Petri Color 35...Anyone have experience with one?

I'm looking at acquiring a Petri Color 35 because it seems like a well designed

and intriguing compact camera, but mainly because it's hard to resist any

interesting camera. Does anyone have experience with this camera or have any

comments about its performance? How does the lens perform in comparison to

something like the Olympus 35RC?

They're very small. Smaller than most compact 35's with the lens retracted. Limited shutter speeds of 1/15 to 1/250. Match needle metering. No rangefinder. It's a fair performer, but I've not compared it to the Olympus. Not as sharp as my Rollei 35, assuming correct guessed focus, but nothing to sneeze at, either.

 

If you want something a little different in a small package, and the price is right, you'll probably enjoy it.

The Petri Color 35 are nifty designs. Workmanship is surprisingly good compared to some other Petri cameras. The lens is quite sharp - it's a four-element Tessar design and it's not easy to do something wrong with such a design. It is much more ergonomic than the Rollei35 - but also a bit bigger since the lens does not fully retract. After shutter repair (someone obviously had squirted some WD40 on the shutter blades and they were completely gummed up and had even sprung off their guide pins) the shutter is one of the most accurate I have seen.

 

There are some drawbacks: The lightmeter is switched on by the advance lever and consumes quite a bit of current even in the dark. The battery can be changed only after removing the rear part of the body, i.e. it cannot be changed with film loaded. On mine the meter range seems somewhat limited - I do not know whether this is a defect, I could not find anything wrong in the meter mechanism. But these thingies sell quite expensive today, I think they are somewhat overpriced - not as much as the Rollei35 but they are.

Stephen Gandy's "Camera Quest" website gives it a glowing review, says it's the camera Rollei should have built.

The Color 35 is a neat camera, more of an homage than a copy of the Rollei 35. In mine, the wheel that retracts and focuses the lens had an unpleasantly wobbly feel but the camera otherwise had no faults. I did sell it off, though, mainly because I am really not fond of rangefinderless viewfinder cameras. I have never been very interested in the Rollei for the same reason.

 

Owing to its very nice and compact design, the Color 35 probably has the odd distinction of being pretty much the only well respected camera that Petri ever made. It has become curiously overpriced over the years.... I paid $40 for mine, I think, and I think that's about as much as one is worth.

Its a GREAT camera with as marvellous design. A jewel. Using one is addictive. The lens is very competent. You wont see any difference between it and Olympus unless you go to 8x10 or above.<div></div>

Thanks, David! Very encouraging indeed. From reading about it, it sure seems like an innovative camera and very well thought out. It's nice to hear that picture quality is on par with the rest of the package. It does seem to be more suited to a fairly narrow range of lighting situations with such limited shutter speeds. Has this proven to be a hindrance to anyone?

It was a bit for me, as I shoot ISO 400 pretty much exclusively. Just use a slightly slower film speed and you should be fine. At the slow end, 1/15 at f/2.8 isn't bad if you're hand-holding the camera anyway.... the Olympus 35RC is no better at that end.

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?Petri7s.html~mainFrame

 

I prefer the 7s...lighter, rangefinder, much cooler design. They're cool cameras, fixed lens, what you get is what you get.

Both of those Petris do look very nice, Caleb. What makes the 7s lighter? Is it a different metal from that used in the Color 35? I wouldn't imagine it would (or could) be any smaller.

The Petri 7's are much bigger, heavier and clunkier. Cannot be compared to the Color 35 at all. The best of them is the 7SII.<div></div>

Concerning innovations, the Rollei35 series seems to be a bit more ahead. The Petri Color 35 uses a conventional shutter arrangement, while the Rollei shutter drive mechanism rests in the camera body and is coupled via a pin to the shutter blades when the lens is pulled out. This makes it possible to make the lens barrel much smaller.

 

If you are talking about Petri rangefinders, I would prefer the Petri Racer. Compared to other cameras of the 60s they have a futuristic design and still look good today. The shutter release is as ergonomic as can be. Workmanship is so-so but the lenses (they come with an f/2.8 or f/1.8 lens) aren't bad. They have a CdS lightmeter so chances it still works are bigger than with the selenium meter of the 7S models.

You know, I had the feeling when I saw the name "Whatever 35" that this would be one of those nice, solid, chrome-heavy compacts I would end up having to add to The List. But please somebody, tell me they're kidding with the price of the one you see on the big auction site - if you search, you'll find someone asking you to buy it now for over 300 dollars...

I saw that auction...but that's the same guy who had an Olympus XA-1 listed for $348-buy it now also, while the auction above his had the same camera for $9.95. I believe he also has an Olympus 35SP listed for a similar price, right around $300 or so. Keep looking for the Petri; I saw several listed the other day for decent prices.

I had owned two Petri's color 35, both in black.. The Petri lens 2.8/40mm is inferior of contour sharpness when comparing with a similar Tessar 3.5/40 and Sonnar HFT2.8/40 of Rollei 35T/S/SE and Zuiko D 3.5/35, Zuiko F 2.8/35 of Olympus XA2, XA . After adjusting the Petri lens at infinity I got no a noticeable improvement of the lens definition. Use, disassembling and repair showed unreliable construction of shutter, the metering system, the moving index of distance scale. Pulling out a lens by rotating a distance knob till switching up is a pain.