sudamar Loc: Southern Indiana

I was a photographer for the Loveland, Colorado paper in the mid-60's. We had a couple Petri cameras and that was it. If I remember right, they had normal lens and they weren't lens that came off. They did take decent pictures, however. I haven't heard the Petri name in many years. Did anyone here ever use a Petri and does anyone know when the company went out of business? Thanks.

BebuLamar

The Petri 7s was my first camera when I was about 10. It too has a fixed lens. Petri went out of business some time in the late 70's or early 80's.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Back in the days, you mention and for many years before and after there was a plethora of 35mm Rangefinder camera made by Minolta, Aris, Konica, Kodak, Argus, Bolsy, Mamiya, Nikon, Petri, Voightlander, Zeiss, and a bunch of Russian manufacturers= and a long list of others. Many had to fix normal 50mm lenses. Except for a few high-end models, most are long discontinued giving way to SLRs and of course DSLRs and modern mirrorless cameras.

Those were the days when a build-in meter a rapid advance lever was considered an advanced feature. Some had split image or superimposed image rangefinder and other deluxe models had floating frame parallax correction.

The Perti camera is still advertised on the used market on eBay and other platforms.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

In the 70’s my brother had several Petri bodies. I don’t remember if the lenses were interchangeable or not. But yes, they were decent cameras. I wish he would have kept them—just for conversation.

sudamar Loc: Southern Indiana

I'm pretty sure the Petris we used were single-lens reflex. Maybe they did have interchageable lens, but I don't remember ever using a lens other than the normal lens.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Upon further reflection, I am sure the lenses were not interchangeable.
We were so young then.

fjdarling Loc: Mesa, Arizona, USA

In the mid 70's I had a "fully automatic" Petri FT EE, which had "breach lock" interchangeable lenses. It could automatically set the aperture and shutter speed, but ASA and focus were manual. I believe Petri went out of business in the mid-80's.

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

My first 35mm camera was a Petri 1.9. This was in the 1950s. It was a really good camera, very limited by today's standards, but it I learned a lot from it.

My second camera was a Minolra SRT 101. Wow, what technology had done since the Petri. Loved that camera.

Later after 2 more Minoltas, I retired and became a full time RVer. But I didn't like to want to carry all that gear so I went through several bridge cameras including an Olympus, and a Minolta Konica. In 2013, while spending a winter as a volunteer at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, I just wasn't happy. For several years, I had thought about moving up to a DSLR but didn't do it because of the what I would have to carry. I finally made the plunge to a DSLR in 2013. WOW, what a difference in Image Quality. Yes, it took me a while to learn the new technology but it was worth it.

Kencamera

I owned a Petri (35) 2.8. It was also called the Petri Color-corrected Super. A brief history of the camera company is below.

The Kuribayashi Camera Works was established in 1907 as a small workshop producing photographic accessories such as plate holders and wooden tripods. Its first camera was the Speed Reflex of 1919. Most pre-WWII models were sold under the “First” brand name by Minagawa Shoten, a trading firm. During the occupation by the U.S. the name Petri was chosen, contracted from “Peter the First”. By changing the name it was hoped to improve acceptance of the camera in non-Japanese markets. The company name was changed to Petri Camera Company in 1962. After 70 years the company went bankrupt in 1977.

The Petri 35 series of post-war cameras represented a turn-around for Japanese manufacturers from cheap to high quality cameras. The mid-50s were good years for Japanese camera manufacturers. The defeat of Germany meant that all their camera patents and innovations were put in the public domain. From the 1950s to the 1970s there were many small Japanese manufacturers producing quality rangefinder cameras. However, when Leica came out with the M3 in 1955, the bar for these cameras was raised so high that manufacturers like Nikon, Canon, and Kuribayashi decided to compete in the SLR market instead. Kuribayashi was actually the first to introduce a Japanese SLR, but found it too difficult to compete with giants like Nikon and Canon.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I've used one. It was my mom's and on occasion she'd let me use it. I still have it.
--Bob

LXK0930 Loc: Souh Jersey

Back in the '60s, I had a small Petri (can not remember the model number) that was similar to the small Rollei 35mm camera of similar vintage.
It was well made, took decent pix, was easy to carry, and fit my limited budget.
I don't know what happened to the company.

RLSprouse Loc: Encinitas CA (near Sandy Eggo)

My first SLR was a Petri. I don't know the model designation, but it did have interchangeable lenses. It was a simple screw-in mount system. I had three different focal length lenses.

LXK0930 Loc: Souh Jersey

I just remembered that the model was the Petri Color 35E.
I subsequently did some research, and the general concensus is that this was one of the best camera designs of the time (much better than the Rollei). I really wish that I still had it!

agillot

my first modern camera was a petri SLR .great camera , got stolen .then moved on to Pentax .