C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →compact-35mm
The Petri Color 35E (1971) is a compact 35mm camera and a refined successor to the original Petri Color 35 (1968). The key distinction is its shutter: where the Color 35 used a mechanical leaf shutter with manual exposure, the Color 35E incorporates an electronically controlled shutter that enables aperture-priority automatic exposure. The CdS meter, coupled to the shutter timing, selects the exposure duration based on the aperture set by the user -- a system common in the early 1970s as Japanese manufacturers broadly adopted electronic shutter technology.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →C41
Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
Develop 35mm film
Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
The electronic shutter successor to Petri's Color 35: aperture-priority auto-exposure in a pocket-sized Japanese compact from 1971.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm (24x36 mm) |
| Mount | Fixed (non-interchangeable) |
| Lens | Petri C.C. ~38mm f/2.8 |
| Years | 1971 -- c. 1977 |
| Shutter | Electronic leaf: ~1/8s -- 1/250s |
| Flash sync | ~ |
| Meter | CdS, coupled to shutter (aperture-priority) |
| Modes | Auto-only (aperture-priority) |
| Focus | Zone focus |
| Battery | 2x AA (required for shutter) |
Petri Camera Co. (Kuribayashi Camera from its founding in 1907, renamed Petri in 1962) produced a wide range of cameras for domestic and export markets throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The Color 35 (1968) was the company's compact camera answer to the Rollei 35, sharing a similar pocket-camera premise with a collapsing or recessed lens design.
By 1971, the Japanese industry was rapidly adopting electronic shutter mechanisms, which allowed aperture-priority automation without the mechanical complexity of shutter-priority systems. Petri followed suit with the Color 35E, updated the shutter control system while retaining the same general body format. The E suffix denotes the electronic shutter variant.
Petri filed for bankruptcy in 1977. The Color 35E was likely in production through the mid-1970s, though precise production dates are not well documented. With no successor company to service the cameras or supply parts, surviving Color 35E bodies are largely dependent on the original mechanisms remaining functional.
The Petri Color 35E documents a transitional moment in compact camera design: the industry-wide shift from mechanical to electronically controlled shutters that took place between roughly 1968 and 1975. Cameras like the Olympus Trip 35 (selenium-powered auto-exposure, 1967) and the Konica C35 (CdS electronic shutter, 1968) established the market template; the Color 35E represents Petri's participation in that shift.
For collectors, the Color 35E is a secondary item relative to the original Color 35, which has attracted more attention as a Rollei 35 alternative. The E version's battery dependency makes it functionally less appealing for everyday use, but it fills a historical gap in the Petri compact camera sequence and is typically found at lower prices than the original.
The camera is also a minor data point in the history of Japanese manufacturer consolidation: Petri's failure in 1977, despite producing competent cameras like the Color 35E, illustrates that technical adequacy was insufficient to survive against Canon, Olympus, and Konica's distribution scale and brand investment.
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →Petri Color 35E
Image coming soon