Takumar

Takumar refers to a line of high quality photographic lenses produced by Asahi Optical Co beginning in the 1940s. The name was derived from Takuma Kajiwara (Kajiwara Takuma),Japanese-American portrait painter, whose brother Kumao Kajiwara founded Asahi Optical. The name Takumar was used in lenses for SLRs until 1975, when K-mount replaced M42 and from then lenses were badged mostly "SMC Pentax", even though a few still had the name Takumar.

The Takumar name was originally used for lenses used in the Asahiflex camera, which used the 37mm screw mount, was carried over to the M42 cameras and went through a series of iterations such as Super-Takumar, Super-Multi-Coated Takumar, and SMC Takumar.

Asahiflex Lenses

This lenses had a preset aperture and some had irises with up to 20 blades.

References

• Gerjan van Oosten, 2021, "The Definitive ASAHI PENTAX Collector's Guide 1952-1977". 2nd Edition