Hello, hello! It's that time of the week again.
I've been getting a startling number of hits lately so I wanted to make a proposition...
Please feel free to comment! I don't care what you have to say but it'll be way easier for me to keep doing this if there's some sort of dialogue and not just me blabbing to myself. Also, I know the information on the cameras that I'm putting up is not that extensive, so if you want to know more, please ask! I'm not an expert but cameras, lenses, optics, all that stuff, is what I do. I have a solid background in the subject and if I can't answer your question, I will know where to go for the answer. I would love for this blog to be a resource for people and not just my hobby.
So that being said, here is the Praktica Nova B! I got this camera 100% free from a bin at the camera swap meet here in Vancouver. And for that, I wouldn't have expected to get such a beautiful piece of equipment!
Surprisingly I haven't been able to find out that much about this little machine, other than it is almost identical to the Praktica Nova (surprise, surprise), which was produced from '64 to '69. Its only difference is one of my all-time favourite features on a camera. The light meter in the Nova B does not correspond to your selected aperture or shutter speed. Rather, it has a separate light meter and a little needle dial, with a window next to the "film knurl." You select your ISO, which allows the light meter to start working. A needle with a diamond on it will move according to the light. Then you can turn the dial until the other needle matches with the diamond one. The result: the dial will read all your f-stop and shutter speed combinations! Talk about simple! Or praktical, one could say...
Other than that tasty feature, the Nova B operates much like any other SLR. It has a fresnel type focus screen, with a depth of field preview (which isn't that effective, maybe it's just me), and it takes M42 screw mount lenses. This one came with the Petri lens in the picture, and unfortunately I don't know much about them. However, with this lens and a JC Penney (of all things) 1A filter, the camera takes some beautiful shots.
The Praktica series of cameras has its roots in East Germany, since 1949, and Pentacon, the company that produced them (originally called "VEB Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden") has some Zeiss blood as well. In other words, they're well built, reliable cameras.
On the topic of reliability, the mirror in my Nova B sometimes doesn't flip back down, so sometimes I have to take a random shot to get an image back in my viewfinder. But again, it was free! I would not give this thing away for the world.
The first photo was shot on 100 ISO Lomo enhanced colour film at Kitsilano beach. The other two were taken at the Vancouver aquarium on 400 ISO Superia... I believe. These last two were taken in really rough lighting conditions that my mom's fancy Lumix point and shoot couldn't handle. So don't throw out your film cameras!!!
xoxoxo
Caity
