asahi pentax S?

[nolanator]

i've kinda always wanted to know about this. my wife bought it in a pawn shop a few years ago for $100.00

 

[choudhrysaab]

what exactly did you want to know about it?

 

[usayit]

I have one in my collection.

AOHC website

 

[nolanator]

what exactly did you want to know about it?

is it rare? is it a quality camera? was it worth $100 5 years ago? is it competetive in any sense with cameras today?

 

[usayit]

No it is not rare. Quality .. yes for that time period. $100 is more than I paid for most of the camera bodies in my Asahi/Pentax collection. Camera/Equipment don't create photos, the photographer does. It is competitive in the sense that it can expose frames on a negative properly (depending on the condition).

 

[Dwig]

...also, it was not sold new in the US. At the time this was a current model, Honeywell was the US importer. Honeywell always rebranded the cameras as "Honeywell Pentax", omitting the Asahi name. I believe this was sold here as the Honeywell Pentax H3v. Your camera is, if my memory of the designations is correct, not an "S", but instead is the "SV". The "v" indicates the presence of a self-timer (the "V" is derived from the German term and first appeared on German shutters).

It was the top model before the appearance of the first Spotmatic model with its built in TTL meter and continued for a while after the Spotmatic's introduction. The Pentax SV / H3v was finally replaced with a short lived meterless body built on the much improved chassis of the Spotmatic.

Here's a link to the instruction manual:
Asahi Pentax SV and S1a instruction manual, user manual

 

[nolanator]

...also, it was not sold new in the US. At the time this was a current model, Honeywell was the US importer. Honeywell always rebranded the cameras as "Honeywell Pentax", omitting the Asahi name. I believe this was sold here as the Honeywell Pentax H3v. Your camera is, if my memory of the designations is correct, not an "S", but instead is the "SV". The "v" indicates the presence of a self-timer (the "V" is derived from the German term and first appeared on German shutters).

It was the top model before the appearance of the first Spotmatic model with its built in TTL meter and continued for a while after the Spotmatic's introduction. The Pentax SV / H3v was finally replaced with a short lived meterless body built on the much improved chassis of the Spotmatic.

Here's a link to the instruction manual:
Asahi Pentax SV and S1a instruction manual, user manual

i really appreciate this information. thank you for the time it took to check everything out and educate me.

 

[Sangetsu]

It's a great camera that is capable of taking great pictures. As far as value goes, unfortunately, it isn't worth very much. The values of most mass produced 35mm film gear has plummeted since the advent of digital. Here in Japan my local used camera shop has a couple Pentax cameras like yours (SL and S3) for 3000 yen a pop (about $30), including lenses. As a collector, I'm not complaining, I love being able to buy such marvelously engineered things for so little.

Go out and take some pictures with it, you might be surprised at how good they come out.