Hi. I've just aquired a Cavalier SLT-1 camera that although in need of some CLA appears to be in sound mechanical condition. Does anyone know of a source of info on these cameras. The only things turned up in web searchs were copies of owner's manuals for $35.00 and web sites in german.
Thanks,
judy

By Winfried on Tuesday, January 01, 2002 - 03:12 am:

Hi, I am from Germany and tried a search for your camera on the web, too. The german websites appearing seem to refer to anything but SLR cameras. All I could find that this camera is probably a re-labeled version of one of the early Praktica SLRs made in eastern Germany. They sold their cameras quite cheap, and some wholesalers and retailers chains sold them under different names.

The east german cameras do not have an excellent reputation although they surely were the best cameras made in the former eastern block. The items built for export, however, always had better quality than the stuff they sold on the domestic market.

By Henry on Tuesday, January 01, 2002 - 12:03 pm:

I confer with Winfried, it is undoubtably a rebadged "something-or-other". But I think I read in Matanle's SLR book that it is a Pentacon. Thumbing through it quickly right now I couldn't find the reference, so I may be all wet.

Henry

By Winfried on Tuesday, January 01, 2002 - 12:49 pm:

The Prakticas were made by VEB (nationalized enterprise) Pentacon, so we are probably talking about the same thing. BTW the Prakticas were never sold with the Cavalier label in western Germany, and I also did not find any reference to that label in Hummel's book 'Spiegelreflexkameras aus Dresden' (SLRs from Dresden, I don't know whether there is an english edition, but I have heard of a japanese one). He mentiones the Hanimex relabeled Prakticas and those relabeled by west german retailers, but no Cavaliers.

Some early Prakticas and Contax cameras were sold with strange engravings in US but I do not remember the Cavalier brand. Also, the Praktica L of which the Cavalier is probably a re-branded version is a later model with a steel-blade focal plane shutter (L = L-ammelle in german which means 'blade').

By W Morgan on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 09:41 pm:

McKeown's ('97-'98 ed.) lists the "Cavalier II" as being a re-badged Praktica 'Nova', sold by the Peerless Camera stores in NY; value - $30 to $50.
Does this help?

Bill

By Roy Bachenheimer on Thursday, January 10, 2002 - 09:01 pm:

CAVALIER STL-1 IS A REBADGED HANIMEX PRAkTICA SUPER TL OR PRAKTICA SUPER TL

By Glenn on Friday, November 05, 2004 - 12:05 am:

Hello,

I have aquired a Hanimex Praktica nova IB,
With 3 Pentex ASAHI lens,
Any ideas of what this would be valued at?
Any ideas of what year it could have been made?
It says Made in Germany (East) on the Bottom.
Thanks

By Charles Smith on Saturday, January 01, 2005 - 07:05 pm:

Hello, I have a Hanimex Praktica TL which I have

used
successfully for a long time. I need to replace the button battery for the light meter but I do not know what replacement battery is needed. I believe the original may have been a PS675 mercury battery. In order to find a replacement I need to know the voltage of the battery. Does anyone know the voltage or replacement number?
Thanks

By Abby Read on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 06:26 pm:

Hello all, I have just aquired a Hanimex Praktica Super TL. with a soligor Tele-auto lens. I really have no clue about this camera, and printed off the owners manual to help me but I am still lost. I do not have the 35mm lens, but am looking for one, and looking for other parts I might need. Literally, I just received this tonight so I need help figuring this thing out!!!
Thanks

By Winfried on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 09:33 am:

Any lens with M42/Praktica/Pentax thread mount will fit on your camera. The manual should tell you which battery you need. Some Prakticas are not very voltage-dependent, so if it needs something different from a 625 mercury battery any battery with same size and similar voltage should work.

You will find tons of M42 lenses on that auction site and on dealers' bargain shelves. However, their quality varies a lot. The original Carl Zeiss Jena lenses (sometimes simply marked 'Jena' for copyright reasons), some west german Schneider lenses and the original Pentax Takumars have a good reputation. If you need a 50mm lens you should also consider the russian Helios-44 lens.