KW Praktica BX211989

History

VEB Pentacon introduced the Praktica B bayonet in 1979 with the BC1, the first Praktica with an electronic lens mount. The B series was the manufacturer's response to the automation available on Pentax K-mount and Canon FD cameras. The BX20 (1986) marked the most commercially successful expression of the B-mount concept, combining aperture-priority AE with TTL flash support in an affordable polycarbonate body.

The BX21 arrived in 1989 as the direct successor to the BX20, incorporating the incremental improvements that three years of production experience and customer feedback had suggested. It was produced in Dresden during the final months of the German Democratic Republic: the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, within the camera's first year of production. Following reunification in October 1990, Pentacon GmbH continued to operate at a reduced scale but ceased meaningful new development of the B-mount system. The BX21 was not replaced by a further B-mount model.

The broader Praktica name continued into the 1990s under Pentacon GmbH through licensed arrangements and eventually a complete departure from the B-mount, but the BX21 represents the last camera designed and brought to market by the original Dresden engineering team using the B-mount system they had developed over a decade.

Why It Matters

The BX21 is notable primarily as the final B-mount Praktica - the last camera in a series that stretched from the original 1979 BC1 through a decade of incremental development. The B-mount was a genuine technical achievement: an electronic bayonet offering automatic aperture coupling and TTL flash metering that matched or exceeded the capabilities of contemporaneous Pentax, Minolta, and Olympus mounts in specific areas, notably the open-aperture metering and TTL flash system.

As with the BX20, the BX21's practical value today lies primarily in its access to the B-mount Carl Zeiss Jena and Meyer-Optik lens range - particularly the Pancolar 50/1.8 MC and Flektogon 35/2.4 MC - at prices well below equivalent Contax or Leica R glass.

Lenses & Accessories

The BX21 uses the Praktica B electronic bayonet, identical to the BX20. Compatible lenses include the full B-mount range from Carl Zeiss Jena (Pancolar 50/1.8 MC, Flektogon 35/2.4 MC, Sonnar 135/2.8 MC, Vario-Pancolar 35-70/4 MC) and third-party B-mount lenses from Sigma and Tamron. M42 lenses can be used via adaptor but without automatic aperture or electronic coupling. TTL flash: Metz 45 series with Praktica SCA adaptor, Pentacon-branded units.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Sold in East Germany during the camera's brief pre-reunification production window as the current Praktica flagship.
• Exported through Western European cut-price channels post-reunification, reaching UK and Continental buyers at surplus prices.
• Collected today as the final expression of the Praktica B-mount line and as a point of access to B-mount Zeiss Jena optics.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Praktica BX21