1.
Photography
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Typically, a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With an electronic sensor, this produces an electrical charge at each pixel. A negative image on film is used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base, known as a print. The word photography was created from the Greek roots φωτός, genitive of φῶς, light and γραφή representation by means of lines or drawing, several people may have coined the same new term from these roots independently. Johann von Maedler, a Berlin astronomer, is credited in a 1932 German history of photography as having used it in an article published on 25 February 1839 in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung. Both of these claims are now widely reported but apparently neither has ever been confirmed as beyond reasonable doubt. Credit has traditionally given to Sir John Herschel both for coining the word and for introducing it to the public. Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries, later Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid also independently described a pinhole camera in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Daniele Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1566, wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals in 1694. The fiction book Giphantie, published in 1760, by French author Tiphaigne de la Roche, the discovery of the camera obscura that provides an image of a scene dates back to ancient China. Leonardo da Vinci mentions natural camera obscura that are formed by dark caves on the edge of a sunlit valley, a hole in the cave wall will act as a pinhole camera and project a laterally reversed, upside down image on a piece of paper. So the birth of photography was primarily concerned with inventing means to capture, renaissance painters used the camera obscura which, in fact, gives the optical rendering in color that dominates Western Art. The camera obscura literally means dark chamber in Latin and it is a box with a hole in it which allows light to go through and create an image onto the piece of paper. Around the year 1800, British inventor Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance and he used paper or white leather treated with silver nitrate. The shadow images eventually darkened all over, the first permanent photoetching was an image produced in 1822 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in a later attempt to make prints from it. Niépce was successful again in 1825, in 1826 or 1827, he made the View from the Window at Le Gras, the earliest surviving photograph from nature. Because Niépces camera photographs required a long exposure, he sought to greatly improve his bitumen process or replace it with one that was more practical. With an eye to eventual commercial exploitation, the partners opted for total secrecy, Daguerres efforts culminated in what would later be named the daguerreotype process
2.
Kodak
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Eastman Kodak Company, commonly referred to as Kodak, is an American technology company that produces imaging products with its historic basis on photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York and is incorporated in New Jersey, Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Print Systems, Enterprise Inkjet Systems, Micro 3D Printing and Packaging, Software and Solutions and it is best known for photographic film products. Kodak was founded by George Eastman and Henry A, during most of the 20th century, Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film. The companys ubiquity was such that its Kodak moment tagline entered the lexicon to describe a personal event that was demanded to be recorded for posterity. Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s, as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film, as a part of a turnaround strategy, Kodak began to focus on digital photography and digital printing, and attempted to generate revenues through aggressive patent litigation. In January 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In February 2012, Kodak announced that it would stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames, in January 2013, the Court approved financing for Kodak to emerge from bankruptcy by mid 2013. Kodak sold many of its patents for approximately $525,000,000 to a group of companies under the names Intellectual Ventures, on September 3,2013, the company emerged from bankruptcy having shed its large legacy liabilities and exited several businesses. Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging are now part of Kodak Alaris, on March 12,2014, it announced that the board of directors elected Jeffrey J. Clarke as chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales, Japanese competitor Fujifilm entered the U. S. market with lower-priced film and supplies, but Kodak did not believe that American consumers would ever desert its brand. Kodak passed on the opportunity to become the film of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Fuji won these sponsorship rights. Fuji opened a plant in the U. S. and its aggressive marketing. Fuji went from a 10% share in the early 1990s to 17% in 1997, fujis films soon also found a competitive edge in higher-speed negative films, with a tighter grain structure. The complaint was lodged by the United States with the World Trade Organization, on January 30,1998, the WTO announced a sweeping rejection of Kodaks complaints about the film market in Japan. Although Kodak developed a camera in 1975, the first of its kind. In the 1990s, Kodak planned a journey to move to digital technology. CEO George M. C. Fisher reached out to Microsoft, Apples pioneering QuickTake consumer digital cameras, introduced in 1994, had the Apple label but were produced by Kodak
3.
