Praktica BMS

The Praktica that was in production when the Berlin wall came down.

It's funny trying to put into context historical objects that were from times of important or memorable events from history.

Well, this was one of the cameras produced by Praktica the year the wall came down. This was a prime example of a modern SLR produced in the German Democratic Republic! Yes, maybe the critics would say it technically lagged behind similar products from the West and of course Japan. They may well be right! But it still does not stop this being a rather nice camera, both in its time and today.

Lets have a quick look at it and it's history. The Praktica BMS was produced between March 1989 and December 1990. According to www.praktica-collector.de, which is probably still the best site available on the internet for Praktica collectors, though I don't think much new material seems to be added these days, it was designed by Dietmar Tannert and the production run was of 137,561 cameras. This particular one is body number 0372013. The lens is a Pentacon Prakticar 50mm 2.4 standard lens. Number 3101767 and has been on from new.

Many of these cameras came to the U.K. They were relatively cheap especially through the big discount chains who used to advertise in the mainstream photographic press such as Amateur Photographer, well specked for the keen amateur, easy to use, nice clear viewfinder, TTL metering, clear LED indication on exposure you could not go wrong for the money.

They certainly looked the part, nicely finished in black, they still felt right just as the Prakticas of the 1960's did. The Praktica B mount was by 1989 was well known, a good variety of lenses available at reasonable cost both from Praktica and from third party producers.

The shutter had speeds of 4/1, 2/1, 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/5001/1000. Impressive if you had bought one of these to replace your mid 1960's Praktica Nova.

Well, lets find out what one of these will do today, I have just bought a new Eunicell 4LR44 alkaline battery, which I have been informed is the correct modern equivalent to a Varta V28 PX.

Lets hope this is correct! It's in its compartment, every thing is lighting up LED's are flashing, we are all ready to go!

I have a 24exp Kodak Colour Plus film ready to put in, it is actually in date, so lets see what happens and I'll post my results on the Blog. Fingers crossed let us hope the camera and myself performs!

Right we are ready to go! Take care!

Phil.

Update 4.4.2025

The First film I have put through the BMS is back from the processors, please check out the new post Praktica BMS First Film Results to see how it performs.