Used Praktica MTL5B for Sale — From £17 | UsedLens.co.uk

£16.98 Low price

£266.58 High price

11 Listings

1 Retailers

3 New this week

2 Reduced

Great for: student beginner general

Praktica's late M42 SLR — the MTL5B, stop-down CdS TTL, manual exposure, 1985.

The Praktica MTL5B is a 35mm film SLR produced by VEB Pentacon in Dresden, East Germany, in the mid-1980s as a further variant of the MTL branch of the L-series. It was among the last M42 screw-mount Prakticas, made alongside the bayonet Praktica B range, and continued to reach UK buyers as a cheap, dependable manual camera near the end of East German screw-mount production.

It is an M42 screw-mount SLR with a vertical-travel metal focal-plane shutter covering speeds to 1/1000 plus B. The MTL5B carries a battery-powered CdS through-the-lens meter operated stop-down, with a match-needle display in the pentaprism finder read after the aperture is closed by a lever. Exposure is manual only. The mechanically timed shutter fires without a battery, while the meter requires a cell to work.

The MTL5B suits students, beginners and budget-minded shooters wanting a rugged manual SLR for learning exposure, and it uses the same abundant, inexpensive M42 lenses as its siblings. Handling is straightforward and the body solid; the dim finder during metering and the absence of automation are the familiar trade-offs of the design.

When buying, confirm the meter responds with the right battery and reads plausibly, as aged CdS cells drift. Test the shutter at all speeds for capping or a slow second curtain, and inspect the perishable foam light seals and mirror-damper foam. Check the prism for desilvering or haze, feel the film advance and rewind for smoothness, and verify the stop-down lever, meter switch and focusing screen are all in good order.

Avg £39, up 49.5% over 2 weeks

Price history ↓

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Used Praktica MTL5B price history

Tracking the used Praktica MTL5B price? Over the past two weeks, the average has risen 49.5%, from £26 to around £39. Depending on shutter count and condition, expect to pay between £31 and £46 for a used body.

Average market price (line) and typical price range (shaded). Source: UsedLens daily price index, 8 Jul – 4 Aug 2026.