I really enjoy your videos on cameras. I watch some of them many times. They are very helpful. I was surprised on your suggested ASA films to use with this camera. Your logic is right on. But this logic escaped me early in life. The Pentax H1a was the first camera that I used professionally. It too has no 1/1000 sec shutter speed. As a news photographer I used almost exclusively 400 ASA film. 125 ASA was available to us, but I put less than 5 rolls of it through my H1a in total. As a news reporter I would shoot and develop 4-8 rolls a week. In those days I didn't carry a bag. Just a camera in a leather case around my camera with some film on my strap. So no ND filters were ever carried. Though later on I did carry a red filter for outside photos. Never thought I was limited. Those were good days. The flash was attached before I left the office if I thought I would need it.
Thank you, Jim! I would believe that for newsprint reproduction 400 had a lot of latitude in terms of how much light it could handle and not needing the extra stop of speed on the fast end.
Another gold mine of information of a rare variant that few might ever see, let alone find themselves using in the age. Look forward to the follow-up. Thank you.
Greetings from South Africa! As an avid camera collector, I can confirm the rarity of the Asahifkex and Pentar name plates. I’ve come across and seen many “varieties” of cameras in the range - the standard S1, S1a, SP, SV, S3, etc; but have only ever come across one Pentar H2 before (with the “original” / time appropriate 10 blade version of the 55mm f2 (later changed to 6 blades). Thanks for your video. Kind regards
Nice! My favorite series of cameras! Despite a later serial number(26xxxx), the speed dial in yours suggest an earlier model: 1959-1960. Sometime around 1960 they were modified with a notch in the "T" setting to couple with the new clip on meter. The Asahiflex name is quite rare. It was for markets where the name Pentax was still considered trademarked by Carl Zeiss/Pentacon. My understanding is that after WWII ended, german patents were opened worldwide but a few countries like South Africa still recognized them as copyrighted.
Nice! I believe that you're right about the trademark being the reason for the name change on these. Crazy thing, though, Asahiflex isn't even the rarest name for this camera model.
I have seen a camera marked Asahi Pentax, and H2. I don't know whether the top plate and prism/nameplate are separate replacements, or whether this was an earlier import version.
I'm a bit Rusty, honestly, in my 50s Pentax naming, but I think that was before Honeywell started putting their name on the cameras. The H2 was the north American version of the s2.
Hey David, I have a hard time focusing my h2 since it does not have a split screen. Any tips regarding that? Thanks for all the great videos; much appreciated.
Sometimes a plain matte screen can be hard to focus with. Try stopping the lens down one stop. The old 50mm and 55mm lenses for these were VERY soft wide open and taking a stop of light off won't affect viewfinder brightness too much but will bump up the sharpness a bit.
There was a gap between the two, correct; however, the intent of indicating what followed is to highlight what the previous and following cameras in that same tier were. Often, especially in the 50s-60s, there were some years between the camera models.
@@DavidHancock Having been a Pentax collector and user since the 70's I own most M42 Cameras ever made by Asahi Pentax I disagree. The successor has to be the SL
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I really enjoy your videos on cameras. I watch some of them many times. They are very helpful. I was surprised on your suggested ASA films to use with this camera. Your logic is right on. But this logic escaped me early in life. The Pentax H1a was the first camera that I used professionally. It too has no 1/1000 sec shutter speed. As a news photographer I used almost exclusively 400 ASA film. 125 ASA was available to us, but I put less than 5 rolls of it through my H1a in total. As a news reporter I would shoot and develop 4-8 rolls a week. In those days I didn't carry a bag. Just a camera in a leather case around my camera with some film on my strap. So no ND filters were ever carried. Though later on I did carry a red filter for outside photos. Never thought I was limited. Those were good days. The flash was attached before I left the office if I thought I would need it.
Thank you, Jim! I would believe that for newsprint reproduction 400 had a lot of latitude in terms of how much light it could handle and not needing the extra stop of speed on the fast end.
Another gold mine of information of a rare variant that few might ever see, let alone find themselves using in the age. Look forward to the follow-up. Thank you.
Thank you, Murray!
@@DavidHancock your most welcome as always. Have a peaceful evening.
Greetings from South Africa!
As an avid camera collector, I can confirm the rarity of the Asahifkex and Pentar name plates.
I’ve come across and seen many “varieties” of cameras in the range - the standard S1, S1a, SP, SV, S3, etc; but have only ever come across one Pentar H2 before (with the “original” / time appropriate 10 blade version of the 55mm f2 (later changed to 6 blades).
Thanks for your video.
Kind regards
Thank you!
Nice! My favorite series of cameras! Despite a later serial number(26xxxx), the speed dial in yours suggest an earlier model: 1959-1960. Sometime around 1960 they were modified with a notch in the "T" setting to couple with the new clip on meter. The Asahiflex name is quite rare. It was for markets where the name Pentax was still considered trademarked by Carl Zeiss/Pentacon. My understanding is that after WWII ended, german patents were opened worldwide but a few countries like South Africa still recognized them as copyrighted.
Nice! I believe that you're right about the trademark being the reason for the name change on these. Crazy thing, though, Asahiflex isn't even the rarest name for this camera model.
@@DavidHancock Yes! There are also ASAHI PENTAR and Penta ASAHIFLEX but otherwise it is the same camera.
I have seen a camera marked Asahi Pentax, and H2. I don't know whether the top plate and prism/nameplate are separate replacements, or whether this was an earlier import version.
I'm a bit Rusty, honestly, in my 50s Pentax naming, but I think that was before Honeywell started putting their name on the cameras. The H2 was the north American version of the s2.
Hey David, I have a hard time focusing my h2 since it does not have a split screen. Any tips regarding that? Thanks for all the great videos; much appreciated.
Sometimes a plain matte screen can be hard to focus with. Try stopping the lens down one stop. The old 50mm and 55mm lenses for these were VERY soft wide open and taking a stop of light off won't affect viewfinder brightness too much but will bump up the sharpness a bit.
These were not followed by the Spotmatic SP500 that came much later. These were replaced by the Spotmatic SP in 1964. The SP500 was released in 1971.
There was a gap between the two, correct; however, the intent of indicating what followed is to highlight what the previous and following cameras in that same tier were. Often, especially in the 50s-60s, there were some years between the camera models.
@@DavidHancock Having been a Pentax collector and user since the 70's I own most M42 Cameras ever made by Asahi Pentax I disagree. The successor has to be the SL