Manual-focus 35mm SLRs might have reached their peak in the 1980s, but they had been around since 1936 when Ihagee produced the Kine Exakta, the first 35mm SLR. Here are three classics that are still very usable despite being largely forgotten today.
Praktina IIa (1958)
By today’s standards, this is a well-made but unremarkable German SLR, manually operated with a 1-1/1,000sec focal plane shutter, knob film wind and unusual for having an extra direct vision viewfinder beside the reflex finder. It is, however, the lenses and accessories that make it special. Lenses from 24mm to 1,000mm were made by the likes of Carl Zeiss, Meyer-Optik, Angenieux, Isco, Kilfitt, Schneider and Steinheil, all of which fit to the body via a breach lock mount. Accessories include four interchangeable viewfinders, replaceable focusing…