Canon Review - Best Digital Camera

Read this Canon Review for more information about the Canon company's history and developments over the years. Learn more about Canon products and why Canon has been able to remain one of the leading camera and business product manufactures worldwide.

Canon began as Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in 1933. The company was established in Japan by Goro Yoshida and Saburo Uchida in order to develop a 35 mm camera. At the time, most cameras in Japan were imported. In 1934, the Kwanon camera was announced as Japan's first 35-millimeter camera. The camera was named after a Buddhist deity.

The company continued to do research and development, though they were unable to develop a lens of their own. They turned to Nippon Kogaku Kogyo, the predecessor of Nikon Corporation, for lenses. A couple of years later in 1936, the Hansa Canon camera was released to the public.

In 1940, the company made a significant contribution to Japanese medical imaging when it developed the nation's first indirect x-ray camera. This camera played a major role in preventing the spread of tuberculosis in Japan. When the country went to war with the United States, the entire economy was given over in support of the military. The company barely survived this period as it was unable to manufacture its 35mm cameras for duration of the war. After the war, raw materials were rationed and so times continued to be difficult. The company continued to strive to produce high quality products and to keep their production lines open even when materials were scarce. In an inspired move, Precision Optical persuaded the Allied occupation forces to stock their cameras in all of their post exchanges and ships' stores. This arrangement laid the groundwork for Canon's later success as an exporter. U.S. servicemen brought their cameras home and gave the company their first foothold in a foreign market. In 1947, the company officially changed its name to Canon Camera Company, Inc., using a transliteration of the original Kwanon. During the Korean War, news photographers began using Canon's lenses and found them to be as good as the German lenses they usually use. This further opened up the export market. The company opened a New York subsidiary in 1955. Two years later, a European subsidiary was opened in Geneva. At this time, Canon had already added an 8mm movie camera to its product line.

By the 1960s, Canon had become the dominant Japanese producer of middle-priced cameras, while Nikon took the higher end of the market. The company continued to grow and more than tripled its size by 1963. The next year would prove fateful for the company as it was the first they ventured into business machines, introducing the Canola 130 electronic calculator. This calculator was the first in the world to use the now standard 10-key keypad. Canon then entered the photocopier market in 1965 with the Canofax 1000. The company became an innovator in the field and introduced its first plain-paper copier in 1968. Canon's diversification were significant, and successful, enough that the company dropped "Camera Company" from its name in 1969 and became simply Canon, Inc.

In spite of their successes, Canon was plagued by weaknesses in marketing strategy during the late 60s and early 70s. For example, in 1972 the company developed the "liquid dry" copying system - so named because it uses plain paper and liquid developer, but turns out dry copies - but doubted its own marketing strength and feared that competitors would infringe on its patents. Instead of selling the system itself, Canon licensed the technology to other manufacturers, effectively wasting its earning potential.

Under new management, the company introduced its revolutionary AE-1 35mm camera, which used a microprocessor to focus automatically and set the length of the exposure. The camera was advertised aggressively on television, something that had never been done for a 35mm camera before. This gamble paid off though, as the camera became so popular that by 1981 an industry analyst called it "the Chevrolet of the 35mm market." In 1982 Canon introduced the first personal copier, another product accompanied by a massive ad campaign. These strategies led to Canon overtaking Nikon as camera sales leader in the early 1980s.

Canon continued to experience rapid sales and profit growth through the 80s. In the 1990s however, Canon's key product areas began to mature which led to a bit of a slow-down in their growth. In 1992, cameras comprised only 19 percent of overall Canon sales and by 1995 the percentage had dropped to 8.2 percent. Canon reacted to new competition in camera market by introducing its own compact model, the Sure Shot. The Sure Shot grew into an entire line of cameras by the middle of the decade. The company also focused on globalization which would help counteract some of the downturn from the recession in Japan. The company weathered the recession and continues to have a large market share of both camera and business products markets.