Praktica film cameras make surprise comeback (but it is not what you think)

News that a new Praktica film camera is on sale may well sound like an April Fool's joke—particularly if you were hoping for a revival of a classic Praktica reflex. But it is true—there is a new Praktica camera—and it does shoot 35mm film.

Sadly, however, it is not a remake of one of the all-metal single-lens reflex cameras that so many of us remember from the 1970s and 80s. For a whole generation of photographers, Praktica SLRs were the budget-priced route into interchangeable-lens picture taking.

Based in Dresden in East Germany, the Praktica factory was closed when Germany reunified, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. You still see the Praktica name on some low-cost digital cameras, but the analog heritage was understandably abandoned – until now.

The new Praktica camera is highly affordable—but that's because it is a disposable camera that comes preloaded with film. The Praktica Luxmedia comes with 27 exposures to color negative film and has a built-in manually operated flash, powered by a supplied battery.

We don't know for certain what film the new Praktica uses - but the ISO400 emulsion from what we have seen from the marketing images is made in the USA, which means that the color print film is almost certainly sourced from Kodak.

So far, we have mainly only seen the camera on sale in the UK - but as its stockists include Amazon, it may well yet appear in a wider number of countries.

You can buy a single camera on its own for around £19.99, or get a bulk-buy discount by choosing a twin- or triple-pack costing around £35.99 and £49.99 respectively.

Further reading: Check out our guide to the best disposable cameras