Petri Penta1959

History

Petri Camera Co. (operating as Kuribayashi Camera Industry until a rebrand in the early 1960s) had built a reputation through the 1950s with fixed-lens 35mm cameras. The shift to an SLR design in 1959 aligned with a broader movement in the Japanese camera industry: by the late 1950s, the Nikon F (1959) and the Asahi Pentax had established that the SLR was the format of serious photography, and second-tier manufacturers followed.

The decision to use a proprietary breech-lock mount rather than the common M42 screw mount was commercially consequential. On the positive side, it allowed Petri to sell the entire system -- body and lenses -- without competing on glass with Asahi, Zeiss, and the established M42 lens ecosystem. On the negative side, it permanently constrained the available lens selection to what Petri itself could manufacture and distribute, limiting the camera's appeal to photographers who cared about lens variety.

The Penta was succeeded by the Petri Penta V (also called the Petri V series), which added a through-the-lens metering system and other refinements. The breech-lock mount persisted through the Petri Flex V, Flex 7, and V6 models into the late 1960s and early 1970s, by which point Petri was in financial difficulty. The company declared bankruptcy in 1977.

Why It Matters

The Petri Penta is historically significant as the origin of the Petri SLR system and the breech-lock mount that would define the brand's interchangeable-lens cameras for roughly fifteen years. It represents the wave of second-tier Japanese manufacturers that entered the SLR market in the late 1950s and early 1960s -- companies that could not match the engineering resources of Nikon, Canon, or Asahi but could build functional, affordable systems for the amateur market.

The breech-lock mount itself is an interesting engineering choice: unlike the M42 screw mount (which requires rotating the lens body to mount and dismount) or the Nikon F bayonet, the Petri system used a locking ring to secure the lens -- an approach that offers some advantages in alignment consistency. It never achieved interoperability with other systems, however, and today represents a closed ecosystem of modest size.

For historians of Japanese camera manufacturing, the Petri Penta illustrates the competitive pressure that drove even minor manufacturers to commit to SLR development within months of the Nikon F's launch. For collectors, it is the foundational model of a now-closed system from a company that no longer exists.

Lenses & Accessories

The Petri breech-lock mount is proprietary and was not adopted by any other manufacturer. Lenses available in the Petri system include:

• Petri C.C. Auto 55mm f/2 -- the standard kit lens, a six-element double-Gauss construction; competent for general photography.
• Petri C.C. Auto 55mm f/1.8 -- faster standard lens, available as an upgrade option.
• Petri C.C. Auto 135mm f/3.5 -- the typical telephoto option for the system.
• Petri C.C. Auto 28mm f/3.5 -- wide-angle option.

M42 and other modern mount adapters for Petri breech-lock exist but are uncommon. Adapting Petri lenses to modern mirrorless bodies (via breech-lock to M42 or breech-lock to Canon EF/Sony E) is possible with appropriate adapters.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used primarily by the Japanese domestic amateur market and price-conscious export buyers in the early 1960s.
• Of interest today to collectors of early Japanese SLR history and to photographers building Petri system collections.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Petri Penta -- model specifications and system overview.