Praktica Nova B another interesting camera from Dresden.
- Kamera Ostalgie
- Dec 13, 2025
- 3 min read
Just a quick mini post on the Praktica Nova B!
Along with the Praktica Nova, which I covered recently in another post, Pentacon also brought out the Praktica Nova B, which was a Nova with a light meter added to it.
This nice looking example I have owned for a long time so cosmetically it still looks good, however the long period of inactivity whilst preserving its looks has meant that the shutter could probably do with a good service! I like these Novas, and think they are nice looking cameras. This example has the usual 50mm Meyer-Optik 2.8 Domiplan automatic lens which I find to be good lenses especially when you think that they were on the cheap entry level side of things. This example is No 4021832. I like the positioning of the aperture ring on these lenses, out of the way right at the front, no danger of catching the aperture ring when focusing, unlike many lenses.
The camera is typical East German, it weighs in at 769g and feels solid, nice in the hands with everything in the right place. Like the new Nova, the Nova B also has the angled shutter release and the shutter lock so that you don't fire off any exposures accidently.
The main difference between the Nova and the Nova B is of course the addition of a light meter. In the Nova B it is a selenium meter and does not need a battery. Selenium meters tend to brake down if left open to the light, so keep your Nova B in its case away from the light when you are not using the camera and it will stay functional for a lot longer.
The shutter speed set up is exactly the same as the Nova, black notch on top dial to white arrow for fast speeds, black notch on red arrow for slow speeds. Red dot on lower dial opposite the speed you want to select.
So here for example in the photo above the shutter is set for 125th of a second. We are on fast speeds as the black notch is opposite the white arrow and the red dot is opposite the 125 mark.
This particular Nova B is body number .206527.
I still don't quite get that most sources say that both the Nova and Nova B cameras had a Fresnel screen with a spit image rangefinder for focussing, but neither of my examples, the Nova or the Nova B have the split image, so I need to dig a little further here, there must be an explanation. I like the split image screens, really helps with the focussing in my opinion.
That is about it for this quick post, the Nova is covered in more detail in the link below.
The eagle eyed among you will have noticed the mirror jammed up here! Well, I suppose after thirty years of inactivity what can you expect? A night sat in front of an nice open fire and some gentle use and the Nova B is working perfectly again. Time to load it with film !
Take care,
Oh, and if you like Prakticas, check out some of my other Praktica posts linked below, there are now nearly 60 posts on the blog, have a look, and pleas subscribe, I can't keep this blog going with just 13 subscribers! So if you like what you are reading subscribe, its free!
Phil