Fujifilm
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Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, better known as Fujifilm or simply Fuji, stylized as FUJiFILM, is a Japanese multinational photography and imaging company headquartered in Tokyo. Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. was established in 1934 with the aim of being the first Japanese producer of photographic films, over the following 10 years, the company produced photographic films, motion-picture films and X-ray films. In the 1940s, Fuji Photo entered the optical glasses, lenses, after the Second World War, Fuji Photo diversified, penetrating the medical, printing, electronic imaging and magnetic materials fields. In 1962, Fuji Photo and U. K. -based Rank Xerox Limited launched Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. through a joint venture, from the mid-1950s, Fuji Photo accelerated the establishment of overseas sales bases. In the 1980s, Fuji Photo expanded its production and other bases overseas, meanwhile, Fuji Photo developed digital technologies for its photo-related, medical and printing businesses. Like its rival Eastman Kodak which dominated in the US, Fuji Photo enjoyed a longtime near-monopoly on camera film in Japan, the complaint was lodged by the US with the World Trade Organization. On January 30,1998, the WTO announced a sweeping rejection of Kodaks complaints about the market in Japan. The new millennium witnessed the spread of digital technology in cameras. Demand for photographic films plunged in line with the popularity of digital cameras. In response, Fuji Photo implemented management reforms aimed at effecting drastic transformation of its business structures, while both film manufacturers recognized this fundamental change, Fuji Photo adapted to this shift much more successfully than Eastman Kodak. In September 19,2006, Fujifilm announced plans to establish a holding company, Fujifilm and Fuji Xerox would become subsidiaries of the holding company. A representative of the company reconfirmed its commitment to film, which accounts for 3% of sales, Fuji Xerox is a joint venture between Fujifilm and Xerox Corporation of North America. Fujifilm bought Sericol Ltd. a UK-based printing ink company specializing in screen, narrow web, velvia, one of the most saturated and fine-grained slide films, valued by nature and landscape photographers. Fortia, consumer slide film, featuring extremely vivid color rendering suitable for flower photography, Fuji Neopan Professional black & white negative film. As a side note, Neopan 400 and 1600 were designed to use the same developing times, ACROS and SS do not share this feature. This uses the Fuji G-mount lenses, to be released in 2017 The Clear Shot series of 35mm compact cameras Instax series of instant camera, wiki collection of bibliographic works on Fujifilm
4.
Agfa-Gevaert
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Agfa-Gevaert N. V. is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products and systems, as well as IT solutions. Agfa Graphics offers integrated prepress and industrial inkjet systems to the printing, Agfa HealthCare supplies hospitals and other care organisations with imaging products and systems, as well as information systems. Agfa Specialty Products supplies products to industrial markets. It is part of the Agfa Materials organization, in addition to the Agfa Specialty Products activities, Agfa Materials also supplies film and related products to Agfa Graphics and Agfa HealthCare. Agfa film and cameras were once prominent consumer products, however, in 2004, the consumer imaging division was sold to a company founded via management buyout. AgfaPhoto GmbH, as the new company was called, filed for bankruptcy after just one year, the brands are now licensed to other companies by AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, a holding firm. Following this sale, Agfa-Gevaerts commerce today is 100% business-to-business, headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium, Agfa has sales organisations in 40 countries. In countries where Agfa does not have its own sales organisation, at the end of 2011, the company had 11,728 employees worldwide. Agfa has manufacturing plants around the world, the largest production and research centres are based in Belgium, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and China. Net sales for 2011 totalled 3,023 million euros, Agfa is organised into three business groups as follows, Digital and analogue prepress systems, software, and consumables. Consumables, graphic film, analogue and digital printing plates, anapurna and Jeti printer families, typically used to produce posters, banners and displays. M-Press family high-end flatbed presses, designed to replace traditional equipment for all possible screen printing jobs, developer of medical imaging information systems. Agfa Healthcares main offices are in Mortsel, Ghent, Waterloo, Vienna, PACS for cardiology IT and CardioVascular Information Systems. Agfa Specialty Products supplies products to a variety of industries, traditional film products Sound recording film and print film for the movie industry. Films, chemicals, photo paper and software for aerial photography, microfilm Photo-tooling films for the production of Printed Circuit Boards. Nondestructive testing film (as the exclusive manufacturer of General Electrics NDT X-ray films, Materials and consumables for the production of ID-documents. Conductive polymer materials for the production of transparent electrodes used in electronic devices. Membranes for the electrolysis of water,1867 The company Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation was founded in Rummelsburg as a manufacturer of dyes and stains
5.
