History of Asahi corporation

[Stratman]

Was surfin' the net, and stumbled upon this article, very interesting read for all Pentaxians.

History

[quickiekuchen]

History of the name Pentax:
Cameras of my collection - the Original Asahi-Pentax

[k100d]

Pentax Lens History

[Blue]

Pentax Original

Die Cast Pro - Pentax Lenses

Pentax M & A Lenses

[Gooshin]

so like, 1904 right, this dude was like, yo, i need like, piktures, then BAM look its 2009 and we got planes n shit....

[J.Scott]

Originally Posted by Gooshin

so like, 1904 right, this dude was like, yo, i need like, piktures, then BAM look its 2009 and we got planes n shit....

...are you high?

[Gooshin]

i dont surf the net high

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

So in conclusion:
2009 is the 90-years anniversary of Pentax aka Asahi (the actual birthday somewhere in November)! In addition, it is the 40-years anniversary of the Pentax 67. How will we celebrate this? "We" meaning the forum.

I bet Pentax will release something named "Pentax XC" this year (or next year if they are late as with the LX)!

[Blue]

Originally Posted by Douglas_of_Sweden

So in conclusion:
2009 is the 90-years anniversary of Pentax aka Asahi (the actual birthday somewhere in November)! In addition, it is the 40-years anniversary of the Pentax 67. How will we celebrate this? "We" meaning the forum.

I bet Pentax will release something named "Pentax XC" this year (or next year if they are late as with the LX)!

I have been wondering if Pentax will do anything. Either way, we should.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Originally Posted by Blue

I have been wondering if Pentax will do anything. Either way, we should.

I agree with you 100%. It would be way cool if we could figure out the exact date in November, since it would be very much like Pentax date of birth. In any case, we could pick a date in November for some special celebration and activity at the forum.

*One cool thing would be a photo-thread with photo's genuinly taken with Pentax/Asahi cameras and lenses as far back as possible.

*Some photo competitions in categories like m39 film, m42 film, K 35 film, 67 film, 645 film, 110 film, P&S film, P&S digital, APS-C digital, 645D digital (if it is out then). What are the odds that we could make Pentax sponsor this with some hardware for prices?

*There are several good sources on the web for Pentax history, but I don't think this forum has a "history of Pentax" section. I think we should have, as long as Adam agrees, and it would be nice to compile that until November. Besides the time line of technical development, I would be interrested in seing photos of the people behind the cameras and lenses, from the designers and directors, to the people in the factories, and the factories and lens/camera manufacturing itself, what did it look like, how did it change over time. There are also many interresting stories about the competition, the rumored collaboration of Pentax and Leitz on the SMC, or Pentax, Konica, Nikon on the first shutter that went to 1/1000 sec, and how did Pentax do during the war etc etc? On some sites we can read that there were a time when Pentax sold more cameras than Nikon and Canon together, and that Pentax doubled its number of sold cameras in just five years and for a decade averaged 1 million sold cameras per year. But I have never seen any really hard numbers for the whole 90 year period. That would be sort of interresting.

*A good thread with good stories involving Pentax cameras, from people who have used them here and there during these 9 decades. Fun and serious stories.

*I remember Adam admitted in some thread that he had been considering adding a camera review section to the lens review section, and that would also be a good time to launch that.

*If we can find out the actual birth day it would be cool to try to break the record of the number of people active on the forum at the same time.

I realise it is lot of work, but it depends on the ambition level and how many that share the work.

[Blue]

We have time to work on it.