Petri
Kuribayashi, later Petri, was a Japanese camera maker.
Contents
History
Early period
Most sources say that the company was founded as Kuribayashi Seisakusho in 1907 by Kuribayashi Yōji (栗林庸二), manufacturing tripods and dark boxes.[1] Its first camera was the Speed Reflex supposedly released in 1919.[2] However a Petri catalogue dated August 1981 reportedly says that the company was founded in 1918 and that the Speed Reflex was introduced in 1922.[3]
Thirties
It became Gōshi-gaisha Kuribayashi Shashin Kikai Seisakusho (㈾栗林写真機械製作所) in 1930.[4] From 1929 to the war many cameras made by the company were called First and advertised as "made by First Camera Works". These First cameras were distributed by Minagawa Shōten, and it seems that "First Camera Works" was nothing more than a name and logo forged by Minagawa for advertising purpose (see the discussion about the Camera Works endings).[5] (The "First Camera Works" name and logo were used again after the war for the First Six and Firstflex cameras made by Tokiwa Seiki and again distributed by Minagawa.)[6]
The Kuribayashi company was based in Tokyo, Adachi in 1943.[7]
Postwar period
The company changed status in 1949 and became K.K. Kuribayashi Shashin Kikai Seisakusho (㈱栗林写真機械製作所) in 1949.[8] The company did not renew its cooperation with Minagawa (owner of the name "First"). It had to look for another brand name and finally settled on Karoron and Petri. Kuribayashi made a range of 4.5×6 folders under these names and a single 6×6 TLR model called Petriflex. Its first 35mm camera was released in 1954 and its first 35mm SLR in 1959. The company became Kuribayashi Shashin Kōgyō K.K. (栗林写真工業㈱) in 1956.[9] In 1962, it took the name of its products and became Petri Camera K.K. (ペトリカメラ㈱). In 1968, it released the Petri Color 35, a very compact camera said to be inspired from the Rollei 35.
Petri Camera went bankrupt in 1977 or 1978. It was revived as Petri Kōgyō K.K. (ペトリ工業㈱) but it abandoned camera production some time thereafter. It seems that the company still exists (2007) and makes telescopes.
The company seems unrelated to the current Kuribayashi Seisakusho Co., Ltd. founded in 1944.[10]
35mm film
Rangefinder, fixed lens
Viewfinder
SLR
- Petri Flex
- Petri Penta
- Petri FT
- Petri FT II
- Petri FT EE
120 film
4.5×6 folder
- Semi First
- U Semi First
- Semi Rotte
- BB Semi First
- BB Semi Rotte
- Baby Semi First
- BB Baby Semi First
- Auto Semi First (rangefinder)
- Hokoku
- Mizuho
6×6 folder
6×9 folder
6×6 TLR
- First Reflex
- Petriflex
127 film
- Eagle (4×6.5 folder)
- Speed Pocket (4×6.5 folder)
- Molby (3×4 uncoupled rangefinder)
Plate film
- First Hand (6.5×9cm folder)
- First Etui (6.5×9cm folder)
Notes
- ↑ Baird, p. 11, Lewis, p. 184 and this page of the Japan Memory website.
- ↑ Baird, pp. 13 and 40–2. Lewis, p. 36.
- ↑ See this page by Sumida Petri-dō.
- ↑ Date: Baird, p. 15. Baird gives Shashin instead of Shashin Kikai.
- ↑ Baird, p. 15, suggests that First Camera Works was a manufacturing company jointly owned by Kuribayashi and Minagawa, but it seems that no actual company was called this way.
- ↑ See the First Six and Firstflex leaflet reproduced in butkus.org's Orphan Camera website.
- ↑ Its address in 1943 was Tōkyō-to Adachi-ku Ueda-machi 1807 (東京都足立区上田町1807). Source: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras").
- ↑ Transition visible between two advertisements dated 1949 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 178. Baird, p. 30, gives Shashin instead of Shashin Kikai by mistake.
- ↑ Dates: Baird, p. 32.
- ↑ See the chronology of the company's website.
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.
- Baird, John R. Collectors guide to Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. Grantsburg, WI (USA): Centennial Photo Service, 1991. ISBN 0-931838-16-9.
- "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced 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: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7.
- 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).
Links
In English:
In French:
- Petri page at Collection G. Even's site
- Cameras and User manuals at www.collection-appareils.com
In Japanese:
- Petri and the Petri Research Club at Uyūdō
- Camera stories 2: Petri (you must scroll the page down) at Japan Family Camera
