Nothing to be said...

[John Parry]

Had a perfect transaction. Praktica MTL50, Purchase it now - £8 plus p&p of £6. (this is buttons).

Delay over Christmas, but arrived back at my weekday address to find it waiting. Opened the package - well packed, and knew it was something special as soon as I saw the Ever-Ready case. Untouched by human hand.
Checked out the camera - nobody has handled this camera - ever, although as with so many of the MTL5x series the self-timer has disappeared. Lens perfect - Pentacon MC f1.8/50. Check out viewfinder - crystal clear. Press DOF Preview button - lo light LED illuminates. Open and close lens - exposure meter Lo & Hi LEDs wink in and out perfectly. Wind film on. Crisp action. Press release button. Ker-chunk. Did it again. And again - Release button doesn't work. Try remote release cable doesn't work. A beautiful brick.

eBay feedback? What can you say? It arrived in good condition, as described.

Well, at the end of the day the E/R case, lens & battery are worth what I paid for it. Win some, lose some.

Regards - John

[vintageslrs]

Hey John

just a thought...before you give up.....
you did say the self timer button was missing.
is it possible that the shutter will not release because the self timer will not let it??
if you haven't already--try playing with the timer and see if perhaps you may stumble onto a "fix"

Good Luck
Bob

[PeterW]

John, Bob's suggestion is a good one. If that solves the problem I'll have a look in my junk box. I might just have a Praktica self-timer lever in there somewhere.

If not, try ratcheting the wind-on lever. The metal-shutter Prakticas don't reset the release button till right at the end of the stroke, when you hear a distinct 'click' and the shutter blades give a little jump. Also, on the Yahoo Praktica Users Group forum one of the members who goes by the handle 'toolmaker' posted a lot of helpful Praktica repair info in the Files section.

Good luck with it, the MTL 5 series are good cameras.

Peter