Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
07-06-2021, 08:05 PM   #16
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: midwest, United States
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 5,711
QuoteOriginally posted by kwb Quote
(Added later: Oh no, I intended to post this to Industry and Professionals forum but somehow ended up posting here, though this isn't news nor rumor. Sorry.)

I was confused by the early history of Pentax and Ricoh so I researched a bit. Did you know that there were two Asahi Kogaku Kogyo in 1937~38, and one of them was Ricoh?

The original one was Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Goshi Kaisha (Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co.) founded in 1919 that later produced Asahiflex and things. It will become confusing, so let's call this one the original Asahi.

In 1936, Riken Kanko-shi Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Sensitized Paper Co. Ltd.), a company that manufactures and sells photocopier paper, was founded and this was the start of Ricoh.
In 1937-38, Riken Kanko-shi founded a dependent company Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Asahi Optical Industries Co. Ltd.).This new company didn't have anything to do with the original Asahi.

In 1938 the name of Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha was transferred to the original Asahi without compensation. Riken Kanko-shi became Riken Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Optical Industries Co. Ltd.) and eventually became Ricoh.

YearThe Original Asahi Kogaku LineageRicoh Lineage
1919 Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Goshi Kaisha (Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co.) (Refs 1 and 2)
1936 Riken Kanko-shi Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Sensitized Paper Co. Ltd.) was founded. This was the start of Ricoh (Ref 3).
1937~38 Buys Olympic Camera Seisaku-sho (Olympic Camera Manufacturing) and its distributor Asahi Bussan to form a new company Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. (Refs 4, 5).
1938 Gives the name of Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha to the original Asahi without compensation. (Refs 6, 7 and 8).
 Became the new Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. Riken Kanko-shi became Riken Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Optical Industries Co. Ltd.) (Refs 3, 4 and 5).
1963 Riken Kogaku Kogyo became Kabushiki Kaisha RICOH (Ref 3).
1977 Licenses Ricoh the rights to use K-mount without compensation, returning a gesture of good will. (Ref 8). 
2002Changes name to Pentax Kabushiki Kaisha (Pentax Coorporation) (Refs 1 and 2). 
2007Acquired by HOYA via TOB. 
2011 Ricoh buys Pentax consumer camera business from HOYA.
References:
(1) Pentax "Course of history" (Japanese): http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/pentax/pentaxhistory/course/
(2) Pentax "Course of history" (English): http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/pentax/pentaxhistory/course/
(3) Ricoh history (Japanese): ??????? | ??????? | ??????? ???IR | ???
(4) Rikagaku Kenkyusho article (Japanese): https://www.riken.jp/medialibrary/riken/pr/publications/riken88/riken88-1-2.pdf
(5) Camera wiki as of Jul/04/2021 (English): Ricoh - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia
(6) One of Pentax Official blogs (Japanese): ???????????????? | PENTAX official
(7) Yaotomi blog (Japanese): ????????PENTAX ? RICOH ???? - ??????????by????????
(8) blog of the former Editor In Chief of Monthly Photographic Industry magazine (Japanese): ??????????????? - ???????
Thanks for posting this history of the two companies. Always wondered if Ricoh built some of the Pentax bodies, like the K-10/20D.

Thanks,
barondla

07-07-2021, 02:34 AM   #17
Pentaxian




Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Romania
Posts: 15,132
Wow, I didn't knew some of these things. Thank you very much.
And it's also well documented,
07-08-2021, 08:57 PM   #18
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Essex, Ontario
Posts: 682
QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
The Pentax-M predated the XR-Rikenon by a few years.

The Pentax connection for those lenses was explicitly noted in Modern Photography's 1978 review of the Ricoh XR-2 as well as in the accompanying reviews of four lenses. About a decade ago, forum member Nesster posted scans of the 1978 review to the forum at MFLenses.com. He also included links to a 1979 Popular Photography review of the same.

No fooling: Modern Photography March 1978 Equipment Reviews

An interesting side-discussion might be that a second variant of the 35/2.8 came a few years after the first variant (~1981) with minimum aperture of f/16 rather than f/22, six aperture blades, and different performance characteristics. I own the second version and it is an amazing lens.


Steve
Thanks for reminding of the magazine articles. I do remember now the discussions then of Pentax-Ricoh collaboration. I never knew of the later 35/2.8 variant though.
Also, I always thought it interesting that as Pentax was discontinuing the K2 and KX models Ricoh seems to have borrowed some ideas for that XR-2 K mount camera. That was the first new camera I bought in 1978.
07-08-2021, 10:06 PM   #19
Otis Memorial Pentaxian
stevebrot's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Vancouver (USA)
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 42,007
QuoteOriginally posted by From1980 Quote
Thanks for reminding of the magazine articles. I do remember now the discussions then of Pentax-Ricoh collaboration. I never knew of the later 35/2.8 variant though.
Also, I always thought it interesting that as Pentax was discontinuing the K2 and KX models Ricoh seems to have borrowed some ideas for that XR-2 K mount camera. That was the first new camera I bought in 1978.
I own:
  • XR-1 (feature competitive to Pentax KX and Nikon FM)
  • XR-2 and XR-2S (" " to Pentax K2 and Nikon FE)
  • XR7 (feature competition to all advanced/enthusiast aperture-priority SLRs of the time)
However, feature competitive is not the same as equivalent and I would not trade my KX for an XR-1. That said, I would as rather have the XR-1 in the bag where weight is a consideration or where the Copal shutter is an asset. I do like my Ricohs (XR-2S is my goto K-mount film body)


Steve

(...would not trade my XR7 for an ME Super...)

Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
asahi, kogaku, pentax, pentax news, pentax rumors, ricoh
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Lifespan of ricoh gr / gr II / gr III - how long do/did you have your ricoh? lunarwitch Ricoh GR 11 11-20-2019 12:36 PM
An Entangled Leaf wstruth Monthly Photo Contests 0 01-04-2015 07:04 AM
Macro Entangled eaglem Post Your Photos! 5 10-28-2012 03:30 PM
"What we learn from history is that we don't learn from history." jolepp General Talk 7 05-19-2012 09:38 AM
Nature Entangled Rense Post Your Photos! 16 11-11-2010 04:48 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:21 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top