I seem to have become addicted to buying obscure cameras that I don't need and aren't available in Australia (where I live). In particular, Prakticas, out of fondness for the brand and love of the look of a couple of them.
Here's my review of a DCZ 4.4. And I've just ordered a Praktica Luxmedia 6003 on ebay.
This is another camera I really love the look of - although in contrast to the smooth and sleek DCZ 4.4 the Luxmedia 6003 is chunky and 'serious' in appearance.
It's a 6 megapixel camera. The Luxmedia 5003 is the same camera but with a 5 megapixel sensor.
As soon as the lady in Dresden sends it to me... another review.
In the meantime, here's a few notes about the Praktica brand, copied from my DCZ 4.4 page.
Pentacon, the company behind the Praktica brand, was set up in East Germany in 1964, rolling several older companies into a combine. Several of those companies had previously absorbed other companies, and the line can be traced back to 1862. (See Mike's Praktica web site for details.) Pentacon thus has one of the oldest and most illustrious histories in the photographic business. For many years it was one of the world's biggest producers of cameras, and the company and those that were absorbed into it made advances in camera design that are now used by all SLR designs.
This started with the world's first mass-produced SLR, the Kine-Exakta in 1936.
Other firsts included:
(As an aside, Zeiss Ikon (later to become part of Pentacon) came up with the name 'Pentax' and sold it to Asahi Optical in 1954. It was originally derived from 'PENTaprism' and 'contAX.' Apparently 'Pentacon' came from 'PENTAprism' and 'CONtax'.)
However, Praktica gradually dropped behind technologically, and could not keep up with the Japanese companies. Their most advanced camera, the BX-20s, was an SLR with aperture priority and manual exposure, DX film speed setting and TTL flash control - but they never made an SLR with programmed exposure. I believe that all of their zoom lenses were made for them by Sigma and later Samyang.
When East and West Germany were reunited and the company was exposed more fully to market competition they were no longer able to continue production of cameras in Germany.
The Praktica web site and promotional material says "PRAKTICA - from Germany". The company may be German, but I'm guessing that they are trying to trick you into thinking that the cameras are too. While the brand still exists, it is as a marketer of digital cameras made by OEM/ODM manufacturers in Taiwan and China.
While on holiday in Turkey I even saw some shops which had Prakticas sitting next to cameras which were identical but for the brand.
For some specific examples, the Praktica Luxmedia 5008 appears to be the Tekom AX581 (also available as the Megxon C580 and in silver as the Yakumo Mega-Image 85 D); the Luxmedia 4008 the Tekom AX480 (also available as the Megxon C480); the Luxmedia 5103 the Concord Eye-Q 5345z (and Steve's Digicams states ""The Concord Eye-Q 5345z is an OEM version of the Casio QV-R51" though with a smaller screen); the Luxmedia 5203 the Orite vc-8025z and the Luxmedia 5303 appears to be the DXG-528 (see the DXG USA website)
The DCZ 4.4 is also available as the Vivitar 3845, and the DCZ 5.4 as the Vivitar 3950. The DCZ 4.4 and DCZ 5.4 would appear to be made by Silicon Valley Peripherals, whose headquarters is in California - but I'd assume that their factory is in China. Specifically, the DCZ 5.4 is the SVP CDC-7530.
I have not yet seen the Luxmedia 5003 and Luxmedia 6003 badged as any other brand.
Many of the cameras from Taiwanese OEM / ODM makers are of a lesser standard than those of the major camera makers - but not always, as these Taiwanese companies do also make cameras for the big brands. Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Samsung and Minolta specifically, and others too I'm sure. As specific examples, I understand that the Minolta Dimage 2330 was built for them by Skanhex, and the Konica Minolta Dimage E40 by Premier
(There's a bit of discussion on this over at DPReview)
So I'm not going to dismiss Praktica cameras just because of their origin.
... review coming soon ...