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Druopta Efekta
Camera Made in Czechoslovakia



Hunting in Prague

In travelling around tourist areas in Prague of Czech, it is never difficult to stock up souvenir, like wooden puppets, Bohemia handicrafts, etc. However, I was not so interested on that, and by chance I went to some second handed junk shop, or locals simply called it Bazaar. They sell machinery tools, vinyl LP records, etc. Very often they are located in local residential areas, rather than packed within main tourist attraction. By luck, I successfully found a vintange camera (at 500 CZH, that is around 12 USD) from a Bazaar in Josefov (Old Jewish Quarter).

About The Camera

The camera is called Efekta. It was made in Czechoslovakia by the manufacturer Druopta, or more precisely made in Prague (imprinted on the camera body, as 'DRUOPTA PRAHA' in Czech). Since the Velvet Divorce of 1993, the name Czechoslovakia became a history of the 2 halves, which are called Czech and Slovak respectively now. It should not be a surprise in finding a locally made camera in Prague, as Czech once dominated in the development of photography and in cinematographic equipment. For more details, a focus of attraction is the Photography Section in National Technology Museum in Pargue

It was made of bakelite in dark magenta colour, which is a very commonly used material in 50' to 60', for making cameras light weight, and hence easily portable.

  • It is a 120 format camera with 6x6 frame size. All main controls are located in the front part of the camera body.
  • Aperture settings support f/8, f/11. f/16, f/22. It is done by preformation of holes with different aperture diameter. Respective aperture will slip in position by rotating the aperture setting knot. However, aperture setting knot cannot be turned into f/22, and neither nor the respective preformation of hole exists on the camera.
  • Shutter settings support 1/100, 1./50, 1/25, 1/8 second, but I have no way to check the accuracy.
  • Shutter release is buried under the Newton style viewfinder, when the later is folded-in. It can prevent accidental shutter release due to carelessness. Shutter release is cocked by the film advancing knot, which avoid unwanted double exposure on the same frame of film.
  • In advancing the film, film number can be viewed through the red window located at the back of the camera body.
  • PC-type sync socket is provided for external flash attachment.

Having tried a roll of KODAK TMAX ISO 400 in this Efekta (see one of the shot at the end of this webpage), you have the real fun when all controls are definitely on your hands, and all settings are by guessing.

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