The Praktisix is a classic SLR camera for medium format films. Construction began in 1952 and Siegfried Böhm was responsible for the design process. The camera was presented at Photokina in 1956 and went into serial production at the Dresden-Niedersedlitz camera factory the following year.
With later models the production was transferred to the newly founded VEB Pentacon Dresden. The original Praktisix was followed in 1964 by the Praktisix II A and two years later (1966) by the Praktisix II. These models differ only slightly from the original model. The Pentacon Six was introduced in 1966.
The lenses of the Praktisix are interchangeable. Lenses can be used with a Praktisix bayonet / Pentacon Six bayonet / P6 bayonet. The medium format camera with the Zeiss Biometer 80mm f/2.8 is often encountered, but there are a lot of interesting lenses for this bayonet, especially some nice lenses from Zeiss. The Praktisix has no autofocus. Therefore, you have to focus by hand.
The shutter speed and aperture can be selected by the photographer. There is no exposure meter. The subject is targeted by a waist-level viewfinder, but there are also attachments with prismatic viewfinders. The camera comes with a bulb mode. The shutter is open for a variable time. An external flash can be used via the PC flash socket.
The Praktisix comes with a self-timer. There is also a connector for a cable release and a thread for a tripod.
Films for the Praktisix
The Praktisix must be equipped with 120 films. These types of photo films are manufactured by some companies. A good choice for color and black-and-white pictures is the Lomography Color Negative 400 120* and the Kodak T-Max 400*.
You have to think square with the Praktisix. It takes pictures in 6x6 format. At this size, the usual numbers of images fit on a single roll of film is twelve. The film in the camera must be winded manually, as there is no automatic film transport.
