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In Reply to: Looking for a Praktica LTL3 Camera posted by B. Gatlin on February 18, 2001 at 17:33:54:
: I am looking for a Praktica LTL3 Camera or one that will interchange. Mine is malfunctioning and I have all the lenses for it including a zoom lense and wide-angle lense.
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Prakticas are pretty plentiful on auction boards such as eBay. Any international search will yield 40 or 50 of the L models being sold at any time. They were also sold under the Revue brand in Europe. Your camera has the match lights instead of the needle metering. The earlier LTL had the needle and ring, while the LTL2 & 3 had the match lights.
The earlier LTLs seem to be made of better and heavier metal than the later Prakticas. From my own experience, I have found that the later models are more reliable. The older cameras seem to exhibit signs of mirror chamber flare, probably because seals have deteriorated (possibly an age thing). I've noticed this in my LTL, while I have not experienced it with my PM-3, the same basic model as the MTL5, that was built in the mid and late 80's. After that the Prakticas were switched to a bayonet mount.
You should be able to pick up a good replacement with standard lens for not more than $40 (US). Bodies only should be less.
Your lenses should work on other screw mount cameras. The nice thing about Prakticas is the open aperture focusing and metering, through activating the meter by lever located right over the shutter release. If you look at other screw mount cameras, make sure they offer similar operation, because stopped down metering is a pain, at times.
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