Petri Color 35 Disassembly

[in2focus]

Hi there everyone, it's my first post but I'm not new to cameras and fixing them by any stretch, but need help. I have a Petri Color 35 and have really been enjoying it. In a moment of sheer stupidity, I had it resting on the arm rest of my car to take a picture and forgot it was there. I opened the door and it fell out, face first onto asphalt and into a puddle. :bang:

The good news is all critical pieces appear to be fine. Shutter, meter, aperture, and focus all still function. Unfortunately, the filter ring is dented, and there is water vapor in both the filter ring meter window and finder window.

I know my only option with the filter ring short of somehow finding a parts donor is to try and straighten it in a wooden jig/template. I already got the filter ring off, but am not sure how to separate the slotted disk on the back to get to the meter window to clean it.

I also need to know how to get the top of the camera off to clean up the finder windows. The screws on it seem obvious, but I have no idea how the shutter speed and aperture rings off. Thanks a bunch for your help, I really appreciate it and it broke my heart to do this to this camera as it took my months to find it, it's one of my favorite pocket cameras when I can't bring my SLR, and I've never broken a camera before.

 

[rick oleson]

It's not much, but I have some service notes on the Color 35. Email me at rick.oleson@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy.

rick

 

[sevo]

Slotted disc on the back? Do you mean the focus wheel? On mine, that is fixed with a pin spanner screw (a.k.a. spanner, two-pin, snake eyes or snake bite screw) - that two-holed chrome plated thing in the middle. The matching tools are rather expensive, and you'll rarely need the same width again - personally I have filed my own from a slot screwdriver of matching width.

But there might be a different screw on yours - as repairmen without the proper tool tend to damage or destroy original tamper-proof screws, it is not uncommon for other types of screws to appear in place of originally tamper-proof ones.

IIRC the time and aperture wheels simply come off with the lid.

 

[in2focus]

Hi all, thanks for getting back to me. I apologize for the delay as I got busy with finals and Christmas. The top just came apart pretty simple to my surprise. Thanks for the offer of notes Rick, it is always appreciated that you take the time to write them down and offer them to people.

As for the slotted disk, the back of the front ring with the meter window has an odd disk on it that spins to block off more of the window relative to ISO setting. I didn't have to take it apart to get the window dry though; I left it over night in some rice and it was fine.

Aside from the dented filter ring I'm happy to report it is back to working great.