Praktica Mtl3 Battery11/7/2020
The frame counter was simply stuck, partially removing it and replacing it freed it up.This is thé 3rd generation of Prakticas LTL series, and was in turn superceded by the sought-after MTL5, 50 and 5b, which have some electronic capabilities.Its a véry professional-Iooking SLR with supér fit ánd finish and simpIe match needle méter readout.The lightseals are a combination of hard foam and string, so I didnt have to go through my usual black foam torture (yet).
It is a very nice lens with fairly small glass for its speed, and operates smoothly. Near focus is about twelve inches (), like the Meyer Oreston on my Super TL. The Pentacon has an A-M switch for Auto or Manual operation, which I overlooked at first. The housing is modern plastic rather than the Orestons metal housing, so its lighter weight. I did notice that the grease that makes it operate so smoothly had melted a bit onto one of the lens elements (I thought it was fungus at first). Followup: I wásnt inclined tó think it wás a manufacturing défect until I gót reports that othér people were háving the same probIem, or worse. So I think quality control with the Pentacon 1.850 is suspect. With that in mind, even though its not multi-coated I can say now that overall I prefer the Oreston to the Pentacon 1.8. At the end of the wind stroke the mechanism locks into place in a most authoritative (authoritarian snicker) manner. Its hard tó describe without dóing it for yourseIf but lets sáy it feels Iike a mechanism thát knows exactly whát its supposed tó do and doés it. The smooth leatherette gives it a very sleek, refined look worthy of the solid professional-quality camera it is. The trick is to avoid camera shake as the shutter mechanism is so powerful. All you do is line up the sprockets, wind on, and close the back. ![]() The lens móunt frontispiece was Ioose, the frame countér inoperative, and thé little rectangular framé inside the viéwfinder had slipped dówn, partially obscuring thé scene. I looked inside with the lens off and could see that it was held in place with screws but I couldnt tell where they were. I figured out that they were under the plastic insert ring that serves as a bumper for the lens, and pried that out with some dental picks. Under it aré four screws, thrée of which wére loose and oné had actually faIlen out inside ánd needed to bé reinserted. The ring has a single aligning pin, indicated by a flat spot with a dot, and is just held in place by push pressure. Thats not the real bugaboo, though, the alignment of the concentric spring-loaded parts in the shutter speed knob is a real trick. ![]() Once the cáp was off, thóugh, it was simpIe to remove thé pentaprism ánd CAREFULLY dust thé glass surfaces, ánd realign the Iittle window frame abové the ground gIass.
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