Tomioka
Tomioka was founded in 1924 in Tokyo, Shinagawa (品川) by Tomioka Masashige (冨岡正重) as Tomioka Kōgaku Kenkyūsho (冨岡光学研究所, meaning Tomioka Optical Laboratory).[1] The first lenses were released around 1932.[2] They were the Lausar (ローザー) four-element Tessar-type lenses, available in 50mm, 75mm and 105mm focal lengths.[3]
The company name was changed to Tomioka Kōgaku Kikai Seizōsho (冨岡光学機械製造所) in 1933.[4] It was in Tokyo, Nihonbashi for some time and it was located in Tokyo, Ōmori in 1943.[5]
Around 1937, Tomioka made about ten prototypes of at least one camera model called Lausar, a possible predecessor of the Gokoku by Riken.[6]
After the war, the company was incorporated as K.K. Tomioka Kōgaku Kikai Seizōsho (㈱冨岡光学機械製造所), based in Tokyo, Ōme (青梅).[7] The company supplied lenses to a number of Japanese camera makers like Yashica and Royal Camera Company. In addition to the Lausar, other types and brand names 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 was bought by Yashica in 1968 and changed its name to Tomioka Kōgaku K.K. (冨岡光学㈱, Tomioka Optical Co., Ltd.) in 1969.[8] The Tomioka plant made Carl Zeiss licensed optics for use on some Japanese cameras, like the Contax. These were made with at least some Zeiss tooling and personnel.[9] Tomioka became part of the Kyocera group in 1983 after the merge of Kyocera and Yashica and became Kyocera Optec Co., Ltd. (京セラオプテック㈱) in 1991.[10] Rumours say that Carl Zeiss progressively took control of the production facility and closed down the plant but they seem wrong (though the production line of the Zeiss licensed lenses has obviously stopped).[11] The company currently (2007) still exists.
Notes
- ↑ Name of the founder, company name, 1924 date: Inoue, p. 129; Baird, p. 59. Location in Shinagawa: Inoue, p. 129.
- ↑ Date: Baird, p. 59.
- ↑ Focal lengths: Inoue, p. 129.
- ↑ Date: Baird, p. 59.
- ↑ Its address in an undated prewar advertisement was Tōkyō, Nihonbashi, Honchō 1–1 (東京・日本橋・本町一ノ一). Source: advertisement reproduced in Inoue, p. 130. In 1943 it was Tōkyō-to Ōmori-ku Yukigaya-chō 929 (東京都大森区雪ヶ谷町929). Source: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943.
- ↑ Dokusha-dayori, p. 161–2 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 14.
- ↑ Kyocera Optec company history.
- ↑ Kyocera Optec company history.
- ↑ Camera Lens News no. 3.
- ↑ Kyocera Optec company history.
- ↑ See for example this post at photo.net.
Sources
- Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6. Pp. 58–61.
- Camera Lens News no. 3. Winter 1997/1998. (Carl Zeiss quarterly newsletter, available in pdf format at zeiss.de and reproduced in this page of Dante Stella's website.)
- Camera Magazine 1996-2: pp. 24–27. Article in Dutch.
- Dokusha-dayori (読者だより, Readers' letters) Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 161–2.
- Inoue, Mitsuo (井上光朗). "Shashin renzu no yoake. Renzu-ya Funsenki" (写真レンズの夜明け・レンズ屋奮戦記, Dawn of the photographic lens – Fierce war tales between lens shops). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 128–132.
- "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.
Links
In English:
- Company outline (and Japanese version) at the Kyocera Optec official website (former Tomioka)
- Tomioka lenses in Barry Toogood's tlr-cameras.com
- Post at photo.net with unverified information about the fate of the Tomioka plant
