It's too bad Kuribayashi Camera Industry, Inc., went
out of business back in the 1960s. That's because Kuribayashi posted a
hard-to-beat guarantee on the inside back cover of its cameras. If I could still take advantage of that guarantee, I could have had my ailing Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super perked up for free. The problem, you see, is that, like many other fixed lens rangefinder cameras, the lubricant in the focusing mechanism on this unit had thickened. As a result, it didn't operate smoothly. I treated it with lighter fluid (naptha), and that loosened it up quite a bit. 
This is one of several cameras in my collection that I've owned for a long time and actually used, at least until the last five or six years. It has a 2.8 Orikkor lens; shutter speeds from B-1/500; f stops down to f22; distance markings in feet; M/X synch capability; and a self timer.
The film advance lever operates smoothly, and the leaf shutter is whisper quiet. The shutter release feels just right when you depress it. There's a neat ASA reminder on the top plate. Although I've used many other RF cameras--Leica, Voigtlander, Retina, Ricoh, to name a few--this nifty little camera has been one of my favorites. Small, light, quiet, and nimble, it's perfect for street photography. See the photo at left, for example. I don't think, however, that it's a camera for novices. But if you've mastered the basics of photography and understand how a rangefinder operates, you'll be very happy shooting with a Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super.
Kuribayashi manufactured more than one version of this camera. Seen in
the photos shown here is an identically named earlier ver-sion. Although this camera shares the same lens as the one shown above, there are many differences between the two. For example, the shutter on this Made in Occupied Japan <EP> model has a top shutter speed of 1/300 as opposed to a top speed of 1/500 on the later version of the camera. The viewfinder is markedly different as well, and so are the top plates. Also, the <EP> version is about one-half inch shorter. Finally, this earlier model has no strap lugs. You have to wonder what the camera's designers were thinking when they omitted the lugs!
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