Karen Nakamura, at Photoethnography.com, mentioned the 50s Petris in her review of her old camera collection. That got me going. In the summer of 1958, I was 13 years old and living at Tachikawa Air Base in Japan. I spent the summer working at the base commissary and earned money for my first real camera — a Petri 2.8. I made the mistake of giving it to a friend, who was in camera repair, for a parts camera. That was in the early 70s. I started hanging out on eBay looking for a good example. I found one for $15.50. The controls are really stiff from non-use, but it is still a nice little camera. It is a range finder with a leaf shutter that goes up to 1/300 of a second. No wonder I have always gravitated to rangefinders. I don't know if I will run some film through it or not, but it does bring back memories. I still have the slides that I took with this camera when I was living in Japan.

The thing that impressed Zoe the most was the flash attachment that came with the camera.

A little flash bulb was inserted and then ejected after it went off. Had to be careful. It was hot.

Update:

Simulated action. I paid $25 for the original one in 1958. Picture by Zoe