My visit to the Pentax Camera Museum in Mashiko, Japan

Hi,

 

I thought I would share some photos of my visit to the Pentax Camera Museum in Mashiko, Tochigi, Japan. I have been

meaning to go for over a year, but could never find the time to, but today I did. I hope everyone enjoys the photos. I am

sorry to say that I took the photos with a Nikon D50 and Nikkor 28mm f2.8. Please don’t it against me. I have own manual

Pentax equipment... ;-)

 

Besides displaying Pentax equipment They had cameras of every vintage and label.

 

I shot everything at 400 ISO and I did not have a tripod, so I apologize for the quality of the photos.

 

Mike<div></div>

Pentax LX Gold<div></div>

Golden Pentax SP<div></div>

Golden Pentax SPII<div></div>

Pentax K1000 (API Special Version). No.1/300 limited model.<div></div>

800mm F6 for a Pentax 67<div></div>

Pentax M42 Screw Mount . 1000mm f8. Weight 7.5 kilograms. Length 1040 millimeters. Cost in 1958 165,000 Yen.<div></div>

Pentax 500mm f5. Production year 1953.<div></div>

Every slr and dslr Pentax has every produced. Photo 1<div></div>

So they DO have cameras that aren't gold!<g> Very cool! Thanks for sharing your trip. Besides, who doesn't love a Pentax?

Every slr and dslr Pentax has every produced. Photo 2<div></div>

Last Photo. The limited edition display case.<div></div>

hey look! i see mine! (and i'm hiding the fact that i can't tell which one is which. but dang it. my camera's in there

somewhere...)

 

;)

What a great idea to visit .. and thanks for sharing those :-) I'm especially impressed with those old telephotos.. 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs) huh? Almost need 2 tripods to hold that baby in place.

man those are really cool! Now I got to put that museum on my list of places to go!

Do they have the one-off K10D they did last year to commemorate the original Pentax of 1957? I'm referring to the one they did with the silver body, lettered Asahi Pentax and with the old-style pentaprism housing. I really like that camera and wish I could buy one.

 

Paul Noble

so here's a thought that just hit me: how exactly does one mount that 1000mm f/8 onto a camera?? does it have a section

at the rear that rotates freely or to you have to screw your CAMERA onto the LENS?

 

seems like a situation that would result in a bit of laughter the first time i tried it.

"so here's a thought that just hit me: how exactly does one mount that 1000mm f/8 onto a camera??"

 

I recommend an original M42-to-K-mount converter.

 

Thanks for the photos, Michael. I liked seeing all those hand-holdable telephotos. And why do camera companies all celebrate by making stuff in gold? Have you guys seen those Vivitar Series 1 gold lenses?

 

Michael, did you get any insider information about the new Pentax stuff coming out? Maybe they had the latest body on display...? :-)

Hi Everyone,

 

Thanks for the responses.

 

To answer Miserere questions `did you get any insider information about the new Pentax stuff coming out?` Sorry, no! I wish. My Japanese is terrible. Asking would have been hard, but I wanted to ask.... I want to dive into a Pentax DSLR, but not until Pentax produces a full frame camera. I hope that is sooner than later.

 

As for mounting the 1000mm screw mount. Yes, you would need to tripods. If you ok closely there are two tripod mounts on the lens.

 

As for the silver K10D. I did not see it. I was to much inawe of the gold cameras. :-)

 

Mike

Dang, hadn't thought of what it would take to mount a body to a screw mount of that size.

Michael, did they have a Spotmatic IIa on display? That was a special model for Honeywell in the U.S. market only.

 

Will

Will,

 

I did not see. I suspect that it is not there. If it had Honeywell on it the Pentax curators would have to explain to Japanese visitors why Asahi Pentax work in conjuction with Honeywell, which might mean a loss of face for Pentax to have to admit it needed help selling it cameras in the States.

 

I have a Honeywell SPII. I showed it to my camera guy here. He was astounded by the fact the Honeywell was on the label and not Asahi. He never knew that before I took him the camera. It was the first time. I was even more surprised that he did not know as he works with classic cameras all the time. In fact, I would even suspect now that 99% of the Japanese camera buyers have no bloody idea Pentax works in close conjuction with Samsung or that Samsungs digital SLR cameras take Pentax K-mounts lens.

 

Mike

Very interesting comments, Michael. Thanks! I'm pretty sure the SP IIa was never released with the Asahi name on it -- only Honeywell, and only in North America. The camera had a built-in electronic flash sensor that worked only with certain Honeywell flash units.

 

Will

Wow, those Japanese sure are proud people...

... indeed, but I have to say that I'm very disappointed in them for the bland appearance of the 1000mm f/8 there.

 

No "Hello Kitty" theme, no deal.