In the early 1930th Mokichi Morita, president of Dainippon Celluloid Company, a Japanese company that was founded in 1919, made up his mind to launch a production of a motion picture film. At that time movies already became popular in Japan, but there was no national manufacturer of them in the country. So Dainippon Celluloid Company was given a grant from the government and in 1934 founded an independent company Fuji PhotoFilm Co. Its headquarters was situated in Minami Ashigara Village, close to Mount Fuji, which gave the company its name.
By 1936 with the help of a German specialist the company produced quite good black & white film. Colour film appeared 12 year later, after the war. The company dealt not only with 35mm photo film and 16mm motion-picture film, but also with roentgen film for medical purposes.
In the 60th the Fujifilm Corporation was among the most active exporters. In the 80th the specialists of the company were aimed at opening enterprises throughout the world to realize their unique technologies taking into account local peculiarities.
But even earlier the FUJIFILM Corporation extended their business in native land. At first, in 1960 magnetic tape appeared, and then Fuji Xerox joint venture appeared due to the collaboration with Rank Xerox company. They specialized in manufacturing of copying machines.
Fuji Xerox now is a leader in the digital print and colour markets, having the broadest range of printers, digital production publishers, multi-function devices, copiers, facsimile products and scanners in the industry.
In 1996 together with Kodak and three other companies they worked out and introduced the APS system to the world. This system unites traditional photography with digital technologies of image processing and printing.
FUJIFILM also developed the exclusive solid state laser technology found in its Frontier Digital Minilabs and commercial digital printers, such as the Pictrography system.
Nowadays FUJIFILM Corporation is the world's largest photographic and imaging company, and one of the best known and most instantly recognizable global brands. It produces products for the consumer, professional and commercial markets, including digital cameras & accessories, film, computer products, audio and video media, digital printers and scanners, digital minilab systems, paper and lab products, motion picture film stock, graphic & medical systems.
