Praktica B lenses on Canon RF

What the adapter has to do

Praktica B is a bayonet, so an M42 adapter won't take these lenses. Look for one sold for Praktica B, sometimes listed as PB. Prakticar lenses have three electrical contacts in the mount that send the set aperture to the camera, a system Pentacon called EDC. A plain adapter has no contacts, so the camera never sees the lens's aperture setting.

Set up your Canon RF camera

1. 01Set Release shutter w/o lens to Enable in the Custom Functions menu. On Disable the camera won't fire on a plain adapter, and in-body stabilization stays off.
2. 02On bodies with in-body stabilization, set IS mode to On and enter the lens's focal length, from 1 to 1000mm.
3. 03Turn on MF peaking settings in the AF menu.
4. 04Press the magnify button to zoom in and check focus.

What each lens becomes

On a full-frame Canon RF body these lenses frame just as they did on film. On a smaller sensor the frame is cropped, so each lens frames like a longer one. The f-number still sets exposure, while the depth of field looks like the larger number shown.

The Praktica B lenses we cover

• 50mm f/1.8

  Zeiss Jena · Praktica B

  Carl Zeiss Jena Prakticar 50mm f/1.8

  1979–1982

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