Pentax

Kumao Kajiwara founded Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co. in Otsuka, Tokyo, in 1919. The company first made spectacle lenses and later binocular and projection optics. Its AOCO projection lens appeared in 1923. Camera-lens work began by 1931, including supply for the Pearlette camera, and the business was reorganized as Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. in 1938. The Promar camera lens appeared around 1940. Wartime disruption ended normal production, and manufacture resumed in 1946.

PENTAX HISTORY — Introduction · PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · PENTAX HISTORY — Evidence · Announcement of PENTAX 100 YEARS OF HISTORY campaign

Postwar Asahi Optical rebuilt around binoculars and camera lenses, supplying other Japanese camera firms while developing its own camera. The company's first production camera and initial Asahiflex Takumar lenses followed in 1952. Contract optical manufacture therefore preceded Asahi's camera-system production and remains a separate attribution question.

PENTAX HISTORY — Introduction · PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History

The Asahiflex I reached the market in 1952 as Japan's first domestically produced 35mm single-lens-reflex camera. It used an M37 screw mount and Takumar lenses. The Asahiflex IIB of 1954 introduced an instant-return mirror that restored the finder image immediately after exposure. That mechanism was decisive for the later SLR experience, although absolute world-first language is disputed because earlier European cameras and patents used related return-mirror arrangements.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · The origin of the made-in-Japan 35mm SLR camera · Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 101: ASAHIFLEX I and IIB, MIRANDA T, ZUNOW, NIKON F · Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera

The Asahi Pentax of May 1957 replaced the waist-level finder arrangement with a fixed eye-level pentaprism and adopted the M42 screw mount. The name Pentax was acquired from VEB Zeiss Ikon, according to the Science Museum Group corporate record. American distributor branding produced Heiland Pentax and later Honeywell Pentax cameras, but the manufacturer remained Asahi Optical in Japan. Models including the K, S2/H2, S3/H3, and SV/H3v refined the layout and automatic diaphragm coupling.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · Pentax Corporation · PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · Honeywell Pentax Cameras, Lenses and Accessories

Asahi showed a Spot-Matic prototype with through-the-lens spot metering at Photokina in 1960. The production Spotmatic of 1964 used average, stop-down TTL metering rather than the prototype's spot pattern. The Topcon RE Super reached production earlier in 1963 and is recognized by Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science as the first mass-produced TTL-metering SLR; the Spotmatic followed as an exceptionally influential implementation. The 6x7 system appeared in 1969, and Asahi introduced its Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens line in 1971.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera · The first single-lens reflex camera to have a built-in TTL open aperture exposure meter · PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · PENTAX Lens Technology · Fujica SLR cameras and Electron Beam Coating

In 1975 the K2, KX, and KM replaced the M42 screw interface with the Pentax K bayonet and SMC Pentax lenses. The Mount Adapter K preserved use of many screw-mount lenses with limitations. The compact MX and electronically controlled ME arrived in 1976; the mechanically simple K1000 became a long-running instructional and consumer camera. The Auto 110 formed a separate miniature interchangeable-lens system. The professional LX appeared in 1980, and the ME-F of 1981 introduced autofocus through a dedicated powered lens and body contacts.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · The road to bringing K mount to birth was a long way · PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · Summary of the K-Mount Evolution, Names, and Features · Features and Operation of the Original K-Mount

The 1983 KA mount added electrical aperture information and program-exposure support while keeping the physical K bayonet. The Pentax 645 medium-format system followed in 1984. Autofocus bodies and KAF-family mounts then added drive, data, and power contacts in stages. The external bayonet remained familiar, but each generation changed which functions were available, making physical mounting an incomplete test of compatibility.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · SLR Digital Camera PENTAX K-1 Mark II Operating Manual · Summary of the K-Mount Evolution, Names, and Features

The 645N brought autofocus to the medium-format line in 1997. The same period produced FA Limited lenses and additional compact autofocus bodies. Asahi Optical expanded digital-camera work and formally changed its company name to Pentax Corporation effective 1 October 2002, converting the best-known product name into the legal corporate identity.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · Asahi Optical Industries to Change Trade Name to Pentax Corporation

The *ist D of 2003 established a Pentax digital SLR system around the K mount. Pentax and Samsung Techwin announced a digital-SLR development agreement in 2005, and Samsung's GX cameras used Pentax-compatible lenses and technology. HOYA launched a tender offer for Pentax in 2007 and consolidated the company after a contested merger process.

PENTAX HISTORY — Course of History · PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · Pentax and Samsung Agree to Jointly Develop Digital SLR Cameras · The Path Samsung Cameras Have Taken

HOYA absorbed Pentax Corporation on 31 March 2008, leaving HOYA as the surviving corporation and ending Pentax Corporation's separate legal existence. In 2011 HOYA sold the Pentax Imaging Systems Business to Ricoh. HOYA retained other operations, including medical and component businesses associated with the former Pentax organization, so the camera brand's transfer did not move every business that had used the Pentax name.

HOYA Annual Report 2008 · HOYA Announces Closing of Sale of the PENTAX Imaging Systems Business

Ricoh established PENTAX RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. on 1 October 2011 to operate the acquired imaging business. On 1 August 2013 the company became Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd., while continuing to use both Pentax and Ricoh product brands. The legal manufacturer and the consumer-facing badge were therefore no longer the same name.

Ricoh Establishes PENTAX RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. · COMPANY NAME CHANGE

Ricoh Imaging continued Pentax K-mount DSLRs, the 645 digital line, and lens production, while introducing models such as the full-frame K-1. In 2024 it launched the Pentax 17 half-frame film camera, confirming active use of the brand beyond legacy support. A Canadian government trademark record currently lists Ricoh Imaging as owner of a Pentax word mark and HOYA as an old owner for that registration; it is territory- and class-specific and should not be generalized into a global ownership statement without additional registers or corporate records.

PENTAX HISTORY — Archives · PENTAX 17 · PENTAX — 2381971 — Canadian Trademarks Database