The Pentax Corporation

The Pentax Corporation is a Japanese company founded in 1919 as Asahi Kogagu Kogyo Goshi Gaisha, a spectacle lens manufacturing outfit. In 1938 they changed their name to Asahi Optical Corporation, by which time they were also manufacturing camera/cine lenses. In 1952, Asahi Optical introduced their first camera, the Asahiflex (the first Japanese SLR). Asahi Optical adopted its current name, 'Pentax Corporation', in 2002.