Black Pentax H2 gets away. Rats!

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radiocemetery

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I let it get away. I was bidding on that auction site for an Asahi Pentax H2 from about 1959-1961. Had a black body (uncommon). Good cosmetics, functioning shutter, no lens. I bid to 65.00 and stopped. Now that I think about it, I am wondering why. Does that seem like a fair price for one of these jewels?

I had been considering a Pentacon or Contax S for another M42 body, but I already have a nice Spotmatic and 3 Takumars, so I have decided to keep it in the Asahi family.

I am sure something will eventually turn up.

Steve
 
In my view the H2 and its related cameras are amongst the prettiest and most functional of the Pentax range - even including today's offerings. (To be honest I think Pentax went downmarket after the Spotmatic - well, certainly after the K series!) I own several of the earlier bodies and lenses including a couple of S2s (as they are badged outside of USA) an SV, an S1 and a couple of S1as. I also picked up the earlier one with the slow speed dial on the front of the body a while back - I think it was a K from memory but cant immediately recall for sure. The lenses of this era are also pretty good and nice to use. I rather like the preset lenses and semi auto ones that turn photography into a bit more of an effort and make you slow downa nd think about what you are doing. The only black Pentax I have however is a Spotmatic in not bad (but certainly not perfect) condition. I have chased a few early pre Spotmatics in black livery but they are much sought after and like you have managed to miss out on every one I have tried to buy.
 
Hi Peter,

Thanks for your response. Since you have used so many of these early Pentaxes, have you found any significant build quality differences in them? Are some more reliable? I was attracted to this H2 as a simple camera with all the features I need. I would surely have to find an Auto-Takumar for such a camera. It seems as if some of these early Asahi Optical cameras have been overlooked and I guess that is good for someone who wants to buy one to use and enjoy.

Steve
 
Never had a Pentax as smooth as >>>

Never had a Pentax as smooth as >>>

The Spotmatics and earlier. Great cameras and lenses both. The H2's were as nice as the Spotmatics in usage, in my experience.

Secondly, value is not a consideration on something I really want. If I pay over the going rate (and who knows what that is), and somebody asks me how much I paid for it, my response is "Too much and still a hell of a deal at that." Fortunately, a lot of people must think like I do, because my sales of film camera's on eBay reflects people not making decisions based on the "going prices".
 
Kuzano,

I completely agree with you about the value question. I recently advised a friend about buying a vintage Italian racing bike (bicycle). He asked if the asking price was a good value. I told him that the value is totally up to you. Sounds like I should have listened to my own advice when I was bidding on this H2!

Steve
 
I briefly fondled a black H2 at a camera shop last week. Not sure what they were asking, but I'm sure it would have been ~$75 or more. Nice camera, but I'm saving money for other stuff right now so I put it down quick ;)

FWIW, My dad has a black Pentax S that be bought new. He likes to tell the story of taking it in to a "Pentax Day" at one of the local pro shops and watching the factory techs go nuts over the fact they'd never seen one of them before...

Last time I was in town I pulled it out and snapped a pic of it with it's successors. Next time I'm in town I want to run a roll through it, but the shutter curtains are getting a little fragile, so I'm not sure it's such a good idea.

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radiocemetery said:
Hi Peter,

Thanks for your response. Since you have used so many of these early Pentaxes, have you found any significant build quality differences in them? Are some more reliable? I was attracted to this H2 as a simple camera with all the features I need. I would surely have to find an Auto-Takumar for such a camera. It seems as if some of these early Asahi Optical cameras have been overlooked and I guess that is good for someone who wants to buy one to use and enjoy.

Steve
Click to expand...

I have found them all (all that I have used at least) to be very high quality and pleasant to use. Having said that, like all 40 + year old cameras they will sometimes suffer from age related complaints (a bit like me) which would be rectified by a service but in practice I have found the early pre Spotmatic cameras to be even more reliable than the Spotmatics. The most usual minor problems I have had are with the lenses. Auto Takumars can suffer from the diaphragm cocking-lever spring breaking so the lever does not return automatically when cocked and also lenses can get gunk on the diaphragm making them slow to stop down. But even so these are the exceptions. Most work fine. If you hold a Leica screw mount in your hand and then one of these cameras, you will also notice a similarity in form factor which makes them an elegant camera to use.

