"My" Praktica B200

Praktica B200 bought for 837,25f on november 12th, 1982.

I searched for a long time a camera corresponding to my needs, particularly for the commands arrangement for a left-handed person, and over all compatible with my collection of screw-mount optics. First eliminated, Nikon and Olympus which distance from mount to film is incompatible with the possibility of an adapter, favourites Pentax and compatible which adapter for M42 was most known. When the B200 came, I immediately liked it: the commands naturally fell under my fingers, it was automatic with aperture-priority, with a button for depth of field testing, and it came from the East, with in its luggage an adapter for M42 screw-mount!

As like my other “personal” bodies of the time, it got its homemade leather sleeving; in the beginning, it had the typical of old Praktica and first B100 and 200 “squared grenade” sleeving. The shutters of this first generation bodies had a weakness, this one did not escape and left for repairing. It was replaced by a “standard exchange” body (the serial number is on a removable plate, and the technician only had to separate it and stick it on a new body). First operation at the arrival of the new body: remove the warlike sleeving and stick again leather. Never a technical problem since.