Petri Flex V 35mm SLR

[Stephen]

From Ebay, a Petri Flex V, with 55mm F2 standard lens, condition reasonable. One camera strap lug is missing on front.



Made by Kuribayashi, Petri brand, in 1961, with a top speed of 1/500th, Petri had changed from the early Petri lens mount to the Petri Bayonet mount. An adaptor was made to mount M42 thread lenses.

Fully manual operation, no meter, auto diaphragm, and instant return mirror. Petri placed the shutter release on the front at an angle like Practica and Welta etc.



The Petri camera is conventional in external design, but had a very well made shutter, and excellent lenses. The shutter mechanisms were unique to Petri, and not based on Leica's Shutter layout.

The Petri lenses were very good, dead sharp, and excellent colour handling. They rivalled any Japanese lens maker at the time, bar Nikon.

Petri never had a good importer in the UK, they sold, but not in large quantities. Many photographers treasured them a lot, liking the reliability and the lens image quality. In my opinion the standard lens was better than Pentax and Minolta.

Petri failed to modernise enough in the later reflex models and stopped production in 1976/77

Nice thing about the purchase, .......£6.63 !

Stephen.

[Stephen]

UK advert for the Petri, imported by Mayfair Photographic, who supplied Dixons, the largest UK shop group.

[philbirch]

It's amazing how a crappy importer makes the stuff they're importing seem like second rate rubbish. It looks to some as if there isn't much effort put into it because its not worth it.

[Stephen]

That's Charles Stasser and Stanley Kalms way of selling cameras, they helped kill off Topcon, Petri, Miranda, Edixa, and did no favours to Minolta in the UK. Poor backup, poor service, low stocks of lenses...look at the Russians, Photopia were to be the importers, but the Russians found them unreliable and set up TOE (UK) to import!
All they wanted to sell was the cameras in quantity and run away if problems occurred! If a market barrow was cheaper than a shop, they would use the barrow.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Conveniently, a Soligor 2x converter for the Petri bayonet was on Ebay and bought for 99p, showing perhaps the lack of interest in the Petri marque these days.

Petri was not a common make in the UK, you see far more Miranda cameras around.

I remember members of our photographic club who used Petri, winning many awards. you could not see any difference in B/w or colour from top makers lenses, they were pretty sharp.

Petri ground and assembled their own lenses, at least all the common lengths, as usual long or very wide lenses might have been bought in.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Not sure about the Petri as yet, on arrival the shutter works fine at all speeds, but the mirror mechanism has failed, leaving the mirror down. This is the model with a long cross shaft with cams and levers in the base, that release the mirror etc., and fire the aperture lever as well, once the shutter is pressed.
However although it moves freely the rod does not turn, and I think has been got at by a previous attempt to repair. Without another camera to compare, it is difficult to access what is not happening when the release is pressed.

No real loss, Camera and 2x converter under £7.00 the lot!

The lens can be added to a home made converter to Micro 4/3 and looks in good condition, no fungus or scratches, and the auto diaphragm works.

On the look out for a working Petri body to aid the repairs needed to this one.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

The Petri has definitely been got at in an attempt to repair it, the shaft inside across the camera is bent and the collars are in the wrong positions. I borrowed another Petri from a friend to compare the two. No missing springs etc or parts, just the wrong assembly. I have the shaft out and will attempt to straighten it and placed the parts back in correct positions. As the shutter functions it mainly concerns the mirror and the aperture control, and maybe the counter, as that is non operating.
The lens works on an adaptor made from an extension tube for Micro 4/3 and looks like it is 100% sharp etc.
Stephen.

[Randy]

I still have a couple Petri cameras and a Focal (K-Mart) clone. Argus got on the bandwagon also.

[yashica1943]

Petriflex V just bought from Ebay will comment when it arrives. Looks quite good from the picture and description. My friend had one in about 1964, I always liked the look of it. My first SLR about then was a Pentacon with a Domiplan lens.

[pendennis]

One of my early SLR's was a Petri FT. I always got good photos with the camera, and its 55mm f1.8 was tack sharp. After I owned it for a couple of years, though, the meter would stop working; I'd take it to the repair shop; they'd "fix" it; and a couple of months later, the same song and dance. I thought about buying the FT EE, but instead opted for a Pentax SP-II.

I always liked the lens mount, which if anything, was completely over-engineered. That breech-lock mount was secure.

At one time the Petri Color 35 rangefinders were pretty highly rated by Modern and Popular Photography.

[yashica1943]

The Petriflex V arrived today. The cosmetic condition is outstanding, looks about 10 years of age,not 55+. Given it a clean and there is no damage at all except slight rubbing from the strap rings. The lens elements are bright and clean. However there is something across the viewfinder inside and the diaphragm is not working as it should. This is not a problem as I bought it as a display piece. The ERC is in good condition and there is a whole load of Petri filters with it, some in an original case. I paid £10 for it and am very pleased.