C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →rangefinder-35mm
The Petri Color 35 1.9 (1959) is a 35mm coupled-rangefinder camera produced by Kuribayashi Camera Industry -- better known under its Petri trade name -- at a moment when the Japanese camera industry was aggressively competing on lens speed. The camera is built around a fixed Petri Orikkor 45mm f/1.9 lens, a bright normal optic that distinguished the model from the slower f/2.8 and f/3.5 alternatives common at the price point. The shutter is a leaf-type unit running from 1s to 1/500s, with full flash synchronisation at all speeds. The rangefinder is coupled to the focusing helicoid, allowing measured focus in low light where the f/1.9 aperture was most useful.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
Develop 35mm film
Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
One of Japan's fastest rangefinder lenses in 1959 -- the Petri 1.9 put f/1.9 glass in a compact, affordable body.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Lens | Petri Orikkor 45mm f/1.9 (fixed) |
| Year | 1959 |
| Shutter | Leaf, 1s -- 1/500s + B |
| Flash sync | All speeds (leaf shutter) |
| Meter | None (meterless) |
| Modes | Manual |
| Viewfinder | Coupled rangefinder |
| Battery | None required |
Kuribayashi Camera Industry was founded in 1907 and had produced folding cameras and rangefinders under the Petri brand through the 1950s. By 1959, Japanese manufacturers were engaged in a lens-speed race: an f/1.9 or f/1.8 specification was a meaningful marketing point, distinguishing a camera from the mainstream f/2.8 market. The Color 35 1.9 was Petri's entry into that faster-lens segment -- "Color" in the name was a common Japanese marketing convention of the era signalling that the lens was corrected for colour photography (as opposed to orthochromatic or uncorrected glass), not that the camera shot colour film specifically.
The model was produced during the late 1950s through the early 1960s; exact production end dates are not well documented. Petri continued evolving its rangefinder line with the 7s and other variants through the 1960s before pivoting to SLRs. The company went bankrupt in 1977.
The Petri 1.9 represents the competitive vitality of the Japanese camera industry at the turn of the 1960s, when dozens of manufacturers were producing capable cameras with fast lenses at prices far below German alternatives. The f/1.9 Orikkor lens is a genuine fast normal -- not a marketing gimmick -- and the coupled rangefinder mechanism works reliably when well maintained. For collectors, the camera is a representative example of second-tier Japanese rangefinder production: well built, functional, and largely forgotten because the manufacturer did not survive long enough to build a collector community.
The meterless, mechanical design means the camera requires no battery and has no electronic failure modes. Usable light-metering can be done with a phone app or separate meter, making the 1.9 a practical shooter as well as a shelf piece.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →Petri Color 35 1.9
Image coming soon