Tomioka

In 1924, the Tomioka Optical Company Ltd. was founded in the outskirts of Tokyo. They supplied lenses to a number of Japanese camera makers like Yashica and Royal Camera Company. A rather well-known example is the Tessar-like Lausar lens. Other types and brand names of this company include Tominon, Tominor, Tri-Lausar, Tomi-Kogaku, Auto-Tominon, Tomi-Yashinon, Yashimar, Yashikor, Yashinon, Heliotar and Lumaxar. Yashinon lenses have a reputation of good quality.

Tomioka gained such a good name that this was the plant where Carl Zeiss licensed optics were made for Japanse cameras, like for Contax.

Sources

• Camera Magazine 1996-2: pp. 24–27. Article in Dutch.
• Article on Tomioka in the TLR-cameras website.

Links

• Tomioka today as part of the Kyocera group.
• Tomioka lenses and Yashica cameras on Yashica guy's site.
• a Tomioka company history.
• The end of the Tomioka plant?.