Canon and Camera|The Canon Camera Story

At this time the price of the Leica cost about 6 times the salary of the average University graduate in Japan. A Japanese national named Goro Yoshida disassembled a Leica camera in an attempt to develop a high-grade 35mm focal-plane-shutter rangefinder camera now known as a 35mm rangefinder camera.

In 1933, together with his brother-in-law, established the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in a room of an apartment located in Azabu Ward, Tokyo. Although it was reported that they were able to produce several prototypes of a high-grade 35mm rangefinder camera, "Kwanon" although no such camera is thought to exist today. "Kwanon" became a phantom prototype camera.

In June 1934 Yoshida and his brother in law Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda, a former subordinate of Uchida, released their first camera, the Kwanon, named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The following year the company name was changed to Canon to reflect a more modern image, and on the 10th August 1937, the corporation as we know it was founded.

Despite the company's high profile in the consumer market for cameras and printers, much of the company revenue comes from the office products division, especially for analog and digital copiers, and its line of image runner digital multifunctional devices. Canon is also the supplier of print engines found in the hugely popular Hewlett-Packard LaserJet series of laser printers.

Canon also entered the digital displays market by teaming up with Toshiba to develop and manufacture flat panel televisions based on SED, at that time, a new type of display technology. The joint venture company SED Inc. was established in October 2004. In January 2007, Canon announced that it would buy Toshiba's share of the joint venture.

This move was triggered by litigation from Nano-Proprietary, Inc., which claimed Canon breached a license agreement by sharing technology licensed to Canon with the joint venture company.

Along with the move to Meguro Ward and manufacturing of the "Hansa Canon," the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory appeared to have made steady growth during those days, but the actual situation was different. It was reported that the production volume ranged from a maximum of 10 cameras per month to barely one camera per week.

Business conditions were undoubtedly tough. In order to overcome the financial difficulties, on August 10, 1937, the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory was reorganized as a joint-stock company and its name was changed to Precision Optical Industry Co., Ltd. This date is now considered the official founding date of Canon.

Following the "Hansa Canon (Standard Model)," the company successively introduced the "S or Newest Model" and the "J or Popular Model" in February 1939 and the "NS or New Standard Model" by the end of the same year. With the introduction of the "Newest Model," the word "Hansa" disappeared from the brand name, and was replaced with only "Canon." This, however, did not mean a break in the relationship with Omiya Omiya Shashin Yohin Co., Ltd. In fact, Omiya continued to provide financial assistance to the company.

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