Karoron RF and Petri RF

The Petri RF, Karoron RF and Karoron SII are different model names used for the same camera. It is a self-erecting folding camera for 4.5x6cm exposures on 120 film, made by Kuribayashi from 1952. It has an uncoupled rangefinder built into the top housing, with a telescopic viewfinder in a separate eyepiece.

The design is a development of the earlier Petri 'semi' models from the late 1940s. It is significantly more compact than those, because the film winding knob was moved to the top plate, at the cost of a small reflex viewfinder. It has a rather good specification, in keeping with the Petri name, with coated lenses and a flash-synchronised shutter and cold shoe, whereas the earlier cameras to bear the Karoron name were cheaper counterparts of the Petri, without a rangefinder.

Petri RF with Carperu shutter and C. Orikon 7.5cm f/3.5 lens, and with an EP mark on the winding knob. In the collection of Harris Aaronson. (Image rights)

Pictures

Karoron RF, Coated Orikon Anastigmat 75mm f/3.5 lens no.483078. Pictures courtesy of Adrian Gotts. (Image rights)

Bibliography

• Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Items 469 and 809. (See also the advertisement for items 810–1.)
• Baird, John R. Collectors guide to Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. Grantsburg, WI (USA): Centennial Photo Service, 1991. ISBN 0-931838-16-9. Pp. 21–2, 30, 123–4 and 130–1.
• Kawamata Masataku (川又正卓). Petri RF. In Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: The use of and actual examples from 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp. 94–5.
• Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). Pp. 75 and 79 (brief mentions only).
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P. 578.
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Item 1316.

Links

In English:

• Petri RF: lot 78 of the March 25, 2006 Photographica and Film auction by Auction Team Breker
• Petri RF at Cosmonet's Classic Camera site (Japanese version)

In Japanese:

• Karoron RF and Petri RF 120 in a page of the AJCC
• Karoron RF at Itō Sadanobu's camera collection
• Petri RF in the Zeppan Tōsan photo site (incorporating this photograph). If the link does not work, go to the Zeppan Tōsan photo site, follow the link marked "武器庫" in the page menu, and then the link marked "栗林写真工業　ペトリＲＦ" in the left menu
• Petri RF 120 at Boro kamera to no tawamure
• Advertisement and other advertisement for the Petri cameras, dated 1954, reproduced in Shashin-Bako