This New $20 35mm Film Camera Embraces a Classic East German Brand

Photographers in 2026 live in the age of reusable film cameras. There is the Pure35 that U.K. retailer Analogue Wonderland launched last month, Lomography’s huge array of cameras, and Dubble Film’s SHOW camera, to name just a few. Now there’s another one on the scene, and it arrives with a legendary name, the Praktica VF212.

As reported by Kosmo Foto, the Praktica VF212 is “very different to the old-school metal SLRs that once bore the name.” Unlike Praktica’s classic SLR cameras, which it made in East Germany from 1949 until 2001, long after the Berlin Wall fell, the VF212 is cheap and plastic.

The Praktica VF212 is widely available in the United Kingdom, including in pharmacies, fashion outlets, and on Amazon UK, which can even deliver it to the U.S., for those so inclined. It’s generally priced around $20 across the board, though bundles that include film push the price up a bit.

As the Amazon listing demonstrates, a significant part of the camera’s purported appeal relies upon its Praktica branding. The photography industry is filled to the brim with cameras that feature branding of companies that either didn’t make the product, or are so far removed from whatever made the name mean anything that it is practically unrecognizable. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, and some of these branded products can be very good. It’s just worth considering that the VF212 is Praktica in name only.

Praktica may have been established in 1949, as Praktica’s Amazon storefront says, but let’s be clear, whatever was going on in Dresden, East Germany, when the company was making SLR cameras, is not happening with the VF212. It’s not made in Germany at all; it’s from China. Kosmo Foto has extra information about Praktica’s final German-made camera, the BX20s.

Back to the new VF212, it is a very affordable, reusable 35mm film camera. It’s compact and lightweight, weighing a mere 98 grams (3.5 ounces). It includes a built-in flash, which, although no detailed specs are available, appears to be a classic Xenon flash.

Currys in the U.K. has some basic specs on its product listing, including that the 31mm lens has an f/9-11 aperture. The optical viewfinder has 70% field of view, so photographers will need to be careful when framing.

A roughly $20 reusable 35mm film camera is undeniably appealing to photographers looking to get their feet wet with analog. However, it is worth considering spending slightly more and buying classic used film SLR cameras. Further, as their very existence proves, these classic SLRs, some of which are 50-plus years old, are built to last. At KEH right now, there are numerous 35mm film cameras available for under $100, including many under $50.

Image credits: Praktica