Preface

On a particular occasion in the beginning of 1998, I found a letter in my E-mail inbox that originated from a nice gentleman in the USA who visited my Original Asahi Pentax Spotmatic Home Page on internet. He asked if I was interested in acquiring a complete Asahiflex IIB camera set, which was owned by his father, for my collection? I didn’t have to think long about that. Of course I was! Sadly, we soon lost contact. That was because the seller’s father was very ill and he could not sell the equipment without his father’s consent. I felt very bad about this, and hoped that his father would get better very soon. I forgot all about the camera set until the beginning of this year, when I received another message from the same gentleman. He said that his father was better again and that he gave him his permission to sell the items to me. I was very happy with the father’s recovery as well as my good fortune.

Up to that time, I had only a very rough idea about the contents of the set. Then, many E-mails with even more questions flew back and forth across the ocean. At one certain point, I had enough information and felt that I should not miss this opportunity. As a result, a price was agreed upon, and in February of this year, several weeks after my payment was sent, a large and heavy package arrived at the post office.

The set described in detail

It is not rare to find single Asahiflex cameras or Asahiflex accessories for your collection. They do show up every once in a while. But finding a photographer’s Asahiflex set that was kept complete for more than nearly 45 years is something that probably happens only once in a collector’s lifetime. Thus, to keep the information available for future researchers, I have tried to describe every item in detail. But first, I’ll tell you where and how the set was bought.

The pamphlets and the letter

The purchasing of the items

Some two months after the pamphlets were received, the camera was bought on July 5, 1955 at Plaza House in Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa is an island located south of mainland Japan in the East China Sea and is mostly known of the famous American invasion in April 1945. The shop where the camera was bought probably was a leftover from the time American Forces occupied Japan. The original four receipts from the same shop are issued on four separate dates. The recorded prices for the items were as reported in table.

As you can see, the original buyer was given a standard discount of no less than 20% on all items, presumably because the camera shop owner was his friend (by word of mouth from the former camera owner).

The Asahiflex IIB

The Asahiflex IIB camera, with serial number 50708, is an interesting early model because it still has many of the features of the Asahiflex IA. The shutter speed selector and frame counter marks are no triangles as you might expect, but arrows like those found on the I and IA. The ground glass also features the etched reticule (crosshairs). The AOCo logo on the viewfinder hood is the bigger, earlier version (12mm high and 10mm wide). The shutter speed dial is of Sherfy type 3. It is equipped with an otherwise normal 58mm f/2.4 Asahi-Kogaku Takumar, serial number 59618, with its original metal AOCo engraved front cap. The viewfinder window mask has the correct dimensions for use with the 58mm standard lens.

The camera case is also an interesting piece. I could not find this type of camera case in the available Asahiflex literature. It features a unique chrome trim around the front rim of the extended lens cavity. I would say that this type of camera case should be positioned between the second case style with shallow lens cavity and the second case style with extended lens cavity as mentioned in Sherfy’s book. Although it looks nearly the same as the second case style with extended lens cavity, there are a few differences. For instance, the strap is fastened in a different way.

The 135mm f/3.5 Tele-Takumar

This lens came complete with its leather case and original metal front and back caps. It has the serial number 42011, and at first I thought that it had the lowest recorded serial number (Sherfy mentions that the serial numbers for this lens probably started at 43000). After some research I found out about another example with serial number 42129, so maybe the series started at 42000. However, it appears that there is another example of this lens with an even lower serial number of 34645. Is there anyone who can confirm that there are other 135mm f/3.5 Tele-Takumars with serial numbers between 35000 and 42000? Other than that, my lens with serial number 42011 does not differ from later examples in my collection. The only difference I could find is the color of the leather lens case. The examples I have seen were all in a dark brown leather, the example that came with my lens is much lighter in color.

The Asahi Synchro-Flash Gun

This is one of the rarer Asahiflex accessories. Since an Asahiflex owner was not committed to buy original Asahi equipment, it is quite understandable that many of them chose to buy a cheaper third-party flashgun, making it very hard to find the original Asahi Synchro-Flash Gun. The Flash Gun itself is of a very high build quality and is made of heavy chromed brass. It’s almost as heavy as the Asahiflex camera itself. It is better made than most flashes that were available at the time (which were mostly made of aluminium and plastic). The flash consists of three distinct parts: the bracket, the flash handle and the screw-on reflector. The bracket is finished in an unusual way: the bottom is in dull chrome, while the outside rim is in shiny chrome. The flash handle is engraved with the well-known AOCo logo and the Asahiflex name and has connections for the synchronization cable and an external flash. There is also a chrome lamp test button above the AOCo logo. The top of the handle, where the flashbulb fitting is, appears to be made of black bakelite. The flash accepts blue press-type flashbulbs. A funny side note: it is very fortunate that the Asahiflex flash is so rare, because currently there is a big demand for Graflex three-cell flashguns that look very similar. These Graflex flashes are then converted to Star Wars light sabers, ruining them for the Graflex collector market. Thanks to the new Star Wars film, prices of that ordinary flashgun have increased to no less than US$300 in the last few months. So, please never mention Star Wars when referring to the Asahiflex flashgun!

The accessories

Also included in the set is a test lamp for the flash, which came in its original box.

Conclusion

It is always thrilling to add a few new Asahiflex items to my collection. As I said before, they are not rare, but I still find it amazing that these items have withstood the time so well. This is a real tribute to the designers of the Asahiflex camera. And, as you can see, it is still possible to find variations and previously unknown items which help a collector to narrow down serial number ranges and which give a better idea about the history of the early Asahi items.