Petri Camera
Encyclopedia
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It was founded in 1907. Prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it was known as Kuribayashi Shashin Kōgyō or Kuribayashi Camera Industry, inc. Japan (the company name means "Acorn Grove"). In 1962 it changed its name to Petri Camera Ltd.In 1963 the company produced the cult model , the Petri 7S Circle-Eye System coupled rangefinder, leaf-shuttered model, that was used by some professionals in the Sixties, and that was so well built that this model is still used by enthusiasts today and has a following around it amongst street photographer artists. This was followed by the very successful Petri 7S 11 in 1966 . Both models had colour corrected lenses.
The first Petri SLR was the "Penta" (1959). After the first model, the original product line cameras were named Penta for the domestic Japanese market and PetriFlex for export.The original Penta came with a 'universal' M42 screw lens mount, while most subsequent models in the Penta, Flex and FT lines used used the proprietary Petri breech lock bayonet. Adaptors were manufactured to use either mounts on either cameras, (with some loss of functions. A very limited range of lenses was produced. They returned to the M42 mount for the late seventies low cost bodies such as the FT1000/500 and the compact MFT1000 and Micro MF-1 bodies.
For the top pictured Petri 7 1.8 the company offered a kit that includes a front adapter lens marked AUX TELEPHOTO which screws onto the primary lens; a similar lens for WIDE ANGLE is in the kit. The kit includes an optical view finder, TELE-WIDE FINDER, which attaches on the flash shoe and contains two optically marked frames showing telephoto and wide angle. This kit works on the Petri 7 1.9 and the Petri 7 1.8 camera. The single primary lens diaphragm works with these adapted lens mounted on the front, a lower cost design than lenses that include all the back glass and diaphragm with each lens. The camera with primary lens is 13cm wide, 8cm tall and 7cm deep, All these lens have 3.5cm screw rings. Metering is powered by a ring photocell so no battery is required. Focus is manual on primary lens/viewfinder so the photographer must match the yellow/tinted image with the clear one in the primary viewfinder, then shift the eye to the auxiliary viewfinder to frame the picture when an auxillary lens is used. 1.8 Camera weighs 710 grams (1 lb 9 oz).
Petri produced many early bellows
Bellows
A bellows is a device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location.Basically, a bellows is a deformable container which has an outlet nozzle. When the volume of the bellows is decreased, the air escapes through the outlet...
, rangefinder and single-lens reflex camera
Single-lens reflex camera
A single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...
s. During the 1960s its main products equalled Nikon
Nikon
, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...
's in features at half the price. Due to increased electronization, mass production and competition from other camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
vendors, Kuribayashi filed for final bankruptcy in 1977. The labor union, affiliated with Sohyo
Sohyo
Sōhyō , the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan, founded in 1950 is the predominantly public sector union confederation in Japan. It merged with RENGO in 1990....
, continued the company under the name Petri Kōgyō K.K. with employee capital. The last model produced was the MF10, but with its screw-mount lens it could not compete with products having electrical contacts, and disappeared in the autofocus boom of the 1980s. The Petri Camera brand was sold to the Dixons Group in the UK and became an "in-house" brand for a short time in the early eighties.
Now out of the camera business, Petri Kōgyō manufactures telescopes at a plant in the town of Sugito
Sugito, Saitama
is a town located in Kitakatsushika District, Saitama, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 46,856 and a density of 1,561.87 persons per km². The total area is 30.00 km².Sugito town is 45 minutes north of Tokyo by train...
, Saitama Prefecture
Saitama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which a large amount of residents commute each day.- History...
.
Other
- Nakamura, Karen, Petri 7s, About Kuribayashi, Photoethnography.com.
- Baird,John "Collectors Guide to Kuribyashi-Petri Cameras", Centennial Photo Service
External links
- pbase.com list of Petri models with sample photos
- Photoethnography.com Petri 7s page
- Cameraquest.com Petri Color 35 page