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Revision as of 22:04, 7 November 2010

Pentax is a Japanese camera maker, founded in 1919.

History

The company that would become Pentax was founded in 1919 as Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō G.K. (旭光学工業㈾). It was originally an optical company, beginning by making glasses under the Aoco brand (presumably the acronym of Asahi Optical Company), and made its first Aoco projection lens in 1923.[1] It began to produce camera lenses in the early 1930s, under the impulsion of the CEO Kajiwara Kumao (梶原熊雄) and his closest collaborator Matsumoto Saburō (松本三郎).[2] These lenses were not marked as made by Asahi, and were produced lenses for various camera models made by other makers. From 1933, the company produced Optor and meniscus achromat lenses designed at Rokuoh-sha for Konishiroku models. From the mid-1930s to the end of World War II, the company was also the main supplier of Molta, then Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō (predecessors of Minolta), whose cameras were equipped with Coronar and Promar lenses.[3]

The company changed status in 1938, becoming Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. (旭光学工業㈱) or Asahi Optical Co. based in Tokyo.[4] It would keep this name until it became Pentax Corporation (ペンタックス㈱) in 2002. A merger with the Hoya Corporation was completed on October 1, 2007. The new name is Hoya Pentax HD Corporation (HOYAペンタックスHD㈱).[5]

The first camera produced by Asahi was the Asahiflex, that was also the first Japanese 35mm SLR, made as a prototype in 1951 and released in 1952. One of the models of the Asahiflex series, the Asahiflex IIb, was the first 35mm SLR to have an instant-return mirror, thus solving the problem of mirror blackout which had plagued SLRs up to that time (early SLRs left the mirror in its "up" position until the camera was wound for the next shot, blacking out the viewfinder).

Pentax was originally the name of another 35mm SLR camera model, introduced in 1957 and successor of the Asahiflex. The name is derived from the shape of the prism used in SLR cameras (pentaprism), and the ending deliberately looks like the Zeiss Ikon Contax. In fact, the name Pentax was a property of Zeiss Ikon until they sold it to Asahi Optical Co.

Many Pentax cameras were sold stamped with the name "Honeywell". Actually Honeywell was only a distributor, and these cameras were exactly the same as the ones stamped with the Asahi name.

Digital

SLR

Medium Format SLR

  • Pentax 645D - 2010

Point and Shoot Cameras

35mm film

K-mount autofocus SLR

2753832006_cd8fbd5c08_t.jpg
SFX
by Skagman
2214405647_ec6a0d251a_t.jpg
Z-1
by ArcticCorsair
4109001208_2b79c360a0_t.jpg
MZ-S
by tsuppie

K-mount manual focus SLR

Pentax K series:

128338947_bdd0afb218_t.jpg

Pentax M series:

353054245_d5d7e1efca_t_d.jpg

Pentax A series:

Pentax P series:

Other:

Screw-mount Pentax SLR

47712649_8ceda2862b_t.jpg

Asahiflex SLR

150671964_42eaed5f36_t.jpg

Compact

3530101983_cd53e2c513_t.jpg
3951827579_dff5d730ca_t.jpg

645 Medium Format

Manual Focus

Autofocus

6×7 Medium Format

1969-present

110 film

22827035_780ebea7e1_t.jpg

1979-1983 interchangeable lens SLR

APS film

Asahi lenses on cameras from other makers

Not all examples of the cameras listed below have Asahi lenses.

Lenses not labeled as by Asahi

For Konishiroku:

For the predecessors of Minolta:

The Heliostar lenses were perhaps assembled by Asahi (see the discussion there).

Lenses labeled as by Asahi

Notes

  1. ↑ Yazawa, p.12 of Camera Collectors' News no.247.
  2. ↑ Yazawa, p.12 of Camera Collectors' News no.247.
  3. ↑ The Coronar and Promar lenses are attributed to Asahi in various sources, and this attribution is confirmed by the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), lens items Lb5, Lb39, Lc9 and N2.
  4. ↑ Its address in 1943 was Tōkyō-to Itabashi-ku Itabashi-chō (東京都板橋区板橋町). Source: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras").
  5. ↑ Japanese version of the news release found in the Hoya official website. The name "HOYA PENTAX HD Corporation" is written in capital letters.

Bibliography

  • "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7.
  • Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Renzu no hanashi (157) Happī" (レンズの話[157]ハッピー, Lens story [157] The Happy). In Camera Collectors' News no.247 (January 1998). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.11–4. (On the beginning of the company.)

Links

In Japanese:

In French/ English :

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