When introduced by Asahi Optical Co., Ltd., in 1951, the Asahiflex IA was the first Japanese-made 35mm single lens reflex camera. Unlike today's SLR cameras it does not have a pentaprism viewfinder, meaning the view through the finder is reversed.

In 1954, a newer model, the Asahiflex IIB was released. It had the world's first quick-return mirror, meaning the photographer no longer had to manually return the mirror for continued viewing. All other functions are manually performed by the photographer. The shutter speed and aperture has to be set using either the data included with the film or a light meter. Also, the camera does not have a rapid film advance lever and the film counter has to be set manually. It is not the automatic "point and shot" camera which we have become so accustomed to in the last half-century.

Shown with the standard Takumar 50mm f/3.5 lens, it is a working camera.