The Petri CF-35 Ultra Compact is a rebadged Makinon MK-II from 1982, and is a simple plastic 35mm camera. It is not however like anything else - the flash faces sideways, and turned on by turning it 90 degrees to face the front and the lens is covered by barn doors which take two hands to open! It has a fixed focus 38mm f5.6 lens, and the aperture is adjusted by a slider on the top with weather symbols. The choice of ISO is 100 or 400.

Although the name suggests it is ultra compact, it is not when compared to the likes of the Olympus XA for example, and it does feel quite sturdy overall.

The CF-35 arrived in the post a couple of days before heading off on holiday, so I thought it would be fun to take it with me. Going to Turkiye in summer, I was packing Kodak Gold 200 and Fujifilm 400 for the other cameras, so went for something totally different for the Petri - DragonFilm No.1 ISO100 black & white. I have never shot black & white in Turkiye, and hoped the DragonFilm would be nice and contrasty and punchy.

Considering how bright the light is out there, the camera and film did a pretty good job. The results were as good as I had hoped for, and using this camera was just a bonus bit of fun. It is small enough to carry everywhere, unlike the SLR I had taken, meaning I could grab a quick shot whenever.

I like the dark blacks, and it had retained the highlights too, even when shot into the afternoon sun on the beach.

Having a maximum aperture of f5.6 was not an issue out in the daytime, and the 38mm focal length was actually perfect for what I was shooting. I actually really like the results, and wonder why I have never shot black & white on these sunny summer visits to the region. This was the twelfth time in Fethiye and I only ever shot in colour.

Yes the images are not the sharpest, but the feel of them is great. Fethiye is a gritty town with bags of character - it is hot and sweaty, and actually the vibe of these shots capture the essence perfectly.

I did spend the odd hour or two out walking on the hunt for old cars, and there are many like this Tofaş Doğan tucked behind the Bus Station, any more Renault 12’s than you could shake a stick at! Like the Italians, dents are battle scars and not seen as a reason to spend money to fix.

Fethiye itself is not a wealthy town, but is frequented by the super rich on their yachts for the surrounding coastline, and beautiful marina.

There was one yacht that looked more like an alien spaceship than a boat, but that is on another film…

Finishing off the film in the relative cool of the Old Town, where old meets older with the castle looking over the town. A lot of the town was damaged by a huge earthquake in the 1950’s, and the castle would have seen many more in it’s time.

Sometimes you find a camera / film combination that just works - with no expectations, having never used either before, and only receiving the Petri days earlier. I really enjoyed using it, and the images it produced have capture the memories brilliantly. It had no issues at all, unlike the XA2 that works when it feels like it! Sometime simpler is better. My only grievance with the CF-35 is the barn doors - you need two hands to open them and it is a bit fiddly. The Chinon Bellami is far easier, and opens with the winder lever in one motion.

If you want something a bit different, you could get a lot worse then the Petri CF-35.

Petri CF-35 - DragonFilm No.1

Kayaköy to Ölüdeniz hike…