As I say often in these reviews, the location of the tripod socket as close as possible to the middle of the camera is ideal as it helps stabilize the camera when mounted to a tripod. The right hinged film door opens to reveal an ordinary looking film compartment.
Film transport is from left to right onto a single slotted and fixed take up spool. As I mentioned earlier, the entire film compartment is made of metal, even the take up spool which was one of the first parts of older cameras that started to be made in plastic.
The film door has an over sized and dimpled film pressure plate that keeps consistent pressure on the film as it travels entirely through the camera. Looking down at the top of the shutter, we see perhaps one of my favorite features of the Petri 1. Both shutter speed and aperture rings are narrow, but are separated by a thick black band which makes rotating one easy to do without accidentally moving the other. The focusing ring is closest to the body and has a prominent handle that is easily reached by your left hand while holding the camera.
On many other leaf shutter cameras of this era, the self-timer lever is often at the bottom of the shutter, or even off to the left side where it can be accidentally triggered by your focusing hand. Having the self-timer lever in this position all but eliminates any chance of accidentally activating it. The beamsplitter, mirrors, and glass on my example were all very clean and made for an extremely pleasant and contrasty view.
Without having shot a single frame in the Petri 1. What else do you need? In the process of writing this article, I was donated yet another Petri 1. Compared to the regular Petri, all of the controls are in exactly the same locations, the viewfinder is just as green, and there were no problems with the shutter. I would say that they are identical, except when I put it on my kitchen scale, the DeJur version was 20 grams lighter. Certainly not a huge difference, but it suggests there might be some internal changes to the camera making up the difference.
I did not shoot the DeJur as it was too similar to the original to really have anything worthwhile to say, but here are some pictures of it side by side with the camera I used for this article. Prior to shooting this Petri 1. It was clear to me that for whatever quality control issues there might have been at the company, their ability to make lenses with world class optics had not faltered. The same held true with this camera as the images from that first roll were all spectacular.
Image sharpness from corner to corner was excellent. Contrast was nice and rendered color images that were neither blown out nor hazy. The 6-element Orikkor lens is as good as any other 35mm lens with comparable specs. I did not miss focus on a single image on the roll, and even my less interesting shots of my children running around came out nicely in focus.
I can honestly say that everything Johnny has said about this camera is spot on. Many 35mm rangefinders were made in the second half of the 20th century with good ergonomics and excellent lenses, and for that, the Petri 1. Shooting the Petri is natural from the first time you handle one. Handling the Petri 1.
The camera simply flies under the radar while shooting as it does everything it should without getting in the way. Agreed on both points. My only regret is only having the time to shoot one roll of film in this. This is a proud day for the Green-O-Matic Cult! The images in your review look great and in my experience these CCS lenses have a unique look to them in terms of color rendering. I have the 2. Great write up! The challenge has been finding a good alternative, having tried the Olympus 35SP and not getting on well with the plastic and size.
This looks like a viable option! Now to find one…. I definitely recommend looking for a nice Petri. I dusted it off, loaded it with Fuji Superia and it became my companion camera for a week or so.
And good company it was, too. It has coupled CdS match-needle metering, and a bright "Green-O-Matic" split-image rangefinder spot in the frame-lined viewfinder. Focusing is quick, with less than 90 degrees of travel in the focusing lever.
In the style of the era, auxiliary tele and wide-angle lens attachments were available, along with a cute little viewfinder. It's the only Racer I've seen down here, Petri cameras being a little few and far between in this part of the planet. It's one of those rare cameras with real "style", with sleek lines, nicely-detailed brushed metal and black finish, and a good big chunky lens barrel for that purposeful look.
The aperture ring move smoothly in a cowl on the lens barrel, the selected aperture visible in a little cutout. The ring has no click stops so it's quite easy to change the aperture setting by accident; I initially considered this a little cheap and nasty but I soon realised that the match-needle exposure meter, visible in the viewfinder, is extremely sensitive, with less than a half-stop adjustment of the aperture taking the needle from top or bottom to centre of the scale.
So, my guess is that, in the interests of accuracy, the designers decided on a stepless aperture ring. The meter is also visible on the top deck, with an exposure compensation marked for backlit situations, and it's very responsive and accurate. The shutter release, though situated on the front of the camera in a position I usually find awkward, is smooth and sensitive and sensibly large, with a "shutter cocked" indication visible on the top deck.
This is a handy feature, since the meter switches on when the shutter is cocked and can be turned off only by firing the shutter. The original battery was a PX mercury cell, but I fitted an alkaline cell and the meter seemed to function just fine. Overall, the Petri Racer handles very well and was a pleasure to use. The shutter was quiet, and the lens turned in a perfectly acceptable performance.
Despite the light-weight alloy used in it's construction, the Racer feels much more durable than most Petri cameras I've handled, with everything still tight and smooth in operation, and an excellent standard of finish.
And it's just so pretty Scans from the Fuji Frontier. Rick, that's one smart-looking RF. I've been eyeing that model for a month, but the odd shutter release placement makes me hesitant. I'm not too keen on it it - reminds me of the weird ones on 60s Retinettes and Agfa rf's that seem to add to camera shake.
It's a slick camera and a bit more Mod than the typical Canonet or Hi-Matic. Your sample pics are divine. I can just smell the fields in "Crop". What do you use, exactly, for monochrome conversion of your scans?
A bit of a chocolatey mocha tinge to 'em unless my office monitor is screwy? Gabor , you're right about the placement of the shutter release; usually I'd avoid it like the plague but in this case it's actually quite successful, being very smooth and sensitive. The monochromes are converted in Photoshop using the channel mixer, or a little plugin called Convert to BW Pro ; the file remains RGB and can be toned with the addition of a little red and yellow.
Please apolgise to your monitor Absolutely gorgeous, as usual. If they made that camera, new today, I'd buy it. I wonder what they would charge today. As usual. A thoroughly enjoyable post. Well done. Interesting camera. I continue to be impressed with your product photography. I'm not quite sure what you did in the second one -- looks like the camera is resting on plate glass and you've got an upside-down gray-brown garden umbrella underneath, folded out?
Or is it simply a composite? I am impressed with the "Wood pile"; it looks like a nature-made piece of sculputure! Very nice; thanks for sharing. Now ain't that the cutest little thing! Can't say I've ever seen one before. And a nice series of pics to match! The Last Apple Tree is quite nice.
The Woodpile showcases the lens very well. Another great post, Rick. You are tireless! Does the meter work in it? And if it does what battery does it take? Thanks, SP , Gene and Michael for your comments. Craig , that second pic was sort of "accidental", in that the camera was sitting on a glass table with four crossover chrome legs, commonly known as a "Chopsticks" construction.
It's more likely that it was made by Copal as that company sued Harrison Fotochrome in the late sixties for payment for the manufacture of a camera in the mid-sixties.
Fotochrome had refused to pay as the cameras were late not timely and mostly defective. There is no record of Fotochrome commissioning any other camera. Copal won the case in but by then, Fotochrome had filed for Chapter 11 protection.
Petri Camera went bankrupt in or It seems that the company still exists and makes telescopes. The company seems unrelated to the current Kuribayashi Seisakusho Co. Camerapedia Explore. Camera types List of companies Glossary Source books. Featured articles Long pages Top categories Top pages Popular pages.
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