Pentax
Pentax is a Japanese camera maker, founded in 1919.
Contents
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 is set to be completed on October 1, 2007. The new name will be 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
- Pentax MZ-D 2000 (prototype, never released)
- Pentax *ist D 2003
- Pentax *ist DS 2004 - 2005
- Pentax *ist DL 2005 - also sold by Samsung as GX-1L
- Pentax *ist DS2 2005 - also sold by Samsung as GX-1S
- Pentax K110D - 2006
- Pentax K100D - 2006
- Pentax K10D - 2006 - also sold by Samsung as Samsung GX-10
- Pentax K100D Super - 2007
- Pentax K20D - 2008 - also sold by Samsung as Samsung GX-20
- Pentax K200D - 2008
- Pentax K-m - 2008 - also sold as Pentax K2000D in North America
- Pentax K-7 - 2009
- Pentax K-x - 2009
- Pentax 645D - 2010
Point and Shoot Cameras
- Pentax Optio 330
- Pentax Optio 330 RS
- Pentax Optio 450
- Pentax Optio S
- Pentax Optio 33L
- Pentax Optio 750z
35mm film
K-mount autofocus SLR
- Pentax *ist
- Pentax MZ-S
- Pentax PZ-1 (Z-1)
- Pentax PZ-1p (Z-1p)
- Pentax SF7 (SF10)
- Pentax SFX (SF1)
- Pentax SFXn (SF1n)
- Pentax MZ-3
- Pentax MZ-30
- Pentax MZ-50
- Pentax MZ-5N
- Pentax MZ-7
- Pentax MZ-M
K-mount manual focus SLR
Pentax K series:
- Pentax K2
- Pentax K2 DMD
- Pentax KX
- Pentax KM
- Pentax K1000
Pentax M series:
- Pentax MX
- Pentax ME
- Pentax ME Super
- Pentax ME-F
- Pentax MV
- Pentax MV1
- Pentax MG
- Pentax MF
- Pentax MF-1, scientific use
Pentax A series:
- Pentax Super A, Super Program (USA)
- Pentax Program A, Program Plus (USA)
- Pentax A3, A3000 (USA)
Pentax P series
- Pentax P30, P3 (USA)
- Pentax P30n, P3n (USA)
- Pentax P30t
- Pentax P50, P5 (USA)
Other:
- Pentax LX
- Pentax ZX-M (MZ-M)
Screw-mount Pentax SLR
- Pentax AP
- Pentax K
- Pentax S
- Pentax S1 / H1
- Pentax S1a / H1a
- Pentax S2 / H2
- Pentax S3 / H3
- Pentax SV / H3v
- Pentax Spotmatic
- Pentax SL
- Pentax Spotmatic II
- Pentax SP500
- Pentax SP1000
- Pentax Spotmatic F
- Pentax Electro Spotmatic
- Pentax ES
- Pentax ES II
Asahiflex SLR
Compact
- Pentax Espio
- Pentax Espio 70 (38-70mm zoom)
- Pentax Espio 80
- Pentax Espio 80V
- Pentax Espio 105G
- Pentax Espio 115
- Pentax Espio 115M
- Pentax Espio 125M
- Pentax Espio 140 (V)
- Pentax Espio 140M (38-140mm zoom)
- Pentax Espio 145M
- Pentax Espio 150SL
- Pentax Espio 170SL
- Pentax Espio 200
- Pentax Espio 738 (38-70mm zoom)
- Pentax Espio 738G (38-70mm zoom)
- Pentax Espio 738S
- Pentax Espio 838 (35-80mm zoom)
- Pentax Espio 928
- Pentax Espio Mini / UC-1
- Pentax IQZoom 60S
- Pentax IQZoom 70
- Pentax IQZoom 80S
- Pentax IQZoom 95WR
- Pentax IQZoom 105S
- Pentax IQZoom 105SW
- Pentax IQZoom 115V (38-115mm zoom)
- Pentax IQZoom 120SW
- Pentax IQZoom 135M
- Pentax IQZoom 150SL
- Pentax IQZoom 160 (38-160mm zoom)
- Pentax IQZoom 170SL (38-170mm zoom)
- Pentax IQZoom EZY (38-70mm zoom)
- Pentax IQZoom EZY-80 (38-80mm zoom)
- Pentax IQZoom EZY-S
- Pentax Zoom 105 Super
- Pentax PC-33 (30mm)
- Pentax PC35AF (and PC35AF-M DATE)
- Pentax PC-50 / PC-50 Date
- Pentax PC-55 (28mm f/5 or 30mm f/4.5?)
- Pentax PC-100
- Pentax PC-300 / PC-300 Date
- Pentax PC-303
- Pentax PC-330
- Pentax PC-500 / PC-500 Date
- Pentax PC-505 / PC-505 Date
- Pentax PC-550 (28mm lens)
- Pentax PC-606 / PC-606 Date
- Pentax PC-606W (Weather-resistant)
- Pentax PC-700
- Pentax PC-3000 (25mm lens?)
- Pentax Pino 35 (M) (38mm, f/3.8)
- Pentax Sport (DX)
- Pentax Zoom 70R (35-70mm zoom)
- Pentax Zoom 90WR (35-70mm zoom)
645 Medium Format
Manual Focus
Autofocus
6×7 Medium Format
1969-present
110 film
1979-1983 interchangeable lens SLR
APS film
- Pentax efina
- Pentax efina AF50 (24mm, f/4.5)
- Pentax efina T
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:
- no-name meniscus achromat, on the Pearlette
- Optor, on the Idea, Ohca, Pearlette, Baby Pearl and Semi Pearl
For the predecessors of Minolta:
- Actiplan (origin unconfirmed), on the Minolta and Auto Minolta
- Coronar, on the Happy, Minolta Vest, Minolta Six, Semi Minolta (I) and II
- Promar, on the Minoltaflex (I), Minoltaflex Automat, Auto Semi Minolta and Auto Press Minolta
- Promar SII 75mm f/3.5 on the Semi Minolta P
The Heliostar lenses were perhaps assembled by Asahi (see the discussion there).
Lenses labeled as by Asahi
Notes
- ↑ Yazawa, p.12 of Camera Collectors' News no.247.
- ↑ Yazawa, p.12 of Camera Collectors' News no.247.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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").
- ↑ 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
- Official Pentax Imaging Web Site (including lens product list)
- Pentax UK official website
- UK based Club for Pentax Camera owners with forum
- Comprehensive Pentax 67 Lens Guide
- Pentax documentation to download at the official site
- Pentax Manual SLRs
- Boz's K-Mount Page
- Stan Halpin's Pentax Lens Page
- Pentax Discussion Mailing List
- Pentax 67 Lens Info
- Asahi Optical Historical Society
- Frank Mechelhoff's Pentax Page
- Pentaxiste French site
- Tsuga_Non Pentax pages
- Pentax pages at whitemetal.com
- Listing of most Pentax film camera manuals in English PDF format and a few HTML versions that can be translated.
- Pentax Point and Shoot film camera instruction manuals
- Pentax Flashes and Light Meter instruction manuals at Orphancameras.com
- Asahi page at Collection G. Even's site
- Asahi/Pentax Cameras Price Guide ~ Compiled prices from recent completed auctions.
In Japanese:
In French/ English :
- Cameras and user manuals at www.collection-appareils.fr