Aspect ratio (image)
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The aspect ratio of an image describes the proportional relationship between its width and its height. It is commonly expressed as two separated by a colon, as in 16,9.5 yards high. The most common ratios used today in the presentation of films in cinemas are 1.85,1 and 2.39,1. Two common videographic aspect ratios are 4,3, the video format of the 20th century. Other cinema and video aspect ratios exist, but are used infrequently, in still camera photography, the most common aspect ratios are 4,3,3,2, and more recently being found in consumer cameras 16,9. Other aspect ratios, such as 5,3,5,4, in motion picture formats, the physical size of the film area between the sprocket perforations determines the images size. The universal standard is a frame that is four perforations high, the film itself is 35 mm wide, but the area between the perforations is 24.89 mm×18.67 mm, leaving the de facto ratio of 4,3, or 1.33,1. A4,3 ratio mimics human eyesight visual angle of 155°h x 120°v, the motion picture industry convention assigns a value of 1.0 to the image’s height, an anamorphic frame is often incorrectly described as 2.40,1 or 2.40. After 1952, a number of aspect ratios were experimented with for anamorphic productions, a SMPTE specification for anamorphic projection from 1957 finally standardized the aperture to 2.35,1. An update in 1970 changed the ratio to 2.39,1 in order to make splices less noticeable. This aspect ratio of 2.39,1 was confirmed by the most recent revision from August 1993, in American cinemas, the common projection ratios are 1.85,1 and 2.39,1. Some European countries have 1.66,1 as the wide screen standard, the Academy ratio of 1.375,1 was used for all cinema films in the sound era until 1953. During that time, television, which had a aspect ratio of 1.33,1. Hollywood responded by creating a number of wide-screen formats, CinemaScope, Todd-AO. The flat 1.85,1 aspect ratio was introduced in May 1953, and became one of the most common cinema projection standards in the U. S. and elsewhere. The goal of these lenses and aspect ratios was to capture as much of the frame as possible, onto as large an area of the film as possible. In either case the image was squeezed horizontally to fit the frame size. Development of various film camera systems must ultimately cater to the placement of the frame in relation to the constraints of the perforations
6.
Panorama
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A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images or a three-dimensional model. The word was coined in the 18th century by the English painter Robert Barker to describe his panoramic paintings of Edinburgh. The motion-picture term panning is derived from panorama, a panoramic view is also purposed for multi-media, cross-scale applications to an outline overview along and across repositories. This so-called cognitive panorama is a view over, and a combination of. The device of the panorama existed in painting, particularly in murals, as early as 20 A. D. in those found in Pompeii, cartographic experiments during the Enlightenment era preceded European panorama painting and contributed to a formative impulse toward panoramic vision and depiction. In the mid-19th century, panoramic paintings and models became a popular way to represent landscapes, topographic views. Audiences of Europe in this period were thrilled by the aspect of illusion, immersed in a winding 360 degree panorama, the panorama was a 360-degree visual medium patented under the title Apparatus for Exhibiting Pictures by the artist Robert Barker in 1787. The earliest that the word appeared in print was on June 11,1791 in the British newspaper The Morning Chronicle. The inaugural exhibition, a View of Edinburgh, was first shown in that city in 1788, by 1793, Barker had built The Panorama rotunda at the center of Londons entertainment district in Leicester Square, where it remained until closed in 1863. Large scale installations enhance the illusion for an audience of being surrounded with a real landscape, the Bourbaki Panorama in Lucerne, Switzerland was created by Edouard Castres in 1881. The painting measures about 10 metres in height with a circumference of 112 meters, in the United States of America is the Atlanta Cyclorama, depicting the Civil War Battle of Atlanta. It was first displayed in 1887, and is 42 feet high by 358 feet circumference, also on a gigantic scale, and still extant, is the Racławice Panorama located in Wrocław, Poland, which measures 15 x 120 metres. In addition to historical examples, there have been panoramas painted and installed in modern times, prominent among these is the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles. Panoramic photography soon came to painting as the most common method for creating wide views. Not long after the introduction of the Daguerreotype in 1839, photographers began assembling multiple images of a view into a wide image. Pinhole cameras of a variety of constructions can be used to make panoramic images and this generates an egg-shaped image with more than 180° view. They could run autonomously with silent synchronization pulses to control projector advance and fades, precisely overlapping slides placed in slide mounts with soft-edge density masks would merge seamlessly on the screen to create the panorama. Cutting and dissolving between sequential images generated animation effects in the panorama format, digital photography of the late twentieth century greatly simplified this assembly process, which is now known as image stitching
7.
