Yamasaki
Yamasaki Optical (山崎光学研究所, Yamasaki Kōgaku Kenkyūsho) is a Japanese lens maker.
It was founded in 1924 by Mr Yamasaki (山崎光七), a former employee of Asanuma Shōkai.[1] It made efforts to produce a camera lens from the beginning, and it released its first commercially available lens in 1931.[2] In 1943 Yamasaki was based in Tokyo, Ebara and in Tokyo, Shiba.[3]
The company became K.K. Yamasaki Kōgaku Kenkyūsho (㈱山崎光学研究所) in 1955.[4] It is based in Hino-shi, suburban Tokyo (山崎光学研究所) since 1972.[5] It has always concentrated on lenses for large-format cameras.
Yamasaki seems to buck stereotypes about Japanese companies. It caters for a niche market, advertises little, and sells directly via mail and its website; the FAQ in its website answers just three questions, of which the first is of why the prices are so low.[6]
Contents
Congo lenses
Name
Yamasaki has used the name "Congo" (コンゴー, Kongō) for its lenses since 1931. This comes from the Japanese battleship Kongō (金剛, usually spelled "Kongo" in English contexts), built in Britain as a battle cruiser in 1911 and sunk in 1944. The ship was itself named after the 1112m-high Mt Kongō (金剛山, Kongō-san) on the Ōsaka/Nara border.[7]
Cameras fitted with Congo lenses
Notes
- ↑ Yamasaki history page.
- ↑ Yamasaki history page.
- ↑ Its addresses in 1943 were Tōkyō-to Ebara-ku Nakanobu-chō 609 (東京都荏原区中延町609) and Tōkyō-to Shiba-ku Takahama-chō 7 (東京都芝区高浜町7). Source: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943.
- ↑ Yamasaki history page.
- ↑ Yamasaki history page.
- ↑ Yamasaki Optical FAQ.
- ↑ Niimi, p. 102.
Reference / Further reading
- "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7.
- Niimi Kahee (新見嘉兵衛). Kamera-mei no gogen sanpo (カメラ名の語源散歩, Strolls in the etymology of camera names). 2nd ed. Tokyo: Shashin Kōgyō Shuppansha, 2002. ISBN 4-87956-060-X
Links
In English:
In Japanese:
