"Rob Brigham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >When exactly is the 50th Anniversary?
>Is there a month/date that any even is likely to happen? They are >running out of time to do anything this year... > >Also, let us hope they will bring out the new products for the 50th >Anniversary of the Asahiflex, not the 50th Anniversary of the first >Pentax (2007)!! Got some conflicting information floating around but... According to http://212.187.14.19/history.htm (which got its info from Fred Sherfy, author of the book "Asahiflex and the Pre-1959 Asahi Pentax cameras, a guide to identification and collection"), the production of the Asahiflex I began in 1951 and AOC released the Asahiflex IA in May 1953. In "A brief history of the Asahi Optical Corporation" (http://digilander.libero.it/aohc/selart16e.htm), it says "...in late 1951, a prototype 35mm single lens reflex camera was ready...After further modifications and refinements, the new camera, called the �Asahiflex� was put on sale on the Japanese home market in May 1952" I had read elsewhere (but I don't remember where) that the production lines for the first Asahiflex began rolling in February, 1952 and the cameras came on the market at shortly after that (this would mesh with the May 1952 date given above for the cameras hitting the home market). The Unofficial Pentax Collector's Starter Page (http://www.concentric.net/~sherfy/special1.html) says "The Spotmatic Series is a fine line of cameras that generally spans the time period of 1963 to 1975", which would make 2003 the 40th anniversary of that particular introduction. -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com Photography and writing
