Petri Color Corrected Super1958

History

Kuribayashi Camera Industry was founded in 1919 and produced cameras under the Petri brand from the early 1950s. By 1958 the company had established a line of fixed-lens rangefinders for the consumer market. The Color Corrected Super was a step up from simpler viewfinder-only models, adding a coupled rangefinder for more precise focus and a selenium meter for exposure guidance.

The name change from Kuribayashi to Petri Camera Co., Ltd. occurred around this period, reflecting the commercial importance of the Petri brand over the manufacturing entity's name. The Color Corrected Super was positioned against cameras like the Konica III and the Yashica Minister series in the Japanese domestic market, and was exported to North American and European markets where it competed with German rangefinders at a lower price point.

By the early 1960s the model had been superseded by updated Petri rangefinders including the Petri 7 series, which featured improved lenses and refined metering systems.

Why It Matters

The Color Corrected Super represents the mid-market Japanese camera industry's maturation in the late 1950s: competent rangefinder mechanism, useful lens, and selenium metering assembled at a price point accessible to ordinary consumers. The "color corrected" marketing language is historically interesting -- it reflects the industry's response to the shift from panchromatic black-and-white to color film as a consumer expectation rather than a specialist choice.

The camera requires no batteries at any point in its operation, which is a practical advantage today: unlike contemporary cameras requiring PX625 mercury cells or AA batteries, the Color Corrected Super can be used as-is without battery sourcing or adapter workarounds. This makes it an easy entry point for users interested in 1950s rangefinder handling.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used by amateur photographers in Japan, North America, and Western Europe in the late 1950s and early 1960s as an accessible rangefinder option.
• Collected today as a representative example of late-1950s mid-market Japanese rangefinder design.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Petri Color Corrected Super -- specifications and variants
• Wikipedia: Petri Camera -- company history and model context