'' Kamera-Werkstätten Guthe & Thorsch'' (K.W.) was established 1919 in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

by Paul Guthe and Benno Thorsch, starting out manufacturing the ''Patent Etui'' plate

camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...

. Ten years later came the

roll film Roll film or rollfilm is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as "cartridge" film b ...

TLR ''Pilot Reflex'' and in 1936, the 6×6 SLR ''Pilot'' range. By that time, Benno Thorsch, the surviving partner from 1919, decided to immigrate to the United States and arranged with the

US citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

Charles Noble to swap enterprises. Noble came to Germany and moved the factory to Niedersedlitz on the outskirts of Dresden, while Benno Thorsch in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

ran the acquired photo finishing business that was one of the largest in the USA.

John H. Noble John H. Noble (September 4, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American survivor of the Soviet Union, Soviet Gulag system, who wrote two books which described his experiences in it after he was permitted to leave the Soviet Union and return to th ...

The new ''Kamera-Werkstätten AG, Niedersedlitz'' prospered, and in 1939 launched the 35mm SLR ''Praktiflex'' camera. The concept proved successful, and through continuous development, the '' Praktica'' name became one of the most popular 35mm SLR brands for several decades, beginning in the 1950s.

The Camera

The Praktiflex

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

SLR film camera was launched in 1939 by the Kamera-Werkstätten AG,

-Niedersedlitz. Despite being quite crude, the design constitutes the pattern along which virtually every subsequent 35mm SLR camera is built, regardless of place of origin. The highly regarded 35mm SLR

Kine Exakta The Kine Exakta was the first 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) still camera in regular production. It was presented by Ihagee Kamerawerk Steenbergen GmbH, Dresden at the Leipziger Frühjahrsmesse in March 1936. The Exakta name had already been use ...

, by

Ihagee Ihagee was a camera manufacturer based in Dresden, Germany. Its best-known product was the Exakta single-lens reflex camera. History Johan Steenbergen, a Dutchman, founded a camera company called ''Industrie- und Handelsgesellschaft'' in Dres ...

in Dresden, that preceded it by some three years, is extremely complicated by comparison, and although it provides the same functions, is quite differently built. The Praktiflex has a 40mm screw lens mount, while the later Praktica models, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when the factory was part of the VEB Pentacon, uses the 42mm screw mount. The Praktiflex has one feature inherited from the large format

plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

SLR cameras that otherwise was unsolved in the 35mm SLR cameras until 1954; the

instant return mirror In photography, the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is provided with a mirror to redirect light from the picture taking lens to the viewfinder prior to releasing the shutter for composing and focusing an image. When the shutter is released, the m ...

is lifted by the power of the finger depressing the shutter release, and it returns when the finger pressure is released. The button, with a rather long travel, is placed at the right-hand camera top plate. The slanted script is embossed in the name plate in front of the collapsible waist-level finder. The principal designers were presumably Benno Thorsch and Charles A. Noble.

Variants

Several finishes and improvements were implemented in the course of the production period of the Praktiflex, which was from 1939 to 1949, but probably disrupted at times between 1941 and 1946. Some variations concern the colour schemes while others the mechanical details: * The early 1939 cameras have no strap lugs, and large knobs with a frame counter on top of the wind-on knob. Soon the frame counter was placed under wind-on knob. The name on the front plate was at first in a

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, while all later cameras have the characteristic slanted

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

name plate. * In 1940 the rewind knob becomes smaller - Ø21 mm, while the wind-on knob is Ø27 mm. Cameras with brown, dark brown, red and possibly dark green leather covering are alternatives to the black leather, some have grey or black metal finish. Flat patent carrying strap fixtures are introduced. * In 1941 ordinary strap lugs on either side of the body. * In 1946 only black leather and black metal finish with name filled in white enamel. * In 1947 black and chrome camera with large wind on knob with frame counter on the top.

Later models

In 1947 an improved Praktiflex version was launched with a new internal mechanism and a shutter release at the front that releases a spring-loaded mirror, which does not return until the camera is wound-on for the next frame. The name is embossed in gothic letters, otherwise the external body features is quite similar to those of the original model. This version is known as the Praktiflex II by collectors. The

lens mount A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder camera, singl ...

is at first the 40mm screw, but later cameras have the new 42mm lens mount, first used on the

Contax S Contax (stylised as CONTAX in the Kyocera era) began as a German camera model in the Zeiss Ikon line in 1932, and later became a brand name. The early cameras were among the finest in the world, typically featuring high quality Zeiss intercha ...

and the Praktica of 1949, since production lasted until 1951.

Lenses

Only a small selection of

standard lens In photography and cinematography, a normal lens is a photographic lens, lens that reproduces a Angle of view, field of view that appears "natural" to a human observer. In contrast, depth compression and expansion with shorter or longer focal leng ...

es became available, e.g.: *

Schneider-Kreuznach Schneider Kreuznach () is the abbreviated name of the company Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH, which is sometimes also simply referred to as Schneider. They are a manufacturer of industrial and photographic optics. The company was founded on ...

Xenar f:3.5 F = 5 cm * Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar f:2.8 F = 5 cm * Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon f:2 F = 5 cm * > Victar < 1:2.9 F = 5 cm *

Anastigmat An anastigmat or anastigmatic lens is a photographic lens completely corrected for the three main optical aberrations: spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism. Early lenses often included the word ''Anastigmat'' in their name to advertise th ...

ic *

Carl Zeiss Carl Zeiss (; 11 September 1816 – 3 December 1888) was a German scientific instrument maker, optician and businessman. In 1846 he founded his workshop, which is still in business as Carl Zeiss AG. Zeiss gathered a group of gifted practica ...

Tessar The Tessar is a photographic lens design conceived by the German physicist Paul Rudolph in 1902 while he worked at the Zeiss optical company and patented by Zeiss in Germany; the lens type is usually known as the Zeiss Tessar. A Tessar com ...

1:3.5 f = 5 cm * Carl Zeiss Tessar 1:2.8 f = 5 cm * Carl Zeiss Biotar 1:2 f = 5 cm * SOM Berthiot Flor 1:1,5 f = 55 mm

References

{{reflist 135 film cameras SLR cameras