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.jpg) Voigtländer Bessa L camera and Voigtländer Snapshot-Skopar 25mm f4.0 lens: manufactured by Cosina in Japan | |
Native name | 株式会社コシナ |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Cosina Co., Ltd. |
| Formerly | K.K. Nikō |
| Company type | Kabushiki Kaisha |
| Industry | High-end optical devices and camera manufacturer |
| Founded | February 2, 1959; 67 years ago (1959-02-02) inJapan |
| Headquarters | , Japan |
Key people | Hirobumi Kobayashi |
Number of employees | 520 (2017) |
| Website | www |
Cosina Co., Ltd. (株式会社コシナ,Kabushiki-gaisha Koshina) is a manufacturer of high-endoptical glass, optical precision equipment,cameras, video and electronic related equipment, based inNakano,Nagano Prefecture,Japan.[1][2]
Cosina is the successor to Nikō (or "Nikoh"), a company set up as a lens processing factory in February 1959, which was a pioneer in optical polishing and lens grinding in Japan.[1] In 1966, it also began manufacturing35 mm compact cameras and8 mmcine cameras, and a year later started the manufacture of 35mm filmSLR cameras.In 1968, it started a glass melting factory. Nikō changed its name toCosina 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 for135 film. TheCS-2 andCS-3 SLRs were introduced in 1978, followed in 1980 by theCT-1,CT-7 (the world's first all—push-button SLR),CT-10 andCT-20, theCT-1G in 1982 and theCT-9 in 1986. Cosina SLR cameras used either theM42 (Praktica/Pentax) lens mount or thePentax K (bayonet) lens mount. However, Cosina is probably better known as a manufacturer of cameras and camera components for other brands, including the popularYashica FX-3, FX-3 Super, and Super 2000. 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 theMinolta 7SII,Revue 400 SE,Prinz 35 ER, andVivitar 35 ES.
In 1982, Cosina began to manufacture lenses in a variety of SLR manufacturers' lens mounts. In 1991, it started to produce glass moldedaspheric lenses, and in 1996 plastic molded aspherical lenses. Cosina began producing digital cameras in 1997.
At about this time, plans were started to produce a new high-qualityrangefinder 35 mm film camera, complete with wide and ultrawide lenses for theLeicascrew mount, and also a standard 35 mm film camera for the amateur film photography sector — similar to a rangefinder camera, but without arangefinder orviewfinder — for mounting these lenses.
In 1999, Cosina secured partial rights to the German, once Austrian, classic camera brand "Voigtländer", acquired fromRINGFOTO GmbH & Co. ALFO Marketing KG inGermany, to produce theClassic 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 theVoigtländer Bessa-L standard camera body. It quickly followed with a wider range of Voigtländer cameras (starting with theBessa-R, with viewfinder and rangefinder, and theBessa-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 theMicro Four Thirds System Standard Group.[3]
In 2016, Cosina manufactured aNokton 1,4/ 58 mm after 2003 a second time. For this lenses aTopcon-construction was used.[4]
Cosina's "Voigtländer" products are sometimes referred to asCosina Voigtländer.
The Cosina Voigtländer cameras and lenses have been of great personal interest toKobayashi Hirofumi (小林博文) (b. 1953), the President of Cosina since the death in 1988 of his fatherKobayashi 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 cameraRollei 35 RF forRollei Fototechnic, and is acknowledged to have manufactured (and to have helped design) theEpson digital rangefinder cameraR-D1 as well. Its manufacture of a newZeiss Ikon rangefinder camera withLeica M-mount, and Zeiss lenses in Leica bayonet mount, was announced in October 2004, and had begun producing these by April 2006.
Cosina is also well known for manufacturing 35 mm SLR cameras to the specifications of other manufacturers and distributors, such as theCanon T60, theNikon FM10 andFE10, theOlympus OM2000,Konica TC-X, Yashica FX-3 and FX-3 Super, and variousVivitar models. For this models the CT-1 was used.
A Cosina design, the 1982Cosina CX-2, was copied by theRussian optical firmLOMO as the popularLomo LC-A.
Cosina manufactures manual focusSLR lenses forCarl Zeiss AG with:Leica (ZM),[5]Nikon (ZF),Pentax (ZK),Canon EOS (ZE), andM42 (ZS) lens screw mounts.
Cosina products are distributed in Japan byKenko.