The Asahi Pentax Way

The Pentax was the first of the modern generation of 35mm film single-lens reflex cameras. As the Asahiflex IIB it introduced the instant-return mirror as long ago as 1954 and so made the SLR a real competitor with the interchangeable lens, coupled-rangefinder camera.

Before 1954, the SLR was a relatively cumbersome camera. Its swinging mirror blotted out the viewfinder image at the moment of exposure and had to be wound down again by hand before another picture could be taken. Even after 1954, the necessity for viewing and focusing at full aperture, closing down to shooting aperture and then opening up again was a definite disadvantage.

Now, however, the Super Takumar lenses cope with all that automatically and the added advantages of the SLR principle for close-ups and long-range photography make the Pentax the most versatile camera ever produced. It has a long lead on all its competitors and the supremacy of its original design is emphasized by the fact that, basically, it has changed little over the years.

It has improved, of course. There have been refinements such as the microprism focusing grid (another Asahi first), introduced in 1958, and the latest through-the-lens exposure control of the Spotmatic. It has built up a fine range of lenses, from the revolutionary 18mm "fisheye" to the 1,000mm telephoto, and including such special-purpose items as the Macro-Takumar, focusing from infinity to a 1:1 image ratio and the Quartz-Takumar for scientists and criminologists. Its range of accessories is equally impressive.

The Pentax Way is a practical book for the practical Pentax user. It describes the various camera models, the lenses and the accessories factually. It explains their use in down-to-earth practical terms. It cannot deal fully with every possible application of the camera because those applications are almost limitless in number. But it covers a great deal of ground-instructively, interestingly and concisely.

With a father already famous in the United States photographic world, it is not surprising that Herbert Keppler caught the bug at a very early age. But it was not until his son reached the comparatively advanced age of 10, that Victor Keppler gave him his first single-lens reflex. That really started something. He has been using single-lens reflexes ever since. He has written about them, instructed beginners and experts alike and has served as design consultant to many reflex camera manufacturers. He also practises what he preaches, having traveled to the far corners of the world in search of pictures.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Harvard University and was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy near the end of World War II.

After the war, Herbert Keppler was a photojournalist for The Sun (New York) and worked for the Fairchild Fashion Media trade magazine Footwear News, but found his calling, when he in 1950 became an Associate Editor at the photographic magazine Modern Photography. In 1956 he became Executive Editor of the magazine, then Editor and Publisher in 1963 and Editorial Director and Publisher in 1966. He changed the way photographic magazines tested equipment from an, at the time prevalent, subjective analysis to a more objective analysis by introducing a testing lab that could perform scientific tests on cameras, lenses and other photographic equipment—e.g. resolution tests for lenses. He also established a code of ethics for advertisers and would decline advertisers access to the magazine if they were found to use unethical methods in their sales and advertising.

In 1987, Herbert Keppler joined Popular Photography and was vice president and senior counselor of this magazine at the time of his death. He died on January 4, 2008, in Croton-on-Hudson and is survived by his wife Louise, son Thomas and daughter Kathryn.

Herbert Keppler (1925-2008) was well known for his objective outlook on all things photographic and for his healthy mistrust of any theory that he has not tried out in practice. One of the most influential and respected figures in the post-war photographic industry – He has no interest in pushing the products of any particular manufacturer and brings to the Pentax Way a knowledgeable, independent and unprejudiced outlook.