Kino Precision Industries
Kino Precision is a Japanese manufacturer of lenses known primarily for their Kiron brand and products manufactured for Vivitar.
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| Kiron 28mm lens image by phollectormo (Image rights) |
Contents
History
Kino Precision Industries, Limited was founded in 1959 by Tatsuo Kataoka. It started out making lenses for 8mm movie cameras. In 1965 the company began making Lenses for 35mm still cameras. In the 1970s Kino began manufacturing lenses for Vivitar including some of the highest quality Vivitar Series 1 lenses. Kino also manufactured lenses for Soligor.
The success of the Kino-designed Vivitar Series 1 lenses convinced Kino that they could market direct to the public. So, in 1980 Kino launched it's own brand of lenses in the United States market, called Kiron. Paul Ellis and Dick Wolf of Kino selected the Chiat/Day advertising agency to handle their launch. A series of five ads were created, each of which began with the phrase "How to..." and provided helpful advice on taking good photos using Kiron lenses. Four of the five ads won advertising awards. The lenses themselves received good reviews in photography magazines. Within 12 months Kiron sales were 4th in the US market of 64 independent lens brands.[1]
The Kiron trademark was registered on 25 January, 1980. The trademark expired on 13 July, 2002.[2]
By 1989, the company has discontinued the manufacturer of camera lenses due to increasing costs and competition with original equipment lenses made by camera companies. Kino Precision merged with Melles Griot Japan in 1989 to form Kino-Melles Griot and began to focus on industrial manufacturing. In 1995 the name was changed to Melles Griot Ltd. In 2007 the company became a member CVI Melles Griot Group. In 2011 IDEX Corporation aquired CVI Melles Griot Group.[3]
Kiron Lenses
- Kiron 24mm f/2.0
- Kiron 28mm f/2.0
- Kiron 28mm f/2.8
- Kiron 105mm f/2.8 Macro
- Kiron 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 Zoom
- Kiron 28-70mm f/4.0 Zoom
- Kiron 28-85mm f/2.8-3.8 Varifocal Macro Zoom
- Kiron 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 Varifocal Zoom
- Kiron 28-210mm f/3.8-5.6 Varifocal Zoom
- Kiron 28-210mm f/4.0-5.6 Varifocal Zoom
- Kiron 30-80mm f/3.5-4.5 Varifocal Zoom
- Kiron 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 Varifocal Zoom
- Kiron 70-150mm f/4.0 Zoom
- Kiron 70-210mm f/4.0 Zoom
- Kiron 70-210mm f/4.5 Zoom
- Kiron 80-200mm f/4.0 Zoom
- Kiron 80-200mm f/4.5 Zoom
See also:
Photos
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| Vivitar 20mm f/3.8 by Kino Precision image by rst12 (Image rights) |
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| Kiron 28mm f/2.0 by Kino Precision image by Yumi Abe (Image rights) |
References
Links
- German:
- Kino Precision in www.olypedia.de
- about Kino on Nikon-foto.de
