The Pentax camera - history

The Asahi Optical Company, or Asahi Kogaku (Tokyo,) was founded in 1919. In the 1920s it manufactured projector lenses for the photographic and cine markets, adding camera lenses to the product list in 1931. During WWII, the company's production was restricted to output for the Japanese military but in post war years Asahi Optical benefitted from Allied financial assistance enabling the company to launch the Asahiflex I, the first Japanese 35mm single lens reflex (slr) camera in 1951.

A variety of Asahiflex camera models appeared over the next six years until the launch of the first Pentax AP 35mm slr; it incorporated an eye level reflex pentaprism viewing and lens focusing system and featured a rapid film advance and shutter arming and film rewind lever. However, arguably its most famous attribute was the camera's screw thread 42mm diameter Takumar lens mount which, in the following years, became a universal feature of millions of independently manufactured objectives designed to work with Pentax and other marques featuring the same mount.

'Just Hold a Pentax' , was a topical catchline of Asahi Optical's advertising campaigns in the 1960s, focusing on the excellent ergonomic features of the different camera models and of which the Pentax Spotmatic was perhaps best known. Other popular models available in shiny black lacquer or silver chrome finish included the Pentax S, S1, S1a, S2, S3 and the electronic ES and ESII models which arrived in the 1970s. In the USA, different models were branded Honeywell Pentax after the main distributor.

The M42 Takumar lens range featured some of the finest optical designs but in 1975 the company switched to a new bayonet lens mount for its Pentax K model slrs. These included the popular K1000, and more sophisticated K2, K2MD and KM. But the 1970s was a turbulent time for the photography industry which was shaken in the early years of the decade after Olympus launched the compact OM 35mm slr; it shaved nearly 30% off the weight and size of traditional slr designs. Other manufacturers launched copy-cat products and the Pentax ME of 1976 was smaller than the OM. The Pentax MV, a mechanical MX and Pentax ME Super followed. These cameras could mount screw thread Takumar, Auto-Takumar, Super Takumar and SMC Takumar lenses with an adapter, as well as a new range of compact Pentax-M and SMC Pentax K mount objectives.

In 1980, Pentax launched the professional grade Pentax LX, a fully featured slr with hybrid electronically controlled titanium focal plane shutter for greater exposure measurement accuracy and a full range of mechanical shutter times. The Pentax Super A of 1983 was one of the first all electronic models and its was not long before Pentax auto focus (AF) lens slr cameras appeared on the market with a new range of Pentax FA lenses; the Pentax SF series and later Pentax Z1P models paved the way for a sophisticated range of high speed AF Pentax MZ cameras with advanced multi-mode exposure metering.

To meet demands from professional photographers for a medium format slr system, Pentax launched the Pentax 6X7 in 1969, a large, heavy camera, which looks like an oversized 35mm slr. This model is no longer for sale in Europe but is still produced for the Japanese market as the Pentax 67II. A slightly smaller medium format slr, the Pentax 645, also became very popular with professionals and enthusiasts and evolved into the Pentax 645N with auto focus lenses. At the other end of the format scale, the Pentax Auto 110 of 1979 captured the hearts and minds of miniature enthusiasts with its drop-in Instamatic film cartridges and tiny interchangeable lenses.

Today, Pentax is part of the Hoya Corporation, one of the world's largest producers of optical glass, and the company now produces advanced digital capture slr cameras. The latest models are the Pentax K200D, Pentax K20D and the diminutive Pentax K-m. It also produced the Pentax K10D and the earlier Pentax-ist-D digital slrs.