Plastic
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Plastic is a material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and can be molded into solid objects. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, due to their relatively low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics are used in an enormous and expanding range of products, from paper clips to spaceships. They have already displaced many traditional materials, such as wood, stone, horn and bone, leather, paper, metal, glass, and ceramic, in most of their former uses. In developed countries, about a third of plastic is used in packaging, other uses include automobiles, furniture, and toys. In the developing world, the ratios may be different - for example, the worlds first fully synthetic plastic was bakelite, invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland who coined the term plastics. Toward the end of the century, one approach to this problem was met with wide efforts toward recycling, the word plastic is derived from the Greek πλαστικός meaning capable of being shaped or molded, from πλαστός meaning molded. The common word plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic, used for insulating parts in electrical fixtures, paper laminated products, thermally insulation foams. Problems include the probability of moldings naturally being dark colors, One of the most expensive commercial polymers. It forms the basis of artistic and commercial acrylic paints when suspended in water with the use of other agents, polytetrafluoroethylene – Heat-resistant, low-friction coatings, used in things like non-stick surfaces for frying pans, plumbers tape and water slides. It is more known as Teflon. Urea-formaldehyde – One of the aminoplasts and used as an alternative to phenolics. Used as an adhesive and electrical switch housings. Early plastics were bio-derived materials such as egg and blood proteins, in 1600 BC, Mesoamericans used natural rubber for balls, bands, and figurines. Treated cattle horns were used as windows for lanterns in the Middle Ages, materials that mimicked the properties of horns were developed by treating milk-proteins with lye. In the 1800s, as industrial chemistry developed during the Industrial Revolution, the development of plastics also accelerated with Charles Goodyears discovery of vulcanization to thermoset materials derived from natural rubber. Parkesine is considered the first man-made plastic, the plastic material was patented by Alexander Parkes, In Birmingham, UK in 1856. It was unveiled at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London, parkesine won a bronze medal at the 1862 Worlds fair in London
8.
Exposure (photography)
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In photography, exposure is the amount of light per unit area reaching a photographic film or electronic image sensor, as determined by shutter speed, lens aperture and scene luminance. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value, in photographic jargon, an exposure generally refers to a single shutter cycle. For the same speed, the accumulated photometric exposure should be similar in both cases. A photograph may be described as underexposed when it has a loss of detail, that is. As the adjacent image shows, these terms are technical ones, there are three types of settings, manual, automatic and exposure compensation. Radiant exposure of a surface, denoted He and measured in J/m2, is given by H e = E e t, where Ee is the irradiance of the surface, measured in W/m2, t is the exposure duration, measured in s. Luminous exposure of a surface, denoted Hv and measured in lx⋅s, is given by H v = E v t, many photographic materials are also sensitive to invisible light, which can be a nuisance, or a benefit. The use of units is appropriate to characterize such sensitivity to invisible light. In sensitometric data, such as curves, the log exposure is conventionally expressed as log10. Photographers more familiar with base-2 logarithmic scales can convert using log2 ≈3.32 log10, correct exposure may be defined as an exposure that achieves the effect the photographer intended. A more technical approach recognises that a film has a physically limited useful exposure range. If, for any part of the photograph, the exposure is outside this range. In a very simple model, for example, out-of-range values would be recorded as black or white rather than the precisely graduated shades of colour and this ensures that no significant information is lost during capture. However, it is much easier to discard recorded information during post processing than to try to re-create unrecorded information. In a scene with strong or harsh lighting, the ratio between highlight and shadow luminance values may well be larger than the ratio between the maximum and minimum useful exposure values. A photograph may be described as underexposed when it has a loss of detail, that is. In manual mode, the photographer adjusts the lens aperture and/or shutter speed to achieve the desired exposure, manual exposure calculations may be based on some method of light metering with a working knowledge of exposure values, the APEX system and/or the Zone System. A camera in automatic exposure mode automatically calculates and adjusts exposure settings to match the subjects mid-tone to the mid-tone of the photograph, for most cameras this means using an on-board TTL exposure meter
9.
