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The following is a partial list of products manufactured under the Pentax brand.
Cameras using the M37 lens mount.
Cameras using the M42 lens mount, also known as the Pentax screw mount.
Cameras using the Pentax K lens mount.
These cameras are known as IQ-Zoom in the North American market. Model numbers and specifications are the same in several cases. The Espio was introduced in 1992.
North American market models
As of March 2018, 32 different models have been released. All K-series bodies (except the full-frame K-1) have APS-C 1.5x crop sensors and Pentax K lens mounts.
K-mount lenses such as the original K and the M, A, F, FA, DA and DA* series.
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Compatible with all Pentax DSLRs
Lenses for the Asahiflex series cameras.
Lenses for the Asahi Pentax and Pentax Spotmatic series cameras.
Five lenses have been released for the Pentax Q. A sixth lens and an adapter were announced in September, 2012.
Pentax offers the Pentax FluCard for adding Wireless data transmission to the DSLR cameras 645Z, K-3 and K-S1.
Pentax currently makes a variety of sport optics, including binoculars.
The Pentax line of medical imaging devices was retained by Hoya Corporation when the camera business was sold to Ricoh.
The Pentax line of surveying instruments was sold to a Taiwanese company.
The Four Thirds System is a standard created by Olympus and Eastman Kodak for digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) and mirrorless camera design and development.
Nikkor is the brand of lenses produced by Nikon Corporation, including camera lenses for the Nikon F-mount.
Fujinon is a brand of optical lenses made by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd, now known as Fujifilm. Fujifilm's Fujinon lenses have been used by professional photographers and broadcast stations as well as cinematography. Fujifilm started manufacture of optical glass in its Odawara Factory in Japan in 1940, which was the start of the Fujinon brand. They were proud of their use of expensive Platinum crucibles to get the purest glass achievable at the time. Fujifilm also pioneered Electron Beam Coating (EBC) which according to Fujifilm, represented a new high in lens precision and performance. The EBC process was significantly different from other coating processes by the number of coating, the thinness of the coating, and the materials used for coating. Fujifilm claimed they were able to have as many as 14 layers of coating and used materials such as zirconium oxide, and cerium fluoride, which could not be used for coating in the conventional coating process. The first lens to offer the Electron Beam Coating was the EBC Fujinon 55mm F3.5 Macro in 1972. Light transmission for the coating was said to be 99.8%. EBC later evolved into Super-EBC and HT-EBC.
Takumar is the name that Asahi Optical gave to its lenses, notably but not exclusively those for its own SLR cameras. Named after the Japanese-American portrait painter, Takuma Kajiwara, whose brother Kumao Kajiwara founded Asahi Optical. The name adorned its lenses until 1975, when Asahi switched from the M42 screw mount to the bayonet K-mount. K-mount lenses were simply named "SMC Pentax". Some Takumar lenses were also made for the K-mount.
Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH is a manufacturer of industrial and photographic optics. The company was founded on 18 January 1913 by Joseph Schneider as Optische Anstalt Jos. Schneider & Co. at Bad Kreuznach in Germany. The company changed its name to Jos. Schneider & Co., Optische Werke, Kreuznach in 1922, and to the current Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH in 1998.
A kit lens is a "starter" lens which can be sold with an interchangeable-lens camera such as a mirrorless camera or DSLR. It is generally an inexpensive lens priced at the lowest end of the manufacturer's range so as to not add much to a camera kit's price. The kit consists of the camera body, the lens, and various accessories usually necessary to get started. A kit lens can be sold by itself outside of a kit, particularly the ones that are moderately expensive; for instance a kit lens included in a prosumer camera kit is often marketed as an upgrade lens for a consumer camera. In addition, retailers often have promotions of standalone low-end camera bodies without the lens, or a package that bundles a body with one or two more expensive lenses.
The Pentax K-mount, sometimes referred to as the "PK-mount", is a bayonet lens mount standard for mounting interchangeable photographic lenses to 35 mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras. It was created by Pentax in 1975, and has since been used by all Pentax 35 mm and digital SLRs and also the MILC Pentax K-01. A number of other manufacturers have also produced many K-mount lenses and K-mount cameras.
