second and will require an aperture value of f/16 at bright Sunlight EV 16 in your kind of climate. [Of course, it would change if you are in the tropics or in the polar regions. Would also vary a little with desert reflections, snow or green forests, etc.] All the best. When you are done with this you will only have lens aperture to tune. I hope it will loosen with use. If it is too difficult let me know; I have by passed the automatic spring and made it work like a stop down aperture ring, fully.

I believe I have a problem. When I took the bottom off of the camera, I also too off part of the shutter speed/ISO calculation gear mechanism, thinking that it might have been part of the rewind mechanism. I now realize what this is, but I know I turned the gear some before I put it back on, so now I think it's wrong.

It looks like these gears read ISO and shutter speed and compute EV by moving a contact across another variable resistor, right? That's pretty clever.

I'm attaching a photo of the mechanism I'm talking about. The big gear on the right is the one I'm talking about.

Am I making any sense with this? Do you have any suggestions?

Oh! don't worry; that is controlled by the dial knob for shutter speed and the ASA setting for film speed. It will set according to the ASA setting you choose on top. You cannot upset it from the bottom, unless you break the darn thing. You can turn the Shutter speed kno and/or the film speed setting on top and onserve this turning too!

You can turn the Shutter speed knob and/or the film speed setting on top and observe this turning too! Made a spelling correction there!

I think I have upset it from the bottom, though. I didn't know what I was doing, so I took the black disc off (by removing the two black screws barely visible on the bottom of the photo). I moved the gear attached to this assembly before putting it back on, so I think I have messed it up.

I tried quickly setting VR2 and VR3 equal to each other and then moving VR1, but no adjustment of VR1 caused the meter to get close - it read underexposed over its entire range.

Try and keep VR2 and VR3 as low as possible. Then check if the needle moves faster and gets more sensitive. You should be able arrive at a reasonable level of indication. Try it patiently and I don't think there is much to go wrong.

It doesn't matter even if your meter does not work. You can use a hand held old fashioned meter. You can get a good matrix reading and make your own averaging and adjustments with that. I use the meter only as a yardstick to verify my visual judgment. When I leraned photography there were no meters, at all. The TTL meters are usually center weighted and often misleading. Of course, if you shoot slides on chrome film then they are very useful.

I'm away from my house right now, but I should be home in about 8 hours. I think it will be night in India then, but I will try it as soon as I get home. I'm still not sure that I didn't upset the shutter speed calculator, though.

Thank you!

It's quite easy to reset the main metering potentiometer, which I think is what you have disturbed, Chris.

With the bottom cover removed, set the film speed to 20 DIN/80 ASA. At this setting (and only this setting) the metering should function over the whole range of shutter speeds 1 sec to 1/1000 sec.

Check that at the 1 sec and 1/1000 sec speeds, the potentiometer slider is symmetrically placed at opposite extremities of the track. There should only be about 1/32" of carbon track visible beyond the slider at each end (the track is mainly hidden below the "roof" of the component).

If it's wrong, lift the potentiometer again and reposition its gear linkage until you get it right.

Steve, Thanks for that tip. I shall make a note of it in my book too. It is very interesting and challenging to restore these. Regards, sp

Steve - that sounds like it should fix the problem. Thanks for the pointers! I'll try that tonight.

Steve - I believe that it now reads the shutter speed correctly; the meter needle moves at all speeds except bulb and "little lightning symbol" :)

I've two other questions for you (or Subbarayan): (1) How do you know that it must be set to ASA 80? (2) How do I ensure that the ASA reading gear is properly oriented? I need to be sure of this before I calibrate the meter, of course.

I can have a guess at this. At 80 ASA the film needs the maximum light. So the film speed scale will offer the least resistance or the maximum current flow and allow the CdS cell to measure the maximum light as it comes. As you increase the film speed it would choose higher points on the scale and therefore increase the resistance or reduce the current flow to the CdS cell. The concept is that of a Nomograph in mathematics where you match scales with a cursor as we used to do in a slide rule. Unfortunately, the manufacturers of cameras do not provide design and specifications, unlike the automobile manufacturers who provide specifications in their repair manuals. For your second question; because of the above I guess the only way you can arrive at a "proper" alignment is to try out the high and low end of the scales and take sample readings and arrive at your own Nomograph and compare it with that of a standard meter from another Camera. You can also use the Gray card scale to calibrate your values on a Sunny day. You may check out Fred Parker's site to get the Gray Scale. If I find any more information or ideas on this I shall let you know. Meanwhile take some pictures and post them. I shall look forward to viewing them. All the best. Hope your lens aperture starts working too! Do keep in touch. I enjoyed the interaction. Thanks!

