Big World Picture: Camera case #3 Pentax Program A

In these series of posts I thought I would choose a camera from my collection and tell you a little bit about the history of the camera and what I like or even dislike about the camera in question.
In this post I have chosen my Pentax Program A. This camera as it was my first camera, bought for me when i started at Art collage way back in 1992. It was and still is a great camera that takes great photographs with the aid of the Pentax SMC F/1.7 50mm lens.

So let me tell you a little bit about Pentax and then about the Pentax Program A.

The company originally started in 1919 as Asahi Kōgyō G.K as a optical company, making lenses under the brand name Aoco. It began making camera lenses in 1932. In 1938 the company changed its name to Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K and this was the company’s name up until 2002 when it became Pentax Corporation. The first camera made by Asahi was the Asahiflex, in 1952, and this was also the first Japanese 35mm SLR camera. The Asahiflex IIb also boasts the fact that it was one of the first SLR cameras to have an instant return mirror. This solved the problem of mirror blackout caused by the fact that when the shot was taken the mirror stayed up until the camera was wound on for the next frame and so blacking out the viewfinder. The “Pentax” cameras started in 1952 as Asahi Pentax until 2002.

This camera, the Pentax Program A, was released from 1984-1988. This camera has served me well and I have fired off many rolls of 35mm film with it. It is a good solid camera but not too heavy. I love this camera as it is very easy to use and it helped me a lot to understand the various elements that go into making the photograph (understanding shutter speeds, ISO and Apertures etc). You don’t always need all the bells and whistles in your everyday camera and this is why to this day I still use this camera. I can just set it to the automatic mode and all I have to then focus on is what aperture I want and then to find the perfect angle for that great photograph. The Program A exposes well and the colours come out great and a rarely have blown out whites or lack of detail blacks. So not only does the fact that this camera holds a lot of sentimental value but it is great to use.

Here are a few examples of the photos I have taken with the Pentax Program A