Praktisix

Variants & identification

1. Production, from Hummel's figures as quoted by TRA, which draw on the GDR statistical yearbook: 2,150 (1957), 3,882 (1958), 4,163 (1959), 104 (1960), 1,399 (1961), 3,445 (1962), 4,750 (1963), 4,407 (1964, the year both the plain Praktisix and the II were made), 3,530 (1965) and 4,461 (1966, of which TRA assigns about 4,226 to the IIA). That is about 32,000 cameras in all. Hummel writes that his figures carry no guarantee, TRA treats them as an approximate guide, and some collectors regard the yearbook numbers as embellished.
2. Dual flash sockets: a collector quoted by TRA says almost all dual-socket (X and FP) bodies turn up in the United States, 'including a very rare late Praktisix (Model I)'. No serial or photograph is given, so it is not a variant here; the documented dual-socket bodies are the Pentacon Six TL US export and the Hanimex Praktica 66.
3. Swiss export decal: TRA lists one Praktisix IIa with an 'SP F Switzerland' decal, the only one known.
4. A gold-plated Praktisix belonging to an Italian collector, plated in Italy, is shown by TRA and described as probably unique.
5. Export lens rings: the Biometar on the camera Crawley photographed for the BJP in 1965 reads 'Bm 2,8/80', and a 1964 US-market Praktisix II brochure reproduced by TRA shows lenses engraved 'Bm' and 'S' with the maker as 'Jena', so the abbreviated export rings go back to the Praktisix years. They are a lens matter and are described on the Biometar and Sonnar pages.
6. Weight: Crawley gives 44 oz (about 1,250g) for the Praktisix II and Maude 'about 2lb 14oz' (about 1,300g); neither says which lens or finder was fitted, so weight_g is left empty.

• Praktisix (KW logo): The launch camera, built at Kamera-Werke Niedersedlitz in Dresden and sold first with a Meyer-Optik Primotar E 3,5/80 or a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 2,8/80. TRA dates the disappearance of the KW logo from the top plate, replaced by a post that stops the advance lever, to 1958, and his dating page dates the change of the finder logo to 1959. The waist-level finder comes off, so a KW finder on a later body, or a later finder on a KW body, proves nothing about the camera under it.
• Praktisix (Ernemann tower logo): The same camera after Kamera-Werke Niedersedlitz was absorbed into VEB Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden, which TRA dates to 1959. Kröger, who gives no date for the merger, writes that the Praktisix went over to the new combine as its top camera although only about a hundred cameras were assembled in 1960 (Hummel's figure is 104). The Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2,8/80 was available in the Praktisix mount from March 1959 and later became the standard lens (TRA). TRA notes that some shops were still selling new Praktisix bodies in 1965, after the II had appeared.
• Praktisix II: Changes in force from 1 October 1964, according to the repair manual Kröger cites: a revised frame-spacing adjustment, slightly lower shutter-curtain tension for more accurate speeds, and the detented speed dial. TRA adds redesigned film guide rails. Crawley, who had reviewed the first model in the BJP of 4 January 1963, found the same die casting, the same dimensions and the same external features apart from a few details of styling, and weighed the II at 44 oz. When he asked at the 1965 Leipzig Autumn Fair, he was told the earlier model's shutter had been found variable and that press photographers were now satisfied with the II.
• Praktisix IIA: A few months after the II, on Kröger's account: steel bearing bushes in place of brass, the lockable spool counter-bearings, and the new casting without spreader ribs. TRA dates it 1965–66 with prototypes in 1964; camera-wiki and TRA's own dating page give 1966. The II and IIA serial ranges overlap, so a number alone does not separate them. It was the last Praktisix: the redesign of 20 September 1966 became the Pentacon Six.

Specifications

Format

6×6cm on 120 roll film, the film running horizontally from spool to spool like a 35mm SLR's; gate 55.5 × 55.5mm as measured by Geoffrey Crawley (British Journal of Photography, 10 December 1965), "in practice 56 × 56mm" per Neville Maude (Amateur Photographer, 10 February 1965) · 12 on 120; an E appears in the counter after the twelfth frame (Crawley, BJP 1965) exposures

Finder (waist-level)

folding waist-level finder, standard; self-erecting, with a flip-down magnifier (4× per Maude) and a sports-finder frame in the front flap (Crawley; Maude)

Finder (eye-level)

interchangeable plain pentaprism; a magnifying finder was available by 1962 (TRA)