The Minolta A-mount camera system was a line of photographic equipment from Minolta introduced in 1985 with the world's first integrated autofocus system in the camera body with interchangeable lenses. The system used a lens mount called A-mount, with a flange focal distance 44.50 mm, one millimeter longer, 43.5 mm, than the previous SR mount from 1958. The new mount was wider, 49.7 mm vs. 44.97 mm, than the older SR-mount and due to the longer flange focal distance, old manual lenses were incompatible with the new system. Minolta bought the autofocus technology of Leica Correfot camera which was partly used on the a-mount autofocus technology. The mount is now used by Sony, who bought the SLR camera division from Konica Minolta, Konica and Minolta having merged a few years before.
The Pentax ME F was an amateur level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. It was manufactured by Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. of Japan from November 1981 to 1984. The ME F was a heavily modified version of the Pentax ME-Super, and a member of the Pentax M-series family of SLRs. It was the first mass-produced SLR camera to come with an autofocus system.
Pentax lenses were first badged as Takumar. The Takumar branded lenses were well respected for their line of Super Takumar, which designated the high performance coating applied to the lens as well as the optical formulas used to make them. The majority of the industry at the time was still satisfied with the variations of the "plumb" coating process and later some of the two and three layer processes as well. Asahi Pentax soon introduced the Takumar Super-Multi-Coated line of lenses which was a 7 layer process as the industry had just caught up with similar forms of 5 layer multi-coated optics. Eventually Asahi Optical and Pentax slowly shifted much of their lens production under the Pentax name and transitioned some of the successful designs that were first introduced under the Takumar name to use Asahi/Pentax badging as well as beginning to use the "smc" abbreviation. Eventually the Asahi partnership disappeared and the Pentax name became solely used. Pentax lenses saw many feature changes to answer the market, such as: incorporating "Auto-Aperture" with the M42, the light weight and compactness with the 'M' series, Aperture Priority overrides with the 'A' series, and Auto-Focus with the 'F' series. Modern Pentax lenses for digital SLR cameras have seen the elimination of the aperture ring completely as found on Pentax DA and D-FA series lenses. They use the Pentax KAF mount. All of these lenses have an autofocus feature, either operated from the camera body or from an internal SDM motor. Pentax compatible lenses are also made by third-party companies.
The Samsung NX-mount is the lens mount used on NX series mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras by Samsung. The mount was first implemented in the Samsung NX10, and Samsung initially referred to the NX line as 'hybrid digital cameras', citing their combination of attributes of both DSLR and compact cameras.
The Fujifilm X-mount is a lens mount for Fujifilm interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras in its X-series, designed for 23.6mm x 15.6mm APS-C sensors.
The Pentax 645 is a medium format single-lens reflex system camera manufactured by Pentax. It was introduced in 1984, along with a complementary line of lenses. It captures images nominally 6 cm × 4.5 cm on 120, 220, and 70 mm film, though the actual size of the images is 56 mm × 41.5 mm.
The HD Pentax-D FA* 70–200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW lens is a professional telephoto zoom lens for the Pentax K-mount. Announced jointly with the HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW in February 2015, it is one a pair of full-frame lenses to reboot Pentax' involvement in that format, the last previously introduced full-frame lens being the D FA 100mm weather-sealed macro lens in 2009. On Pentax APS-C cameras, the D FA* 70–200mm has an equivalent focal length range of 107–307mm.
Mr. Jun Hirakawa(平川純) is a Japanese lens designer best known for creating the Pentax FA 43mm Limited and FA 77mm Limited lenses during his time at Pentax.
The Canon RF lens mount is an interchangeable-lens mount developed by Canon for its full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, and featured first by the EOS R, followed by the EOS RP. The RF mount was announced in September 2018. In May 2022, Canon announced APS-C EOS R cameras and RF-S lenses designed for these cameras.