This Pentax manufacturer review includes some history on the Pentax company, reviews of popular Pentax cameras, information on some recently manufactured Pentax digital camera features such as Megazoom, SLR, LCD monitors, and a review of the Pentax X70.  Find Pentax reviews here!

The Pentax company was founded in 1919 as Asahi Kogaku Goshi Kausha in a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. The company originally produced spectacle lenses and in 1938 changed its name to Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. By the time of the name change, the company was also manufacturing camera lenses. Having contributed to the war effort during World War II, the company was disbanded by occupying forces after the war. Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. was allowed to reform in 1948 and then resumed it's prewar activities.

Asahi Optical introduced its first camera in 1952, the Asahiflex which was the first 35 mm Japanese SLR. The brand name "Pentax" was the registered trademark of East German VEB Zeiss Ikon who later sold the name to Asahi Optical in 1957. Since that time, the company has mostly been known for manufacturing photographic products, which were imported in the United States by Honeywell from the 1950s until the mid 1970s. The company was officially renamed Pentax Corporation in 2002. In 2004, Pentax had about 6,000 employees and is still one of the world's largest optical companies, producing binoculars and other optical instruments in addition to cameras.

After much negotiation, Pentax merged with Hoya Corporation in March 2008. A Pentax-owned factory in Tokyo has closed and most manufacturing operations have been moved to Southeast Asia. All lenses are produced in Vietnam and D-SLR cameras are made in the Philippines. Hoya continues to develop and market cameras under the Pentax brand name.

Pentax was originally thrust into the spotlight with its 1957 Asahi PENTAX model which offered incredible design advances. This camera was the first time a "pentaprism" was used in the viewfinder of an SLR camera. This technology introduced the concept of eye-level viewing and was the first camera to be marketed under the name PENTAX (which comes from "pentaprism" combined with "reflex"). Products sold under the Pentax name became available in the United States in 1958.

In 1964, Pentax introduced the "Spot Eye" or "Spotmatic" camera which featured the first through-the-lens (TTL) metering system in a Pentax camera. A version of the Pentax TTL system is now found in virtually all 35mm SLR cameras.

Through the next 40 plus years, Pentax continued to innovate and introduce new prize winning camera models. In 2000, the Pentax IQZoom 120Mi was named "Compact Camera of the Year" by Australian Camera, a prestigious photographic magazine. The IQZoom 120Mi was the seventh Pentax camera to receive the magazine's camera of the year award.

Pentax also introduced and developed a line of digital cameras, including digital SLR cameras. In 2001, Pentax introduced the Optio 430 digital camera which at the time was the world's smallest and lightest compact digital in its class. A couple of years later in 2003, Pentax introduced two new Optio models, the 550 and 450. The 550 won PC magazine Editors Choice Award and a Digital Photography Magazine Star Buy Award. These digital cameras feature an LCD monitor, a movie mode, and full manual control among other great features.

More recently, in 2009 Pentax debuted the X70 Megazoom digital camera which features a 24x optical zoom high magnification lens. This camera also comes with 12 megapixels and flexible exposure modes. The Pentax X70 is meant to be a bridge between a compact digital camera and a digital SLR. While the Pentax brand is now under the Hoya corporation umbrella, we can be assured that the brand will continue the tradition of quality that Pentax is known for.

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