Shutter speed
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The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time. 1/500th of a second will let half as much light in as 1/250th, the cameras shutter speed, the lenss aperture, and the scenes luminance together determine the amount of light that reaches the film or sensor. Exposure value is a quantity that accounts for the shutter speed and this will achieve a good exposure when all the details of the scene are legible on the photograph. Too much light let into the results in an overly pale image while too little light will result in an overly dark image. Multiple combinations of speed and f-number can give the same exposure value. According to exposure value formula, doubling the exposure time doubles the amount of light, for example, f/8 lets 4 times more light into the camera as f/16 does. In addition to its effect on exposure, the speed changes the way movement appears in photographs. Very short shutter speeds can be used to freeze fast-moving subjects, very long shutter speeds are used to intentionally blur a moving subject for effect. Short exposure times are called fast, and long exposure times slow. Adjustments to the aperture need to be compensated by changes of the speed to keep the same exposure. The agreed standards for shutter speeds are, With this scale, camera shutters often include one or two other settings for making very long exposures, B keeps the shutter open as long as the shutter release is held. T keeps the open until the shutter release is pressed again. The ability of the photographer to take images without noticeable blurring by camera movement is an important parameter in the choice of the slowest possible speed for a handheld camera. Through practice and special techniques such as bracing the camera, arms, or body to minimize movement, using a monopod or a tripod. If a shutter speed is too slow for hand holding, a support, usually a tripod. Image stabilization on digital cameras or lenses can often permit the use of shutter speeds 3–4 stops slower, Shutter priority refers to a shooting mode used in cameras. It allows the photographer to choose a shutter speed setting and allow the camera to decide the correct aperture and this is sometimes referred to as Shutter Speed Priority Auto Exposure, or TV mode, S mode on Nikons and most other brands. Shutter speed is one of methods used to control the amount of light recorded by the cameras digital sensor or film
10.
Aperture
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In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of a system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are, which is of importance for the appearance at the image plane. If an aperture is narrow, then highly collimated rays are admitted, a wide aperture admits uncollimated rays, resulting in a sharp focus only for rays coming from a certain distance. This means that a wide aperture results in an image that is sharp for things at the correct distance, the aperture also determines how many of the incoming rays are actually admitted and thus how much light reaches the image plane. In the human eye, the pupil is the aperture, an optical system typically has many openings or structures that limit the ray bundles. In general, these structures are called stops, and the stop is the stop that primarily determines the ray cone angle. In some contexts, especially in photography and astronomy, aperture refers to the diameter of the aperture stop rather than the stop or the opening itself. For example, in a telescope, the stop is typically the edges of the objective lens or mirror. One then speaks of a telescope as having, for example, note that the aperture stop is not necessarily the smallest stop in the system. Magnification and demagnification by lenses and other elements can cause a large stop to be the aperture stop for the system. In astrophotography, the aperture may be given as a measure or as the dimensionless ratio between that measure and the focal length. In other photography, it is given as a ratio. Sometimes stops and diaphragms are called apertures, even when they are not the stop of the system. The word aperture is used in other contexts to indicate a system which blocks off light outside a certain region. In astronomy, for example, a photometric aperture around a star usually corresponds to a window around the image of a star within which the light intensity is assumed. The aperture stop is an important element in most optical designs and its most obvious feature is that it limits the amount of light that can reach the image/film plane. This can be unavoidable, as in a telescope where one wants to collect as much light as possible, or deliberate
11.
