new toy to mess about with.

nickjohnwatson

nickjohnwatson

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Having never used a 35mm film slr before I fancied having a go. This is my grandads old camera, a Petri ttl from around 1974/75 ish (I think?)

Ive got no idea if it works properly. All the light seals around the back cover look to be in good working order and intact, mirror is pretty clean and there's no dust in the lenses. Hopefully all is well, one thing I did notice is where the sensor would be in a dslr, the fabric belt that sits in front of the film is a bit dusty on the mirror side of it, will this have any impact? Should I clean it out if I can?

There's 2 lenses. A 35mm f2.8 prime and a 55mm 1.8 prime, both Petri lenses.

I know nothing about this camera, its bloody heavy though - weighs an absolute ton.

Looking forward to having some fun. Any recommendations for film? Would maybe like a colour film and a black and white to have a play with.

Any advice is welcomed :-)

Cheers

Nick

 
STOP! Do not touch that fabric belt, its the shutter! If you go touching it then your likely to damage it as they are quite delicate, gentle blowing is all you should use at the most.

For testing the camera at first pop into Poundland and get a roll of Agfa Vista 200+, its an average colour negative film compared to more recent offerings by Kodak and Fuji but for testing purposes its perfect. After that you can move onto other colour films like Kodak Portra etc but thats good for starters and can be processed by any lab in the land. As fewer highstreet places do B&W processing now, you'll probably want to try a C-41 B&W film like Ilford XP2 Super or Kodak BW400CN as they are B&W but processed in the same manner as colour negative films so they are easier to get done. After that then theres a wide selection of films to choose from, take your pick!
 
old cameras are heavy :-) if shutter fires then it should be fine
 
I have both Petri lenses in M42 fit which I think your,s are, I believe the body and lenses were made by Cosina in the late 60,s, early 70,s and the IQ of the lenses is very good.

With regard to any work on the condition, take the advise given and test a film through the camera, it will tell you a lot more than anything else, if the shots are good, great, if not post your results and we can than give more precise information.

Good luck, I am a collector of anything Cosina and I know you will enjoy your Granddads camera and experience what he did.
 
Thanks so much for the replies :-) I've spent an hour cleaning it this morning but listened to the advice and didn't touch the shutter :-) gave it a little blow out with a rocket blower. Its cleaned up pretty nicely actually! The things been collecting dust for the past 20 years so hopefully it'll still function. I've checked and all the shutter speeds seem to work fine and it looks pretty clean inside, going to get some cheap film and see what's what then might get some better stuff if its ok, if you guys subscribe to this thread then once I've had a film developed ill put sine shots up here for you to have a look at :-)

Thanks again :-)
 
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The TTL metering might even work fine, although it used the now discontinued PX-625 mercury battery.

I would personally just shoot a test roll without bothering with the meter - there are light meter apps for Android and iPhone, or you could use the Sunny 16 (more like 11!) rule, or you could even use the meter on your 550D if you so fancied.

There's a handy sticky at the top of this forum of places to get your film developed. Some local Tesco and Asda stores may still offer this service as well.
 
Rhodese said:
There are modern batteries for sale,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eunicell-Alkaline-Batteries-PX625-PX625A/dp/B0063JZ27S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1366111367&sr=8-4&keywords=px625+batteries
Click to expand...

These are not great replacements - they are just normal LR44 1.5V batteries, and expensive for LR44s.

The best halfway is 1.4V hearing aid batteries, and then use a washer to make it big enough to make it equivalent to PX625.

But before all that faff I would just run a roll through without bothering with the meter - the camera is all mechanical anyway.
 
Well I couldn't find any Agfa film. Went to about 8 shops. Managed to get some Fujicolour C200 reduced for a quid a roll. Got 2 films, they are only 24 exposures but should be enough to test it.

Had an optimistic trip out earlier, its been a lovely day so i took my cokin filter set and had a play at st Mary's lighthouse in Whitley bay.

Used my polarizer and a soft nd grad. Think most settings were about f8-f11 with shutter speeds of around 1/125 (based on a few shots I had taken last week with my 550D)

I have only just realised that the exposure meter is actually working when the lens is set to auto so hopefully that should help next time out. Not sure if the settings would be ok given the film speed being 200, have to wait and see.

There's definitely something exciting about waiting to see how a roll of film will turn out I have to admit. Going to get them developed onto a disk so I can have a bit of a play in Photoshop when they are done.

Nick
 
nickjohnwatson said:
Well I couldn't find any Agfa film. Went to about 8 shops. Managed to get some Fujicolour C200 reduced for a quid a roll. Got 2 films, they are only 24 exposures but should be enough to test it.
Click to expand...

Well time wasn't wasted then - C200 and Agfa Vista Plus 200 are the exact same film by Fuji just re-badged!
 
Well I've put a film in to get developed onto a cd, no idea what the outcome will be, should have a couple up here later on if all goes well. I did notice that the film seemed to go on for longer than 24 exposures. Seemed more like 28/29 not sure if it needs to be wound on a bit before starting a roll in the camera? Suppose ill wait and see what happens lol
 
This is what's come out of it, quite a bit of noise reduction and they are still quite grainy. Had a play about in Photoshop with a bit of PP on them, nothing drastic though. Daylight settings were f8-f11 at 1/125 the portrait of my mate was 1/500 @ f2.8

Got them developed at Asda straight onto a cd but they are only around 1800x1200 pixel jpegs which is crap resolution but hey ho

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Your Grandad's old Petri, £1 C200 film, £3 processing and you altogether have not done a bad job at all! Several showing a bit of darkening in the very top of the sky, but otherwise it looks nice and sharp, and reasonably contrasty. The last one (portrait) I'd be very happy to have taken!

G'arn, take some more ;-)
 
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