This is one of those cameras where very little information can be found on the internet. What is there, would seem to suggest that this is a rebranded Cosina CT-1 of the 1990’s. Indeed when looking at the manual for the CT-1 there is no doubt about that conclusion.
Apparently Cosina was originally started up as a lens manufacturer, but soon become involved in developing camera bodies, which other companies took and customised to their preferences.
But what does the PM-1 stand for? Post Meridiem -perhaps a camera especially suited for using in the afternoon? Prime Minister – a camera for the discerning government official? Or may be Particulate Matter -highlighting its many finely engineered pieces brought together in one finely tuned mechanism.
Personally I like the idea of Perfect Match, for that is what describes my experience. Especially when linked with the Pentax -A 28-80mm 3.5-4.5 zoom lens that I used throughout the whole experience.
The Cosina PM-1 looks very ordinary. Shutter speeds from B to 1000; Flash synch speed of a respectable 1/125; match needle meter; fully manual and ..er …..thats about it. Like I say very ordinary. But what about the results?
Of course the quality of the lens attached to the camera and the film behind it, is what determines the end results. However the camera plays its part. I found the strength of the Cosina PM-1 to lay in its simplicity. The film wind-on lever rotates through its 135° smoothly so your ready for the next shot. The meter was very accurate and exposed the film so that I had very little to do in post processing. I don’t like quiet cameras neither do I want to be deafened when I take a photo by the mirror movement, this camera gets it just right. All these things combined, allowed me to concentrate on the more important things.
This camera is definitely in my top 5 favourite cameras . But don’t take my word for it …
arhphotographic 
Why in heaven’s name would Cosina just stick a different model name on the same old camera? Weird!
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Isn’t it a dealer edition for PhotoMarkets of London? PM=PhotoMarkets.
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PM. Pentax Manual
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Sounds reasonable
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I bought one of these in the summer of 1982. I had saved money from a summer job and had originally planned on buying a vivitar 110 camera. My boss knew the owner of the camera shop in Preston – Wilkinsons, and he offered to sell me a brand new Cosina PM1 for £30. I’m very glad he did as obviously I was misguided with my own choice. My only regret was selling it to a work colleague several years later and buying a compact.
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Thank you for your story. How much would £30 be worth now ? £100? Still worth every penny I think.
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Found a manual from someone in the US. Yes, strange indeed. But with the variations of brands they made overseas, it’s another addition to my camera manual collection.
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Look forward to reading it😊
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You can find the Cosina PM-1 manual and other Cosina manual on this page on my camera manual website. https://butkus.org/chinon/cosina.htm
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A big thank you for providing such a valuable a film camera resource 😊
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I started that site 25 years ago.. just two manuals. A Chinon CP-7m and Chinon CP-9AF, two cameras I just bought, with a manual. I wanted to show others how great these two camera worked. A new technology was available at the college I was working at the time, the Internet. I had access to a scanner at the time, they cost $900 in 1998. I had a website page from the college at the time. Moved to public education at a tech person the next year, paid for a personal website and the site kind of grew to Ricoh and Pentax K mount brands. Then I just started adding all sorts of camera manuals from requests from my website users. In 2004 people asked for flash and light meter manuals, so I added them. Kind of grew from there. In 2008 I had requests for European brand manuals, Praktica, Voigtlander, Cosina and Revue were purchased and added to the site. Around 2014 I then started to rescan the manuals to add the German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish languages that were part of the manuals. I normally did not scan those pages, but it seems I’ve become International. Around the same time the “free” websites available in America were closing. To many problems with spammers and arguments between those uses that became incontrollable. So many personal websites on specific cameras or models were closed. Those that had paid sites became uninterested in film photography and closed them down. I was still around and became even more popular. Retired now I’m still buying and scanning manuals and I have the time to search and purchase those unusual camera manuals.
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Talking of ‘unusual camera manuals’ have you seen a manual for a Zeus, a camera made in the 1950’s in the UK??
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Only thing I found on my favorite site for cameras.
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Zeus
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I tracked down the seller, it was a UK seller, not a US person. Had to pay $30 US for it, most if it for shipping from the UK. A problem most of the time when purchasing instruction manuals from overseas.
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