Canon Corporation is a world-known manufacturer of office equipment ranging from printers and fax machines to scanners and copying machines.
The amount of photographic equipment produced by Canon is rather moderate in comparison to their other products. But it is in demand around the world. Don’t forget that it is the photographic cameras that the company began its business with.
As early as in 1933 Goro Yoshida and his brother-in-law, Sabura, founded the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Tokyo. Their goal was to create a Japanese camera and make it known throughout the world. To begin with, the young people bought up and examined most advanced German models of that day. The enterprise was sponsored by Takeshi Mitarai, best friend of Uchida, a prosperous doctor, who later became president of the company.
In the following year, 1934, Japan's first domestically-made 35mm focal-plane shutter camera “was born” and was named "Kwanon" - after the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. The trademark Canon was registered a year later.
The first consumer model Hansa Canon appeared in 1937 and the lens that was mounted on it was … Nikorr! Nowadays it seems amazing, but at that time Nippon Kogaku (would-be Nikon) manufactured only high-quality optics, without touching cameras market.
After the World War II Takeshi Mitarai managed to lead the company out of crisis, established two affiliated companies - one dealing with medicine and the other with radio sets; and Canon also had to start its own lens production.
In 1959 ??anon unleashed their first DSLR camera - Canonflex. But the first really professional Canon DSLR camera became Canon F1 (1971). This event can be considered as a starting point of the constant competition between Nikon and Canon.
The Canon Corporation has elaborated a new Electronic Optical System (EOS) and unveiled it in 1987. Its debut is connected with the Canon EOS 1 film camera, a forefather of all the top Canon cameras. Its features included a dustproof body, Quick Control Dial, a viewfinder with 100% field of view. So since 1990th Canon EOS cameras has determined the choice of press photographers around the world.
Canon became digital in 1986 with its RC-701 which tiny sensor didn’t allow imaged to be printed. Only in 1995 as a result of the collaboration with Eastman Kodak Company the first viable digicam appeared - Kodak EOS DCS.
In the year 2000 ??anon manufactured its own product – a 3-megapixel Canon 30D that became one of the most popular semi-pro DSLR in the world. The following year was marked by the birth of a professional Canon 1D.
Nowadays Canon Corporation is the world’s number 1 manufacturer of photographic equipment regularly unveiling high-quality digital cameras.
