Petri Color 35

[russwm]

I have a Petri Color 35 that appears to be in very good condition except that the lens won't extend. The dial turns but the lens stays stuck in an almost fully retracted position. I say almost because the shutter does fire. I believe that the shutter is locked when the lens if fully retracted.

Any suggestions on how I might remedy this? I have enough other film cameras to use that I'm not going to pay for this to be repaired. But I'm willing to try some type of minor repair.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[seany65]

Hello and welcome to the forum, russwm.

I'm surprised that no-one who can help has replied yet, but let's hope someone will soon.

I'm tempted to half-suggest that you find some way of turning the central circle that has the two holes in it while holding the focusing wheel still to see if that allows you to take the wheel off and see if there's anything that's broken inside, BUT I'm a brainless idiot with NO technical skills of any sort and I would only actually suggest it if I thought it would get other members who know what they are doing to reply and tell you what to actually do.

 

[wwfloyd]

It's been a while since I've had mine apart. Had to take the top off, to re-affix a mirror. In case you need to take the top off, here are my notes:

For the Petri Color 35, remove the rewind crank, and a collar that becomes visible on the rewind post. Remove the focus wheel. Set the shutter to 1/250, and aperture to f22, just so you'll remember, for re-assembly. Remove the screw on the right-hand side of the top cover. The cover then lifts free, with the shutter and aperture control wheels staying attached to the cover. 3 things to watch: the battery check button will probably fall away from the cover; if the camera is inverted, the shutter release post will fall out; I also had a super-thin brass bushing washer fall free, which I'm pretty sure came from the focus post.

I don't remember much more, EXCEPT for one impression I had: I was surprised at the light weight of the focus gears that are turned by the focus knob. Considering that lens extension requires the extra turning -- and that a user may be running the lens in and out pretty often -- it appeared to be a possible point of failure.