Shutter

horizontal-travel rubberised cloth focal plane (TRA) · 1s–1/1000, B, on a single dial; click stops from the Praktisix II (Kröger; Crawley) · flash sync X only, on one PC socket; the dial carries an X setting between 1/30 and 1/15, about 1/20s per Crawley and measured at 44ms (about 1/23s) by Maude. TRA says the chassis was designed for FP sync as well, but it was never implemented on the Praktisix · self-timer

Film advance

Single-stroke lever through about 270°, which advances the film, cocks the shutter, lowers the mirror and opens the lens to full aperture (TRA; Maude). Frame spacing is pre-programmed rather than measured, and the counter does not reset itself: the arrows of the backing paper are set against a mark, the back is closed, and a small button on the back is pressed to return the counter to zero before the lever is worked to frame 1 (Crawley; Kröger; Maude)

Back

hinged and removable, opened by a sliding catch on the left; film-speed reminder dial on the back, set from inside (TRA; Crawley)

Meter

none

Designed by

Siegfried Böhm — chief designer, at work on the camera from 1954; first-named inventor on DD patent 22.270 (Kröger) · Friedrich Winkler — co-inventor, DD patent 22.270 of 28 September 1956 (Kröger) · Horst Fischer — co-inventor, DD patent 22.270 (Kröger) · Horst Huhle — co-inventor, DD patent 22.270 (Kröger)

Dimensions

165 × 117 × 120 (width × height × depth with the Tessar or Biometar), Praktisix II (Crawley, BJP 1965) mm

Country

East Germany (GDR)

Original price

East German list prices (EVP, Mark der DDR) from the price lists Kröger reproduces: body 705 M until May 1960 and 573 M from June 1960; with the Primotar 3,5/80, 962 M (1957), 981 M (1959) and 766 M (1960); with the Tessar 2,8/80, 1,032 M (1957), 1,028 M (1959) and 815 M (1960); with the Biometar 2,8/80 after 1960, 860 M. In Britain the Praktisix II was distributed by J. J. Silber Ltd. of London at £139 10s with the Biometar (Amateur Photographer, February 1965) and the same with either the Tessar or the Biometar (BJP, December 1965), retail prices as printed in the reviews.

Accessories

Plain pentaprism, magnifying finder (by 1962), focusing telescope, right-angle finder, eyecup with correction-lens holder and accessory shoe for the prism (TRA, from 1963 factory literature) · Extension tubes, bellows and a pressure plate for 6.5 × 9cm glass plates, advertised by 1959; a special tube Z keeps the automatic diaphragm working with the tubes (TRA; Crawley) · Five special focusing screens, including a crossed-wedge (split-image) rangefinder screen and a flat ground glass without condenser (Crawley; Maude)

Kröger calls the Praktisix the first medium-format SLR with a prism available as standard accessory, delayed to about 1959 because the large glass blank was hard to make, and says the early prisms were dim until a collective lens was added. TRA has the prism available by 1958. The field lens stays in the body and the finder slides on over it, as on the Praktina. Crawley records five special screens in the maker's list, including a flat ground glass without condenser and one with a crossed-wedge rangefinder (Maude calls it split-image), and found slightly less on the screen than on the negative.

Figures we worked out rather than found: Gram weights in table_notes are converted from the reviewers' ounces.

What reviewers say

• Geoffrey Crawley, British Journal of Photography (10 December 1965), Praktisix II (blog) — A workmanlike camera with no frills that handles like an overgrown 35mm SLR, and "the quickest in action of all 6×6 SLR's". His test II settled after about nine months with the top speeds running slow (1/1000 near 1/700), and he advises a shutter service every year or two under hard use. The Biometar covers the field better than the Tessar.
• Neville Maude, Amateur Photographer (10 February 1965), Praktisix II (blog) — A reliable 6×6 in 35mm style, of interest to those who cannot afford a Hasselblad or Bronica, with shutter speeds measured as very accurate in the main (1/1000 just a trace fast) and the Biometar giving an acceptable 20 × 16in print at full aperture and biting sharpness at f/5.6–f/8. No instant-return mirror, which he does not count against it.

History

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Live listings

• PRAKTISIX +TESSAR 2,8/80MM — CZK 4,500.00 · Foto Ullrich (Foto Bazar Jičín)
• PRAKTISIX (Biometar 80mm F2.8付) 難有り — from ¥33,000 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-13

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