Konan
Konan is a Japanese company, which developed various camera projects taken over by other manufacturers.
Kōnan Camera Kenkyūjo (甲南カメラ研究所, Konan Camera Laboratory) was founded in 1947 by Nishimura Gakan (西村雅貫) and an associate, and was incorporated as K.K. Kōnan Camera Kenkyūjo (㈱甲南カメラ研究所) in 1951.[1]
In the late 1940s, the company tested the Mica Automat subminiature camera for 16mm film cartridges. An evolution of this camera was released in 1950 as the Konan-16 Automat, which was taken over by Chiyoda (predecessor of Minolta) and would later become the Minolta 16.
It is likely that the Konan shutters found on various Minolta cameras were related to the company too. However those appeared as early as 1946 on the Semi Minolta III, before the foundation of Kōnan Camera Kenkyūjo, perhaps indicating that Nishimura was working for Chiyoda before founding his own company.
In the late 1950s, Kōnan cooperated with Yashica, and some young engineers were detached from the latter company to work under the supervision of Nishimura.[2] In 1958–59, the internals of the Yashica Future 127 auto-exposure prototype were designed by Takahama Sachi (高浜祥), one of Kōnan's engineers, whereas the body was drawn by Someha Keiichi (染葉桂一), one of the Yashica engineers detached to Kōnan.
The company also claims to have developed the Single-8 movie film cartridge in 1959.[1] (It would be introduced by Fuji in 1965.)[3]
The company later concentrated on industrial, scientific or medical applications. It changed its name to K.K. Kōnan (㈱コーナン) in 1992, and merged within its trading department in 2001, becoming K.K. Kōnan Medical (㈱コーナン・メディカル). The company currently still exists under that name (2009).
Contents
Cameras
- Mica Automat
- Konan-16 Automat, serial produced by Chiyoda (Minolta)
- CM-16, rumoured to have been made by Konan on specifications by Chiyoda (Minolta)
- Yashica Future 127, partly studied at Konan
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Konan history in English and in Japanese in the official website.
- ↑ Shirai, pp.61–2 of Maboroshi no kamera o otte.
- ↑ Wikipedia page about Single-8.
Bibliography
- Shirai Tatsuo (白井達男). "Yashica Futura 127". Pp.57–66 of Maboroshi no kamera o otte (幻のカメラを追って, Pursuing phantom cameras). Gendai Kamera Shinsho (現代カメラ新書). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1982. ISBN 4-257-08077-9. (First published in Kamera Rebyū / Camera Review. no.7, May 1979.) On the relation between Kōnan and Yashica.
Links
In English:
- Konan history in English and in Japanese in the Konan Medical official website (important source for this page)
- Konan at subclub
