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. At first glance, the design of the Leica III and the Kine Exakta come to mind. The placement of the film advance and rewind knobs and the placement of the shutter speed dials bears some resemblance to the Leica III. A viewfinder separate from the optical focusing mechanism adds to that impression. Of course the Asahiflex is not a rangefinder, but a true SLR with an Exakta-style waist level finder. Nice design detail: when folded in, the hood of the waist level finder is in the same plane as the shutter dials and rewind knobs.

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 pre-set and 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.

Further reading

• Asahiflex and the pre-1959 Asahi Pentax cameras, F. C Sherfy, 1994, ISBN 0-9641107-5-X
• The ultimate Asahi Pentax screw mount guide, Gerjan van Oosten, 1999, ISBN 90-1244-35-x

Links

In Dutch:

• Asahiflex development
• Asahiflex model overview
• The Asahiflex Takumar lenses.

In English:

• The Asahiflex on Wikipedia.