Chris Hi, I tried working out the Nomograph today. You will have to focus on a standard [ized] light source. Let us say Bright Sun light [Sunny 16]. Set your Aperture, film speed and shutter per that combination; then the meter needle should read zero or near zero. You can set any other source of light and check the exposure combination with a standard light meter. You can do it with your digital camera in Manual mode and read out the scale values. As I mentioned earlier VR1 = [VR2/VR3] x LDR. Or VR1 - [VR2/VR3]x LDR = Zero. That is the pointer needle at zero. Since your needle is moving freely now keep VR2 and VR3 equal [or near equal] and try adjust VR1 to get the needle to zero. In the absence any instrumentation and specifications from the factory this seems to be the way to do it. I agree that it is a bit cumbersome, as you have to load the battery and the cover each time before checking the meter performance. Instead of using the screws I used tape to make things a little quicker. Best of luck.

I took some time last night and I have the meter working reasonably accurately except at low shutter speeds (less than 1/30 or 1/15). I'll take some time this weekend to read through your suggestions (again) and try to understand them and see if I can get the meter to be more accurate.

I also still have to clean the aperture blades - right now, I the lens usually doesn't stop down when I press the stop-down metering button on the camera. I's usable at f/2.8, though! I'll put some film in it later today to test it out.

Thanks for all your help - I'll be sure to post pictures in a few days.

Chris

Oh Great! for the slower speeds you can apply a correction factor. Most of these TTL meters are accurate only in a middle range. Looking forward to your pictures. By the way, are you an IT person? what do you specialize in at work? All the best! sp

I plan to apply a correction factor when I expose each photo...it's kind of guesswork, but I think it'll work fine.

I'm actually a college student in my first year. I'm probably going to specialize in chemical engineering, but I'm not quite sure yet.

Hello again Chris, Have just come back to your thread after a day offline. In answer to your questions of a few posts back, the information that the metering should be operative over the whole range at ASA 80 came from the instructions for an MTL3, which is an identical metering system. It has been valid for all cameras of this type I've checked (MTL3, MTL5B, Super TL1000). Pentacon presumably worked out that arranging things this way gave the most useful range of metering.

I'm not sure what you mean in your second question! If the potentiometer slider is correctly positioned at opposite ends of the track at 1 sec and 1/1000 sec speeds (at 20 DIN/80 ASA) then you have got the gearing back into the same position as when you found it. There is only a single linkage between the shutter-speed/film-speed controls and the metering. In other words if you change the shutter speed from 1/1000 to 1/500 and the film speed from 200 ASA to 100 ASA the gears will be in the same position, and the metering will indicate zero at the same aperture.

Steve: thank you for the explanation; that makes sense.

I'm back, everyone! I finally have a film scanner, meaning I can show you photos from the Praktica (with only minor retouching): here. Sorry about the bg file sizes; I'm still playing with the settings on my scanner and export settings in Lightroom.

Full size photos are in this zip file.

The meter is reasonably accurate in light that's "in-between" bright and very dim, but outside or in a dark room it's always off. Print film is forgiving enough, though, that I can estimate the proper exposure.

This is a fun little camera. Thank you, Subbarayan and Steve, for all your help!!

I have an MTL 5 that I got from eBay. My dad gave me an LTL to learn photography when I was in college, and I've been sentimental about getting antother Praktica, so I got the MTL to replace it.

Alas, when I got it, the meter was several stops off. So, I started tinkering with the potentiometers underneath and REALLY screwed it up good. I'd used it a few times without the meter, but was never totally comfortable with it. I was always afraid I was going to miss a good shot.

So, then I was directed to this article from a Flickr page. Following these instructions written by Subbarayan Prasanna, I set out to fix it:

"Try and keep VR2 and VR3 as low as possible. Then check if the needle moves faster and gets more sensitive. You should be able arrive at a reasonable level of indication...Since your needle is moving freely now keep VR2 and VR3 equal [or near equal] and try adjust VR1 to get the needle to zero. In the absence any instrumentation and specifications from the factory this seems to be the way to do it."

This is exactly the method that worked for me. And, I've been looking for this all over the internet ever since I got this camera almost two years ago.

I compared meter readings to a known working Nikon FM2 and the MTL-5 was within + or - 1/2 stop at every shutter/film/aperture combination I could throw at it. I could probably make it more accurate, and I might at some point, but right now I'm just tickled to have it working well enough to use!

Thanks so much for your posts. I'm gonna have some fun with this camera in the next few weeks!

C.Locke! hi! I am glad the notes worked for you and your meter on the go now. All the best. Thanks for acknowledging. It is a small world. Regards, sp.