Were Pentax S3's sold in the US?

[Chan Tran]

I just got a Pentax S3 as an estate sale. Some research let me know that the S3 were sold in the US as Honeywell H3 but were any Asahi Pentax S3 sold in the US?

 

[BradS]

Only the Honeywell version was offically sold in the US.
They are identical however.

Many of the Asahi version ofthe Pentax slrs of the era were brought home by american military personnel stationed overseas. So,theyare relatively plentiful here.

 

[Chan Tran]

Thanks! Mine is incribled NO TAX on the bottom may be it was purchased from the military PX.

 

[John_Nikon_F]

The screwmount Pentaxes and the early 6x7 were a lot like the Nikomat/Nikkormat cameras. Except, in the case of Pentax, only the US market got the rebranded camera, because of Honeywell being the importer at the time. The S3 is identical to the H3, except for the H3 saying "Heiland/Honeywell" (on later versions, it was shortened to just "Honeywell"), and the font of the "PENTAX" nameplate being less wide.

The H3v was known as the SV everywhere else. S1a = H1a, etc. The early Spotmatics were marked SP in the Asahi versions, but were unmarked in the Honeywell versions.

Unlike the M42 screwmount bodies, the 6x7 Honeywell version isn't too common. The majority you see in use today or at stores are the Asahi versions.

-J