Pentacon

VEB Pentacon neon sign

VEB Pentacon Dresden was an East German camera maker formed as VEB Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden in 1959 by amalgation of Zeiss Ikon, Kamera Werke, Belca, Altissa, Welta, and cine film specialist Aspecta. In 1964 it was named Pentacon. Originally Pentacon was the export model name for the Contax D, since the use of the name Contax had been prohibited for the East German company VEB Zeiss Ikon. The new name had been coined from Pentaprism and Contax. The company produced its own shutters. Known is the Pentacon-Prestor leaf shutter.

The SLR production of VEB Pentacon essentially concentrated on the Praktica SLRs.

In 1968 VEB Pentacon Dresden became Kombinat VEB Pentacon Dresden, being merged with Mentor, Certo, Ihagee, Meyer, the camera industry of Freital and further specialized companies.

After the end of the Soviet bloc and just before German Reunification Pentacon was placed into the hands of the "Treuhand", a state-owned company charged with privatizing all the state-owned companies of East Germany. However, led by West-German business people, the Treuhand simply closed many companies. The first big hit against the East German economy was taken by the Pentacon group. On 2nd October 1990, one day before Reunification, Pentacon's liquidation began. The final day of production was June 30th 1991. The company still had 3331 employees. The next day it had just 232 who had to finish liquidation.

Pentacon GmbH (2006)

The only investor who had been interested in saving Pentacon was Heinrich Mandermann, the man who once had saved the lens maker Schneider-Kreuznach and who also was the co-founder of the camera trader Beroflex. But he waited until after liquidation to buy parts of the company from the Treuhand - thus getting them cheaper, including one of the modern Pentacon buildings which once served for military production. This part of Pentacon, now the new Pentacon GmbH, is still located in Dresden, and includes a service office for older cameras, camera production being outsourced to South Korea. The camera and lens brands represented by the new Pentacon are Praktica, Exakta, and Schneider Dresden, the enterprise employing about 150. Among its own products are amazing scanner cameras.

35mm SLR, focal plane shutter[]

Praktiflex[]

Earlier than Pentacon, see KW.

Praktica KW, see KW

Praktica FX[]

Praktica FX
Praktica ("Model III")
Praktica FX 2
Porst reflex FX 2
Praktica FX 3
Praktica F.X 2
Praktica F.X 3

Praktica IV & V[]

Praktica IV
Praktica IV B
Praktica IV M
Praktica IV BM
Praktica IV F
Praktica IV FB
Praktica V F
Praktica V FB

Praktica Nova[]

Praktica Nova
bucchin light
Nova B
Praktica mat
Pentaflex SL
Porst reflex FX 3
Praktica PL Nova I
Hanimex Praktica Nova I
Praktica PL Nova I B
Hanimex Praktica Nova I B
Pentor I B
Porst FX 4
Praktica PL electronic
Praktica PL electronic B
Praktica super TL
Hanimex Praktica super TL
Porst reflex FX 6
Revueflex SL
Praktica DTL 2
Praktica DTL 3
Praktica EE 2
Praktica EE 3
Praktica L
Praktica L endoskope
Praktica L2
Praktica LB
Praktica LB 2

Pentacon Praktica LB 2 Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Domiplan 2.8/50
Praktica LLC
Praktica LTL 3
Praktica LTL
Praktica MTL 3

Praktica MTL 5
Praktica MTL 5 B
Praktica MTL 50
Praktica PLC 2/PLC 3
Praktica super TL 1000 (=Praktica PM-3)
Praktica super TL 2
Praktica super TL 3
Praktica super TL 500
Praktica Super TL
Praktica TL 3
Praktica VLC
Praktica VLC 2
Praktica VLC 3
Revue ML
Revueflex TL 25
Revueflex TL I

Contax S / Pentacon[]

See Zeiss Ikon Contax S.

Praktina[]

Praktina IIA

Earlier than Pentacon, see KW.

Pentacon Super[]

Pentacon Super SLR

Praktica B[]

Praktica B
Praktica BX 20
Praktica BX 10 DX
Praktica BX 21 DX
Praktica BX 20s
Praktica BX 20D
Praktica BX 20s-ED U-V
Praktica BXEDH
Praktica B 200
Praktica BCX
Praktica BC 1
Jenaflex AM 1
Praktica BC 3
Praktica B 100
Praktica BC auto
Praktica BCA
Jenaflex AC 1
Praktica BCS
Praktica BCC
Praktica BMS
Revue BC 2
Praktica BM

35mm SLR, leaf shutter[]

Pentina[]

Pentina I
Pentina II
Pentina II M
Pentina M
Pentina FM
Pentina E

35mm Compact[]

Praktica KS 850
Praktica Sport 21P (32mm lens, panorama function)
Praktica Sport AP310 (fixed focus)
Praktica Sport Record (35mm lens, f/5.6 fixed focus, integral flash and motordrive)
Praktica Sport PLF-285
Praktica Sport SK320 (fixed focus, DX decoding)
Praktica SK910 (autofocus)
Praktica SK5600

120 SLR[]

Praktisix / Pentacon Six[]

Praktisix (1957), launched by KW
Praktisix II (1964)
Praktisix II A (1966)
Pentacon Six (1966)
Pentacon Six TL (1968)
Hanimex Praktica 66 (version for Hanner Ex- and Import of Australia)
Pentacon Six TLs (1984 - rare version especially made for making pictures for ID cards, image size 4×4,5cm, version for Tschechoslovakia)