This review of Konica Minolta has great information on the history and origination of the Konica company. Read this article to learn about products and developments of Konica over the years including information about the merger of Konica and Minolta.

Konica was founded in 1873 by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the beginning of Japan’s industrial revolution. Mr. Sugiura was working at an apothecary at the time and persuaded the owners to begin selling the new cameras that were being imported from the United States and Europe. The owners said yes and allowed him to use the name of their apothecary, Konishiya.

In 1876, Sugiura moved to Tokyo and changed the name of the business to Konishi Honten. Konishi had established three factories for the manufacturing of lithographic materials and equipment, and box cameras, by 1882. In 1890 Konishi had expanded production and was producing a variety of studio, field, and folding cameras. A subsidiary company, Rokuosha, produced Japan’s first brand name camera, the box-shaped Cherry hand camera, in 1902. The next year, Konishi introduced Sakura, Japanese for cherry blossom, brand photographic paper which was the first domestically produced photographic paper in Japan.

The Sakura brand name was used on many cameras in the following years, including the Reflex Prano, the first Japanese large format single lens reflex (SLR) camera. The company continued to grow and release new, high quality products through World War I and up to World War II. In 1938 when it was very likely Japan would enter the war, the Japanese government placed restrictions on cameras produced for consumers. As a result of these restrictions, Konishi directed it’s major efforts to military products, producing two types of ultra-compact aerial cameras. In 1940, five years after Kodak introduced its Kodachrome color film, Konishiroku announced its Sakura natural color, Japan’s first color film.

The company’s Yodobashi factory, warehouse, and research center were damaged by U.S. air raids in 1945. At the end of the war, all factories switch back to consumer production from military production, despite the shortage of parts and supplies. By this time, the company was run by the grandson of the company’s founder and was renamed Konishiroku Photo Industry Company.

In 1947, Konishiroku was listed at one of Japan’s top five photographic-lens manufacturers and one of the top three camera shutter producers. At this time the company was producing about half of all Japanese cameras. Konishiroku also introduced the first Konica camera, a general use camera that used 35 mm film. The camera was named Konica by combining Konishiroku and camera. The next year, the first Japanese color motion picture, The Dream, was filmed on Sakura color film. This movie won and award from the Japanese Motion Picture Technology Institute. Materials were still in short supply during this period, however, and only the Korean war offered another boost to Japan’s economy.

In 1956, Konishiroku established an office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in order to more effectively market its cameras and photographic materials in the United States, as well as increase their exports to the country. This office was named Koniphoto and was moved to New York City in 1962. That same year the company opened the Konica European Center in Hamburg, Germany. The following year, Konishiroku produced its first X-ray processor. The company had been producing X-ray film since 1933. By 1965, Konishiroku had overcome a number of technical challenges and was able to manufacture the industry’s first automatic-exposure 35mm SLR camera.

The next few years were about diversification for the company; they began planning new products for cameras and optical instruments. Evidence of this diversification can be seen in 1970 when Konishiroku introduced the U-Bix 480, its first photostatic plain paper copier. By 1978 plain paper copiers would account for 23% of Konishiroku’s total sales. The company continued down this path of innovation, introducing cameras with such features as a built-in electronic flash and auto-winding. The company official established a photo-products marketing subsidiary, Konica Corporation, in the United States. This was the first foreign operation to have the Konica name.

During the 1980s, Konica’s business machines division picked up. For example, Konica entered into an agreement with IBM to market their high-speed copiers under the Konica name worldwide. The company also unveiled a dramatic floppy discs, the super-high-density 5.25 inch floppy disc and drive system with a ten-megabyte memory capacity. Late in 1987, Konishiroku officially changed its name to Konica Corporation. This helped to unify the company’s products and brand names, which raised the corporate profile worldwide.

The early 1990s saw the first “disposable” cameras. Konica being selling its own in 1987, by 1990 Konica was able to sell seven million per year. The company continued to be profitable throughout the 1990s, until 1999 when the company posted a $25.5 million loss for the fiscal year. Following this, the company consolidated many of their operations.

In January of 2003, Konica announced that they would be merging with Minolta. Three years later, the company announced that it would not continue in the camera and photo business due to high financial losses. Sony has taken over SLR camera service operations and they have continued to develop products that are compatible with Konica Minolta cameras.

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