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Petri CC Auto 55mm f/1.8 repair
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2025 7:58 pm    Post subject: Petri CC Auto 55mm f/1.8 repair Reply with quote
Just recently, I got my hands on a cheap Petri FT EE camera with the Petri CC Auto 55mm f/1.8 lens. The camera has has problems with shutter speeds of 1/30s and longer (they all behave like "B"). But the lens looked good. Except that the aperture did not move and the focus was stiff. So, I decided to clean it. There is very little information out there, but I figured it out. Reassembly of the aperture blades was very painful - I spent quite some time on that (much more than what a $10-$20 lens would justify...).
Now I got it working and it's a beauty - a great mechanical construction all made of metal!
From what I read, I'm really looking forward to taking pictures with it. But first, I need to get it mounted to my Sony A7Rii. I tried quite a few combinations: with or without the breech mount ring from the camera and with different adapters (Minolta, Canon, Pentax, M42). But none of these combinations looked promising (and I wouldn't know how to fix the lens on any of these adapters. Superglue comes to mind, but it sounds like an awful solution). So, instead of spending more time (and possibly money) on a "weird-adapter" solution, I just went ahead and ordered a $50 adapter from eBay (which has not arrived yet). My thought was: Even if the value of the lens does not justify the price for the adapter, my time for reassembling the aperture does!
A few pictures of the disassembly procedure are included below. The full details are posted on my blog https://markus-wobisch.blogspot.com/2025/02/repairing-petri-cc-auto-55mm-f18-lens.html.


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The first four blades are easy. The fifth is a little pain. But the hardest part is getting this 6th little "dinosaur" back in place.

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2025 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't know why the pictures are not showing up.... (oh, now they do)


PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2025 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
thank you for your detailed work on this cheap but very capable lens, i remember that i sold one of these in perfect order just because i`ve got one in m42 mount so i already had the adapter for it, otherwise i assume they should be the same lens different mount.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 3:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was rather surprised to see you describe these Petris as having "great mechanical construction."

Mechanically, they really are among the absolute poorest of their Japanese contemporaries, with some truly puzzling and bizarre design decisions that lead to frequent breakdowns and needless difficulty to repair.

Splendid optics, though.

As an addendum, it's generally a bad idea to use superglue on lenses due to its tendency to fog glass. While $50 for an adapter at first blush feels a little pricey compared to the sub-$10 prices on Chinese adapters for the more common mounts, in the grand scheme of things, it's really not a lot, and IMO, you made the right decision in avoiding a frustrating effort to kludge something together.

There are also a few other interesting lenses in the Petri bayonet stable, so you also won't have to buy another adapter or waste more time figuring out a solution if you decide to explore the system further.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
BrianSVP wrote:
I was rather surprised to see you describe these Petris as having "great mechanical construction."

Mechanically, they really are among the absolute poorest of their Japanese contemporaries, with some truly puzzling and bizarre design decisions that lead to frequent breakdowns and needless difficulty to repair.
...


I am surprised to read that you were surprised. Smile
The construction is conceptually really simple (=great!). At every point, it was straightforward how to proceed. The materials are all great (unlike e.g. some Russian screws). I love that the inner helicoid is made of brass (like for my Schneider-Kreuznach Retina Xenon 1.9/50mm). It makes it a little heavier but it adds to the impression of good quality. I have worked on many Meyer-Optik/Pentacon lenses and a few Zeiss Jena, Schneider-Kreuznach and Steinheil lenses - and I had a few Takumars/Pentax SMC lenses in my hands (but have not opened those). And I would definitely say that the Petri is mechanically at least equally good.
Is there anything specific that you would point to when referring to "puzzling and bizarre design decisions"?


PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
markus wrote:
BrianSVP wrote:
I was rather surprised to see you describe these Petris as having "great mechanical construction."

Mechanically, they really are among the absolute poorest of their Japanese contemporaries, with some truly puzzling and bizarre design decisions that lead to frequent breakdowns and needless difficulty to repair.
...


I am surprised to read that you were surprised. Smile
The construction is conceptually really simple (=great!). At every point, it was straightforward how to proceed. The materials are all great (unlike e.g. some Russian screws). I love that the inner helicoid is made of brass (like for my Schneider-Kreuznach Retina Xenon 1.9/50mm). It makes it a little heavier but it adds to the impression of good quality. I have worked on many Meyer-Optik/Pentacon lenses and a few Zeiss Jena, Schneider-Kreuznach and Steinheil lenses - and I had a few Takumars/Pentax SMC lenses in my hands (but have not opened those). And I would definitely say that the Petri is mechanically at least equally good.
Is there anything specific that you would point to when referring to "puzzling and bizarre design decisions"?


I think he was talking about their cameras which are notoriously unreliable. I've bought a few different models, mostly for the lenses that came with them, and only one of those cameras wasn't jammed-up.

There's not much to complain about with their lenses, at least in terms of mechanical quality. Some are good performers, mostly the 55mm lenses.
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