You will not be disappointed with almost any early Takumar lens. I think the 35mm f2.3 is a bit below their normal high quality or so I am told (I have one but have not properly tested it although it does seem a little less sharp than some others ) but I would be hard pressed to state that any other is anything other than brilliant - especially the common lenses like the 35mm f3.5, the standard lenses (there are a few versions) the 105mm f2.8 and the 135mm f3.5. All are well worth owning and using and can be bought for a song. The longer lenses are available in preset, fully auto and (less commonly) semi auto versions. As all of these cameras have a diaphragm actuating mechanism there is also nothing to stop you using later Takumars of the SMC variety although I enjoy using the ones from the same era.

Here is a great link to a site with some nice pics and good info. (If you use Firefox I should note this site works best with IE.)

http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Pentax_main.html
 
A black H2 would be cool to have; too bad it got away! My first Pentax was a chrome H2 back about 1964, and I've been a Pentaxian since. That camera got traded in for a new Spotmatic so I no longer have it, but out of nostalgia and admiration for the clean design of the pre-Spotmatics I now have an H3 and a model K as mentioned by Peterm. And a motor-drive Spotmatic and ES both bought new, and more recently an ESII.

These are all fine cameras, fun to use, and the lenses give great results. I've only used my 35mm f2.3 for one roll, and made the mistake of using a cylindrical but short 62mm hood that turned out to vignette badly. The lens is in fine shape, and I'll try it again with some other hood.

Steve, just keep your eyes open, I'm sure other interesting Pentax gear will show up!
 
As far as I recall, Pentax moved factories sometime in the late '60s (during the Spotmatic era) and greatly increased output; quality suffered somewhat. For my money the SV is the loveliest of all Pentaxes, and much easier to focus than the S1a because of its criss-cross microprisms instead of the linear ones of the S1a.

I have two SVs, one black, one chrome, though the chrome one has been on loan to a friend for years. Both suffer from tired shutters -- about a stop slow down to 1/30 -- but apart from that they are the nearest to a reflex screw-mount Leica that I can readily imagine.

Although my first good camera was a Pentax (in the 60s) I switched to Nikon in the 70s because I found the Nikon lenses significantly better in quite a few cases; an opinion I have not had occasion to change yet.

Cheers,

Roger
 
If you are interested, I will shortly be sellins my black "triple badged" H2 as well as a black S1a, black SL, black SPII and black SPIIa. Of these the SL is perhaps the rarest. I was going to put them on the auction site but if there is interest here, I will put them in the classifieds.

Kim
 
The first "Asahi Pentax" was marketed in the US under the Tower brand. The S series (S1, S2 and S3) were deveopements of the Pentax S. These were marketed in the US under the Honeywell brand and were called the H1, H2 and H3. Most had the AOC logo on the Pentaprism with the Honeywell name underneath. A few also had the the Pentax name as well but these were rather uncommon hence "triple badge" - AOC, Honeywell and Pentax.

Kim

Doug said:
Kim, what does "triple badged" mean?
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AFAIK the first non-Tower Pentax cameras officially imported into the USA were labelled "Heiland Pentax".
Heiland eventually became Honeywell.

Chris
 
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Heiland was a division of Honeywell, where various electrical gear was made, including the innovative electronic flash "Strobonar". My H3 is marked Heiland Pentax, and they stopped branding with that name before the Spotmatic.
 
Quite Correct. The very early ones were Heiland Pentax, the late ones were Honeywell. There was a short period where the name Honeywell appeared on the top of the pentaprism just under the "H" badge and there was also the label Heiland Pentax on the front of the pentaprism. These are the tripled badged ones.

Kim

h2_1.jpg




ChrisPlatt said:
AFAIK the first non-Tower Pentax cameras officially imported into the USA were labelled "Heiland Pentax".
Heiland eventually became Honeywell.

Chris
Click to expand...
 
As an aside, it is also worth remembering that not all Pentax M42 lenses are compatible with all Pentax M42 bodies. The 50/1.4 should not be used on the S1-3 series (H1-3) or the early S1a/SV (H1a/H3v) as the rear element can be damaged. The later S1a/SV with the orange "R" on the rewind knob are OK.

Also some of the early Super Takumars can damage the body if used on the later cameras such as the Spotmatics and others.

Kim
 
Hi all,

The black H2 body I saw for sale was branded Asahi Pentax below the AOC logo on the prism, but the top plate by the serial no. was labeled H2. The Taunusreiter site cited by Peterm1 above shows another H2 chrome body branded this way.

Steve
 
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