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Used Praktica MTL 50

1985

£15.88 Low price

£97.24 High price

13 Listings

1 Retailers

2 New this week

Great for: student beginner general portrait

Praktica's late M42 manual SLR — 1/1000 top speed, TTL meter, Dresden-built 1985-89

The Praktica MTL 50 was a 35mm manual SLR produced by VEB Pentacon in Dresden, East Germany, from 1985 to 1989. It was one of the last cameras in the long-running M42 screw-mount MTL line, sold alongside the newer bayonet-mount Praktica B series and continuing the MTL formula established by the MTL 3 and MTL 5 for buyers who wanted a cheap, fully manual body.

The camera takes M42 screw-mount lenses, giving access to the vast pool of Pentacon, Zeiss Jena, and Japanese screw-mount glass. Shutter speeds run from 1 second to 1/1000 plus B, exposure is fully manual, and a built-in through-the-lens light meter covers a film-speed range of ISO 12-1600. The body weighs around 600g and focusing is manual, with aperture and shutter speed both set by the photographer.

As a basic all-manual SLR the MTL 50 remains a popular low-cost route into film photography for students, since M42 lenses are abundant and inexpensive and the camera forces engagement with exposure fundamentals. Handling is utilitarian and the viewfinder plain, but the simplicity means less to go wrong than on electronic contemporaries.

When buying used, run through all shutter speeds by ear and watch for capping or sticky slow speeds, check the meter responds to light and holds a sensible reading, and inspect the mirror-box foam and film-door light seals, which routinely need replacing on Dresden-era Prakticas. Confirm the M42 mount threads are clean and that the stop-down metering actuation works with a lens fitted.

Avg £30, up 5.5% over 2 weeks

Price history ↓

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Used Praktica MTL 50 price history

Tracking the used Praktica MTL 50 price? Over the past two weeks, the average has risen 5.5%, from £28 to around £30. Depending on shutter count and condition, expect to pay between £28 and £56 for a used body.

Average market price (line) and typical price range (shaded). Source: UsedLens daily price index, 18 Jul – 4 Aug 2026.