S H O O T

I was always intrigued by how one country, Japan, dominated the photo and videography arena after WWII. Germans were great in this area, but their companies collapsed and could not compete with Japan after WWII. One of the reasons is that most of the German photographic companies were in the area that went to East Germany where the regime’s focus was completely different. Except for Leica and Hasselblad, all other companies in the top 10 camera companies are Japanese – 1. Canon, 2. Nikon, 3. Sony, 4. Fuji, 5. Olympus, 6. Lumix, 7. Pentax, 8. Leica (German), 9. Hasselblad (Swedish), 10. Panasonic.

I started reading about Japanese camera companies a few years back to know more about their beginning. Here is a summary of my readings (you may find them interesting). Most of the modern-day Japanese companies started in the second-third decades of the 1900, and most of them started as office equipment companies. Their initial cameras were inspired by Leica and Zeiss (both German companies). The oldest company (based on the establishment year) is Nikon. Nippon Kogaku (now known as Nikon) was established in 1917. However, Nikon released its first branded camera in 1948. Minolta, Fuji, and Canon had already released their cameras before that. Trivia: Nikon had to change its spelling to Nikkon when Zeiss Ikon objected to “ikon” in Nikon. Nikon lenses are still called Nikkor. Nikon should be thankful to American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan who used Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses during the Pacific, Korean, and Vietnam wars and made Nikon a very popular brand among photographers of that era. 

Yashica was established in 1949. Yashica was the first camera company to introduce auto-focus SLR cameras. When we were growing up in India, Yashica was a very respected and sought-after camera brand. In 1983 Yashica was acquired by Kyocera (remember Kyocera cameras?). Trivia: Kyocera was not related to camera or photography at all. Kyocera was a ceramic company – Kyo=Kyoto, Cera=Ceramic. In the 1980s, Yashica released poorly designed cameras and was beaten up by better and competitively priced Minolta cameras. Yashica could not survive the tough competition posed by Minolta, and in 1985 stopped making SLR cameras and focused on low-price point & shoot cameras. Yashica completely stopped camera manufacturing in 2005.

Minolta was established in 1928. It was one of the most innovative camera companies. Minolta has multiple “first company to do..” credits to its innovations. To expand its base, Minolta merged with Konica in 2003. In 2006 Konica-Minolta sold its DSLR unit to Sony. Now, you know where Sony DSLRs are coming from.

Pentax released its first camera in 1952. The parent company is called Asahi Optical. Trivia: The name Pentax was a registered trademark of the Zeiss Ikon (from "Pentaprism" and "Contax"). Asahi Optical acquired it in 1957. Pentax merged with Hoya in 2006 (Hoya is well known for its filters). Finally, Ricoh bought Pentax-Hoya in 2011. However, Pentax cameras are still sold with their original (Pentax) name.

Fuji was established in 1934 with the aim of producing photographic films. Their main competitor was Kodak (USA). Fuji started making cameras in 1948 with the name Fujica - Fuji Camera (ca in Yashica stands for Camera). Fuji started producing digital cameras in 1988 and are called Fuji cameras (ca is dropped).

My personal favorite is Olympus. Olympus released its first camera in 1936. In 2012 Sony bought a major stake in Olympus. I bought an Olympus SLR camera with two zoom lenses in 1987 for a hefty amount of $650 with my Indian salary. Since then, I have owned Canon, Nikon, and Sony cameras but no one comes close to the crispness of the photos that I took from that Olympus camera. I sold the camera and lenses in 2001 and got $250 back.

Canon was established in 1933. In the beginning, Canon used Nikkor lenses from Nippon Kogaku (the later Nikon Corporation) for its camera. Now, Canon has surpassed Nikon to become the #1 camera brand in the world. Trivia: The name Canon comes from Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin, which got corrupted to Kuanyin > Kwannon > Kwanon > Canon in English. The original 1934 logo of Canon has an image of the Guanyin goddess in it.

Latecomers: Sigma started in 1961. Sigma is the largest independent lens manufacturer in the world. Sigma makes high-quality cameras also. Panasonic also jumped into the digital camera market in 2001. Their highly rated cameras are sold by the name of Lumix and have a big fan base.

Sony released its first digital camera in 1988. The first Cyber-shot was introduced in 1996. Sony entered the market for digital single-lens reflex cameras in 2006 when it acquired Minolta. Sony rebranded the company's line of cameras as its Alpha line. Now, Sony is the world's third-largest manufacturer of cameras, behind Canon and Nikon respectively.

One name is worth mentioning here – Epson. The first true mirrorless camera came from Epson when it released its R-D1 camera in 2004.

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- Atul Srivastava

[Photo: My latest acquisition]