Look here please: it was World Photography Day this weekend, so I’m turning the lens on some famous brands behind it. While for many of us, the camera has been subsumed into a phone, the glamour of a famous brand name on the cameras of yore still continue to hold appeal.
Smile and say “queeez”.
In 1934, a small Tokyo workshop called the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory built Japan’s first 35mm focal-plane camera. The prototype was named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. When the company went commercial, the name was modified into a word that also means “scripture” or “standard”. Which company?
This company was Japan’s leading optics company for many years, including the making of lenses for military instruments. Its name in Japanese was “Japan Optical” which would later be contracted into a word that became a household brand across the globe. Which company?
He wanted a name that no one could mispronounce or misspell, and he wanted to use his favourite letter (it appears twice in the name he chose). Which company, inventors of the first digital camera in the 1970s?
Under its head Ernst Leitz II, this German optics firm (better known till then for microscopes) took a gamble in 1925 and launched a compact 35mm camera designed by its engineer Oskar Barnack. Its name married the family surname with the word “camera” Which brand?
Specially modified Hasselblad cameras were used to take among the most reproduced images in history. Since there was a severe weight limit on return trips, the camera bodies were left behind. At least 12 of them were abandoned in this way. What am I referring to?
In the digital era, the image sensor is prince, if not king. Which is the world’s leading image sensor supplier to smartphone makers? It has been the dominant supplier to the Apple iPhone, among other brands.
In 2002, a 26-year-old Californian went on a surfing trip. Frustrated that no one could film him and his friends riding waves, he rigged a broken surfboard leash and rubber bands to strap a disposable camera to his wrist. Which company was born from this episode, as company legend has it?
On Sundays, I post multiple questions on a theme. All previous Sunday Specials here.
#interludez
In 1934, a small Tokyo workshop called the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory built Japan’s first 35mm focal-plane camera. The prototype was named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. When the company went commercial, the name was modified into a word that also means “scripture” or “standard”. Which company?
ANS: Canon (earlier ‘Kwanon’)
This company was Japan’s leading optics company for many years, including the making of lenses for military instruments. Its name in Japanese was “Japan Optical” which would later be contracted into a word that became a household brand across the globe. Which company?
ANS: Nikon
He wanted a name that no one could mispronounce or misspell, and he wanted to use his favourite letter (it appears twice in the name he chose). Which company, inventors of the first digital camera in the 1970s?
ANS: Kodak
Under its head Ernst Leitz II, this German optics firm (better known till then for microscopes) took a gamble in 1925 and launched a compact 35mm camera designed by its engineer Oskar Barnack. Its name married the family surname with the word “camera” Which brand?
ANS: Leica
Specially modified Hasselblad cameras were used to take among the most reproduced images in history. Since there was a severe weight limit on return trips, the camera bodies were left behind. At least 12 of them were abandoned in this way. What am I referring to?
ANS: The Apollo moon landings.
In the digital era, the image sensor is prince, if not king. Which is the world’s leading image sensor supplier to smartphone makers? It has been the dominant supplier to the Apple iPhone, among other brands.
ANS: Sony
In 2002, a 26-year-old Californian went on a surfing trip. Frustrated that no one could film him and his friends riding waves, he rigged a broken surfboard leash and rubber bands to strap a disposable camera to his wrist. Which company was born from this episode, as company legend has it?
ANS: GoPro
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