Petri 7s working again!

[Doug]

This was my dad's camera, probably bought from the Navy Exchange in the early 60's... I think it's been unused for many years. The shutter didn't work and the focusing was very stiff. Gummed up with ancient solidified grease.

And so it went to the repair shop and got cleaned out and relubed. Also had a weak shutter spring that was replaced. It's still a cheap camera, but now it works. 🙂

And the 45mm f/1.8 lens seems to be pretty good. Here are a few recent shots, just for fun. The first one is in the front window of the community art gallery. The ladies wondered why I was taking pics of their deteriorating bouquet!

 

[Doug]

Shadows can seem substantial...

 

[oftheherd]

Both great photos. I can't make up my mind which I like best. Glad to see you have it fixed and are enjoying it.

 

[Doug]

Now that my local lab seems to have their new "pro" processing equipment up and running, after a couple months of problems, I'll have a backlog of photos to post!

Here's a third one with the Petri 7s... more diagonals, more deterioration (by contrast with the renovation of the camera!). This wrapped newspaper has been on this doorstep for about a year. The duplex is now owned by the county, and is due to be demolished this Fall to make room for the new jail. Same for the building next door in the previous shot with the brown chair on its porch.

 

[thejazzguy]

the petri 7s is a great camera, very underrated in my opinion. i have one in spotless condition with the f1.8 lens and a working selenium meter. i think i paid all of $10 for it. sample picture attached.

 

[thejazzguy]

and another.
these are very low-resolution scans--the negatives are bright and detailed, with quite good sharpness.

 

[Rich Silfver]

Doug - super sharp! Congrats.

 

[back alley]

just a note about monitors...i looked at these pics at work where i have an ancient computer and an even older monitor - and the pics/colours looked bad.
but now, here at home, on my lovely 19 inch, properly calibrated dell monitor, they look great! very sharp, nice colours and bright.
man, what a difference!!

joe

 

[Doug]

Thanks Herd, Jazz, and Richard! The meter in this one seems not very responsive to changes in light, so is probably not working. The scans look better than these small samples of course. Let me see if I can post a larger one...

Do you see a hint of barrel distortion in the flower pic?

FWIW, my first SLR was a Petriflex V, with I think an f/2 lens and a top shutter speed of 1/500. The fancier one was a VII. Also had a Petri Half-7 half frame with scale focus and distance symbols. So this 7s is the third one I've used.

 

[thejazzguy]

i really really like the texture of that brick wall. great photo. one last sample from me.

 

[Doug]

Jazz, you had me fooled for a second, primed by your earlier shot from West Seattle, into thinking you'd flipped this photo. But this is Lake Union, not Elliott bay. 🙂

 

[thejazzguy]

right! one from alki, one at gasworks.

although i noticed my meter worked fine for outdoor shots, i actually use this camera more indoors for low-lit scenes, like the first shot i posted. that was handheld in unbelievably low light and ilford xp2.