Praktica IV F from 1963

This Praktica is a follow on model of the Praktica IV which was introduced in 1959 by K.W. (Kamera Werkstatten Guthe & Thorsch) who sort of got incorporated into the Pentacon Group soon after bringing out the Praktica IV. So the IV F is a Pentacon camera, but for all intents and purposes it is of course a K.W. design.

What is the difference from the previous IV model I hear you ask, well really not that much ! The main difference is the greatly improved focusing screen. The IV F has a Fresnel screen fitted with a spilt image rangefinder. That is more or less it, but what a difference it makes in practice! The IV F is so much easier to focus, the viewfinder is so much clearer, brighter and easier to focus using the rangefinder that is set in a round central ground glass ring. For someone who wears glasses and who's eyes are not as good as they were, this is a vast improvement over the IV.

If you follow the posts on this blog, you may be wondering why I'm doing a new post on a similar camera to what really I have already covered and you have a point! The answer is Ebay! I spotted this one last week and just liked the look of it. The IV F looked sort of original, un messed with, for a start the Ludwig Meritar lens had its original lens cap still in place, which is most unusual. The camera was a bit dusty and dull, like it had been just put safely away 50 years ago at the back of a cupboard by its original owner and left there! I love cameras like that, they have not been misused or treated roughly by someone who just needed a cheap camera, or given to the grandkids to use, no this one had been cared for and just put away.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I bought it! At least it gets it out of the hands of the Bokeh Boys for a while, it does not get its lens looted and stuck on something digital!

Right, enough of this waffle, lets have a proper look at this IV F. The lens fitted to this particular example is the cheaper entry level E. Ludwig Meritar 50mm f2.9, it wears the number 1407944 and looks like it has been fitted with a clear U.V. filter for most, if not all of its life. This has really protected the front element from the dust and cleaning scratches that usually befall these lenses. The filter ring says it is a 35.5 thread. The lens is I believe a triplet.

It's not the best lens in the world, but I like it. If in the late fifties or early sixties you fancied a good quality Praktica, Exa or Exakta but did not have a bottomless purse, this then was your choice of standard lens. Lets face it, at that time, both in Great Britain and in the G.D.R only the richer customers could afford a camera with a Zeiss Tessar, or Biotar, so some bought the more affordable Meritar instead.

This particular IV F is body number 484105. the production run consisted of 20,445 units.

Inside the back, everything looks quite clean, the blinds look good and there is no corrosion where the film runs.

The bottom is not scuffed and the two white circular inserts are not badly scratched like they normally are.

It still has the little foot attached, that allows it to sit level when placed on a table or similar. You quite often see these Prakticas with the foot missing, just two holes where it used to be!

This is an unusual feature, the wind on knob can be lifted and then swung out, enabling quite rapid re-winding.

Wind on in normal position.

The shutter speed controls. Lift the outside ring slightly and let it drop with the small red mark next to the desired shutter speed. In this picture it is 1/50th of a second. Place the red central arrow to the black arrow on the body, this gives you fast range speeds. If you place the red central arrow to the red arrow on the camera body, you get the slower speed range. Simples !

Now here is an interesting question. All the Praktica cases on the cameras exported to the West seem to have these West German manufactured cases, with the plastic tops and bulbous plastic fronts. But on the cameras sold to the G.D.R. market they had a nice all leather case, which I personally like much better. I wonder why?

This bit at least is leather, but the bottom of it is plastic.

Another question ! I think I may have the answer, but lets see if any one can confirm it! The lens on the right has a red V symbol. The later one on the left does not. Now I always thought that the red V meant a coated lens, 'Vergutet' I think it stands for, but both lenses are coated, yet the later lens has no mark.

The lenses are other wise very similar. So my understanding is this. The red V symbol which was used by Meyer-Optik as well as E. Ludwig, it means it is a coated lens. I think the early lenses had the red V as at the time they were made, coating was relatively new so it made common sense to make it stand out from an uncoated lens. However coating lenses soon became the norm, not the exception so Ludwig dropped the red V symbol ? Hence the later lenses do not have the red V. Am I right in this, or is my deduction flawed? Please let me know !

Well, I think that is about it for this post, all that remains is for me to put a film in the Praktica IV F and try it out ! Lets hope the weather improves soon so I can get out and about and try these cameras ! I'm getting a backlog now !

I hope you found these ramblings of some interest, take care keep using that film!

Philip