Cosina

Cosina Co., Ltd.
Native name
 株式会社コシナ
Cosina Co., Ltd.
Formerly called
 K.K. Nikō
Kabushiki Kaisha
Industry High-end optical devices and camera manufacturer
Founded February 2, 1959 (1959-02-02) in Japan
Headquarters Nakano, Japan
Key people
 Hirobumi Kobayashi
Number of employees
 520 (2017)
Website www.cosina.co.jp

Cosina Co., Ltd. (株式会社コシナ, Kabushiki-gaisha Koshina) is a manufacturer of high-end optical glass, optical precision equipment, cameras, video and electronic related equipment, based in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.[1][2]

History

Cosina Hi-Lite
Cosina 19-35 f/3.5-4.5 AF lens

Cosina is the successor to Nikō (or "Nikoh"), a company set up as a lens processing factory in February 1959, the company became a pioneer in optical polishing and lens grinding in Japan.[1] In 1966, it started to also manufacture 35 mm compact cameras and 8 mm cine cameras, in 1968 it started a glass melting factory, and a year later started the manufacture of 35mm film SLR cameras. Nikō changed its name to Cosina in 1973.[2] (The first part of the name is a reference to the Koshi area within Nakano, where the founder came from; while the 'Na' represents Nakano.)

The name Cosina has previously appeared on compact and SLR cameras for 135 film. The CS-2 and CS-3 SLRs were introduced in 1978, followed in 1980 by the CT-1, CT-7 (the world's first all—push-button SLR), CT-10 and CT-20, the CT-1G in 1982 and the CT-9 in 1986. Cosina SLR cameras used either the M42 (Praktica/Pentax) lens mount or the Pentax K (bayonet) lens mount. However, Cosina is probably better known as a manufacturer of cameras and camera components for other brands. During the late 1970s, Cosina made a name for itself in 35 mm rangefinder cameras with a well-built, high quality fixed-lens camera using an aluminum body and a simple shutter-priority autoexposure system. This rangefinder camera was adopted as the basic chassis for several excellent camera models, including the Minolta 7SII, Revue 400 SE, Prinz 35 ER, and Vivitar 35 ES.

In 1982, Cosina began to manufacture lenses in a variety of SLR manufacturers' lens mounts. In 1991, it started to produce glass molded aspheric lenses, and in 1996 plastic molded aspherical lenses. Cosina began producing digital cameras in 1997.

Voigtländer brand acquisition

At about this time, plans were started to produce a new high-quality rangefinder 35 mm film camera, complete with wide and ultrawide lenses for the Leica screw mount, and also a standard 35 mm film camera for the amatuer film photography sector — similar to a rangefinder camera, but without a rangefinder or viewfinder — for mounting these lenses.

In 1999, Cosina secured partial rights to the German once Austrian classic camera brand "Voigtländer", acquired from RINGFOTO GmbH & Co. ALFO Marketing KG in Germany, to produce the Classic Collection (high-quality lenses with both M39 screw thread and Leica M bayonet, 35mm film cameras Bessa R, Bessa L, Bessa T, and medium format cameras Bessa III). Cosina first introduced the Voigtländer 15 mm f/4.5 and 25 mm f/4 lens (neither of them rangefinder-coupled) and the Voigtländer Bessa-L standard camera body. It quickly followed with a wider range of Voigtländer cameras (starting with the Bessa-R, with viewfinder and rangefinder; and the Bessa-T, with rangefinder, but no viewfinder); and a set of lenses including the Heliar 12 mm f/5.6 lens, which on its introduction was the widest rectilinear lens ever marketed for still photography.

On April 26, 2010, Cosina joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group.[3]

Voigtländer

Wide angle lens Cosina Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar SL II Aspherical

Cosina's "Voigtländer" products are sometimes referred to as Cosina Voigtländer.

The Cosina Voigtländer cameras and lenses have been of great personal interest to Kobayashi Hirofumi 小林博文 (b. 1953), the President of Cosina since the death in 1988 of his father Kobayashi Bunjirō (小林文治郎), the founder. The name Cosina now appears (conspicuously) on lenses for various SLR mounts, and less conspicuously on a widening range of cameras and lenses with the Voigtländer brand. Cosina manufactured the rangefinder camera Rollei 35 RF for Rollei Fototechnic, and is acknowledged to have manufactured (and to have helped design) the Epson digital rangefinder camera R-D1 as well. Its manufacture of a new Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera with Leica M-mount, and Zeiss lenses in Leica bayonet mount was announced in October 2004, and it is already (April 2006) producing these. All these cameras use film showing Cosina's unique position in the market filling the gap in demand for high quality film cameras and support a technology that is still evolving.

Other manufacturers

Cameras

Cosina is also well known for manufacturing 35 mm SLR cameras to the specifications of other manufacturers and distributors, such as the Canon T60, the Yashica FX-3 (1979), FX-3 Super, and Super 2000, the Nikon FM10 and FE10, the Olympus OM2000, Konica TC-X, and various Vivitar models. A Cosina design, the 1982 Cosina CX-2, was copied by the Russian optical firm LOMO as the popular Lomo LC-A.

Lenses

Cosina manufactures manual focus SLR lenses for Carl Zeiss AG with: Leica (ZM),[4] Nikon (ZF), Pentax (ZK), Canon EOS (ZE), and M42 (ZS) lens screw mounts.

Distribution

Cosina products are distributed in Japan by Kenko.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "High-End Optical Technology" [High-End Optical Technology] (in Japanese). Nakano, Japan: Cosina Co., Ltd. 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  2. 1 2 "Company History" [Company History] (in Japanese). Nakano, Japan: Cosina Co., Ltd. 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  3. ↑ COSINA CO., Ltd. Joins the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group.
  4. ↑ Zeiss M-Mount Lenses, Luminous Landscape, January 2007, retrieved 2012-10-21
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