Pentax Early 1950s to 2007

Early 1950s to 2007

The period around 1950 marked the return of the Japanese photographic industry to the vigorous level of the late 1930s, and its emergence as a major exporter. The newly reborn industry had sold many of its cameras to the occupation forces (with hugely more disposable income than the Japanese) and they were well received. The

Korean War saw a huge influx of journalists and photographers to the Far East, where they were impressed by lenses from companies such as Nikon and Canon for their Leica rangefinder cameras, and also by bodies by these and other companies to supplement and replace the Leica and Contax cameras they were using.

In 1952 Asahi Optical introduced its first camera, the Asahiflex (the first Japanese SLR using 35mm film). The name "Pentax" was actually created from "Pentaprism" and "Contax", this brand became a registered trademark of the East German VEB Zeiss Ikon, which later sold the name "Pentax" to Asahi Optical in 1957. Since then the company has been primarily known for its photographic products. These were imported to the United States from the 1950s until the mid 1970s by Honeywell Corporation and were labeled Honeywell Pentax rather than Asahi Pentax, the name by which they were distributed to the rest of the world. The company was renamed Pentax Corporation in 2002. It was one of the world's largest optical companies, producing still cameras, binoculars, and spectacle lenses as well as a variety of other optical instruments. In 2004 Pentax had about 6000 employees.