No Pentax rangefinder.

As far as I know, Pentax have never produced a rangefinder camera. Neither compact or interchangable lens, type.
The sixties and seventies, were awash with compact rangefinders, from countless manufacturers. Olympus, Canon. Konica, Minolta, Yashica, etc. Nothing like that from Asahi, though. I wonder why?..

It seems strange, that a big player, (and Pentax was big, back then) would neglect such a large and obviously lucrative slice of the camera market. Look on ebay now and you can't move for Yashica Electros and Ricoh 500s. A vast number of such cameras were produced. Olympus knocked out over ten million Trips, alone. (yes, I know that is not a rangefinder, but is that kind of thing). Olympus probably paid for the development and tooling for the OM series from the profits from the Trip.

Pity. It would have been nice to see Asahi's take on the compact rangefinder. They did make a very silly little 110 SLR, but no rival to all those SPs, Ministers, Hi-Matics and QL19s.

In fact, a brilliant little camera with many supporters on this forum.

That just goes to prove what impact a decent advertising budget has on a product's sales figures.

We were 'tripping' over adverts for the Oly Trip in its day. Little wonder then that it sold so well.

I don't believe Pentax has ever committed as much as they should have in their marketing budget.

I still have my first ever 35mm film camera (in a box somewhere). It's a Petri 7s rangefinder and produced most of the images from my late childhood and early teens. It's totally mechanical except for its 'Circle-eye' Cds photocell array that drives the light meter. No batteries.

Similar to this one:
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Yes... The 110 was so brilliant, Pentax must have sold literally hundreds of them!
It's difficult to give the bloody things away, now. To have built a reflex system with interchangeable lenses and even a power winder, for pity's sake!, around a Mickey Mouse tiny cartridge film format, was an idea surpassed in stupidity only by the disc camera.

Just my opinion, mind.

Blimey!... I've just become a Pentax Master.

Not so, Pentax produced the R1a for a brief period from the beginning of April 1967 in conjunction with Leitz' its based on the Leica M4. Mine has the Pentax M42 lens mount making it compatible all the SMC Takumars of the period. In the picture it has a Summicron fitted via a genuine Asahi Optical Co. M42 to Leica adapter. I'm always on the lookout for a genuine strap, for some reason they were slightly wider than the Spotmatic ones:

Have you ever used one :

Pentax led the field with SLR designs that were elegant and which swept away the clunky leaf shutter SLRs and the slow to use rangefinders. The viewfinder, instant return mirror, automatic diaphragm on later lenses and so on.

The cameras were easier to use, better made and cheaper than most others. In fact considerably cheaper than the Voigtlander and Zeiss products.

Now the rangefinders (excluding Contax and Leica) that you are talking about here were more or less universal for amateurs, but the quality of the lenses was never up to SLR standards. I've used stacks of them from all sorts of manufacturers. They cost around £50 when Spotmatics were more like £145. Some are not bad but I wouldn't use them by choice.

Pentax concentrated on the market they were leading - SLR cameras and lenses.

As for 110 prices, have you checked ebay lately?

They still seem a popular choice and sell for more than I'm willing to pay, and that's with the hard to source film used!

I've a couple of rangefinders and enjoy using them from time to time, but the image quality leaves a lot to be desired when compared to any of my film (Pentax and Zenit) SLRs.

I wish I hadn't opened this thread - you know I'm going to have to track one of these down now don't you?

Hyram. No, I have not used one. I would not use any film camera from which I am unable to develop the film, myself. I would also be embarrassed to be seen using such a ridiculous thing.

Hardgravy. The last complete kit I saw, sold for about £25.

John. I take issue with you on lens quality. The Zuiko on the Olympus 35SP is as sharp as any SLR lens I have ever used. Even the tiny XA lens is well up to the job. The 45mm lenses on those Yashica Electros are pretty good, too.

Gartmore. You have to get up pretty early early in the morning to pull the leg of a Pentax Master, y'know.

Did I mention that I'm a Pentax Master, now?

If it's lens sharpness you're after the System 10 24mm was rated sharper than the Zeiss Contax 50mm of the same vintage.

Poor film support cripples what is otherwise an amazing system, I would be using mine today if it were not now virtually impossible to get the film. The carts are re-loadable and you can cut down 35mm stock to work just fine so if I was in a position to develop my own I'd be using it left and right.

If you don't like it, don't use it, but don't slag off what you've never used.

Mongoose.

Why should I not slag off what I have never used?
I gave two good reasons why I would not like the 110. That is enough to have an opinion on it and to voice that opinion.
I have never tried Crack cocaine, sodomy or Morris dancing either, but I know I would not like any of them.
I started this thread to see other's opinions as to why Asahi never made a rangefinder camera, not to debate the merits (or lack of them) of the 110 SLR.
Thus far, only John, (as usual) has made a valid point.

Quote: They did make a very silly little 110 SLR, but no rival to all those SPs, Ministers, Hi-Matics and QL19s.

Sounds like the start of a debate to me, and how do you know you won't like crack cocaine, sodomy and Morris dancing?

Of course JR made a valid point but you imply that usually no one else does

Hefty1 wrote "I wish I hadn't opened this thread - you know I'm going to have to track one of these down now don't you?"

I believe I have the only extant pre-production model, you can make me an offer before I put it on ebay, I dont suppose you are interested in my 120 film Pentacord?

Ken