Minolta
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Minolta Co. Ltd. was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten and it is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its current name, an acronym for Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, in 1933, the brand name first appeared on a camera, a copy of the Plaubel Makina simply called Minolta. In 2003, Minolta merged with Konica Corporation to form Konica Minolta,1928, Kazuo Tashima establishes Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten. 1929, Marketed the companys first camera, the Nifcarette,1937, The Minolta Flex is Japans second twin-lens reflex camera. 1947, Introduction of the long lived 35mm rangefinder camera Minolta-351958,1962, John Glenn takes a specially modified Ansco-logoed Minolta Hi-Matic camera into space aboard Friendship 7. The company changes its name to Minolta Camera Co. Ltd,1966, The Minolta SR-T101 SLR camera is one of the first with TTL full aperture light metering. The first is Topcon RE Super from 1963,1972, Minolta signs an agreement to cooperate with Leica in SLR development,1973, The Minolta CL is the first fruit of this agreement. 1976, The Leica R3 is introduced, Minolta produces the R3, R4, and R5 models in the Leica R series. Subsequent cameras are built in Germany by Leica themselves,1977, The Minolta XD-11 is introduced, the worlds first multi mode SLR offering M, A, S modes, with a Program override in S mode effected by a computer chip, the worlds first Program mode. 1981, Implementation of Minoltas invention and patent of TTL OTF exposure metering, the Minolta X-700 manual-focus SLR is introduced, this model is sold until 1999 and is enormously successful. The Minolta XD-11 is the first Minolta product branded with an updated logo,1985, The Minolta Maxxum 7000 Alpha Mount Camera becomes the worlds first autofocus 35mm SLR with in-camera autofocus motor. 1987, Honeywell files lawsuit against Minolta for patent infringement over autofocus technologies,1991, Minoltas autofocus design was found to infringe on the patents of Honeywell, a U. S. corporation. 1994, The company changes its name to Minolta Co. Ltd. because it no longer is primarily a camera company,1995, Introduction of the Minolta RD-175, a 1. 75-megapixel digital SLR camera. 1996, The Minolta Vectis camera is a completely new SLR system designed around the Advanced Photo System film format,1998, The Minolta Maxxum 9 autofocus SLR is introduced. This system is targeted toward the photographer and has many features not duplicated by the competition. 2003, DiMAGE A1 introduced worlds first sensor-based anti-shake, and was the final Minolta product branded prior to the Konica Minolta merger,2004, Minolta and Konica officially merge to become Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. 2005, The company announces joint venture with Sony on CCD,2006, Konica Minolta announces it is discontinuing all film and digital camera production, ending a 78-year history as a camera manufacturer
12.
Nikon
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Nikon Corporation, also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group, Nikons main competitors in camera and lens manufacturing include Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Pentax, and Olympus. Founded on July 25,1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha, Nikon is a member of the Mitsubishi group of companies. Nikon Corporation was established on 25 July 1917 when three leading optical manufacturers merged to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kōgaku Tōkyō K. K. Over the next sixty years, this company became a manufacturer of optical lenses and equipment used in cameras, binoculars, microscopes. During World War II the company operated thirty factories with 2,000 employees, manufacturing binoculars, lenses, bomb sights, after the war Nippon Kōgaku reverted to producing its civilian product range in a single factory. In 1948, the first Nikon-branded camera was released, the Nikon I, Nikon lenses were popularised by the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan. Duncan was working in Tokyo when the Korean War began, Duncan had met a young Japanese photographer, Jun Miki, who introduced Duncan to Nikon lenses. From July 1950 to January 1951, Duncan covered the Korean War, fitting Nikon optics to his Leica rangefinder cameras produced high contrast negatives with very sharp resolution at the centre field. Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha, the company was renamed Nikon Corporation, after its cameras, the name Nikon, which dates from 1946, is a merging of Nippon Kōgaku and Zeisss brand Ikon. This would cause some problems in Germany as Zeiss complained that Nikon violated its trademarked camera. From 1963 to 1968 the Nikon F in particular was therefore labeled Nikkor, the Nikkor brand was introduced in 1932, a westernised rendering of an earlier version Nikkō, an abbreviation of the companys original full name. Nikkor is the Nikon brand name for its lenses, another early brand used on microscopes was Joico, an abbreviation of Japan Optical Industries Co. Expeed is the brand Nikon uses for its processors since 2007. The Nikon SP and other 1950s and 1960s rangefinder cameras competed directly with models from Leica, however, the company quickly ceased developing its rangefinder line to focus its efforts on the Nikon F single-lens reflex line of cameras, which was successful upon its introduction in 1959. For nearly 30 years, Nikons F-series SLRs were the most widely used small-format cameras among professional photographers, however, as autofocus SLRs became available from Minolta and others in the mid-1980s, Nikons line of manual-focus cameras began to seem out of date. Canon introduced a new type of lens-camera interface with its entirely electronic Canon EOS cameras, the much faster lens performance permitted by Canons electronic focusing and aperture control prompted many professional photographers to switch to the Canon system through the 1990s. Nikon created some of the first digital SLRs for NASA, used in the Space Shuttle since 1991, after a 1990s partnership with Kodak to produce digital SLR cameras based on existing Nikon film bodies, Nikon released the Nikon D1 SLR under its own name in 1999
