Petri FT 500

This article is a stub. You can help Camera-wiki.org by expanding it.

Petri FT 500 kit image by Shakies Buddy (Image rights)

The FT 500 (like its sibling the FT 1000) is a later 35mm SLR from Petri.

McKeown's dates it to 1976, at the time when Petri cameras had moved away from their proprietary breech-lock lensmount, and towards the 42mm "Universal" mount. By this time a stopdown-metering M42 body had become a fairly generic commodity; and Petri had been building them on an OEM basis for several other brands.

The "500" refers to the a limited top shutter speed of 1/500 sec., and there is no self-timer. As was common practice in the era, these distinctions positioned the FT 500 as the cheaper entry-level offering. Unlike earlier Petri models such as the FTX, the shutter release is moved to a more conventional position on the top deck.

Rebranded Carena SRH 760 for Porst in Germany image by Tom Spinker (Image rights)