Asahiflex

Asahi Optical (Pentax) had been producing camera lenses for other japanese manufactureres since 1929. The predecessors of Minolta and Konica were among their customers. Then in 1952, with no former experience in camera building, they produced the first Japanese 35mm SLR, the Asahiflex.

Lenses

The Asahiflexes take 37mm screw mount lenses. A 37mm screwmount is rather unique. They were named Takumar lenses after Takuma Kajiwara, a Japanese painter and uncle of the company director. Apart from the curious screw mount, the Takumars have some other interesting quirks. The aperture is made up of 20 (!) blades giving a nice round lens opening. 50 and 58mm standard lenses were available and 83, 135 and 500mm telephoto lenses. No wide angle lenses were made, aparently because of the presence of the mirror in the light path.

Links

In Dutch:

• Asahiflex development
• ashiflex model overview

In English:

• TheAsahiflex on Wikipedia.