12 and 12 researched events on one shared scale. Horseman 1933–present, Mamiya 1940–present.
The axis stretches where either maker has research and collapses where neither does, so a year sits opposite the same year on both. Event counts differ because research depth differs, not because one company did less.
Komamura Brothers began business in Kyoto, establishing the enterprise from which the later Komamura photographic company emerged. The date marks the commercial origin, not yet the formal postwar company or the Horseman camera brand, so those later milestones remain separate in the chronology.
Transfer from Komamura Shokai to Kenko Professional Imaging completed · About the Company / FalconEye
Seiichi Mamiya and Tsunejiro Sugawara established Mamiya Koki Seisakusho in Tokyo in 1940 and began producing the Mamiya Six. The folding 120-film rangefinder used Mamiya's back-focusing mechanism, moving the film plane for focus while the lens remained fixed. The Japanese Camera Museum reports that the camera remained in production during wartime restrictions.
Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Corporate history · About Mamiya
Mamiya rebuilt postwar production and in March 1946 established a Setagaya factory to make shutters and lenses in-house. Early postwar Mamiya Six cameras nevertheless appear with several lens and shutter combinations because supplies were unstable. The factory became Setagaya Koki Co., Ltd. in July 1950, and Mamiya Koki Seisakusho was reorganized as Mamiya Koki Co., Ltd. that December.
Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Corporate history · Mamiya 6 Model V (1953)
Komamura identifies 1947 as the establishment of the postwar company and the beginning of film-development operations in northern Japan. This legal and operational milestone followed the 1933 business origin and immediately preceded the company's first documented police-camera project.
Transfer from Komamura Shokai to Kenko Professional Imaging completed · About the Company / FalconEye
The wooden PC-101 identification camera was developed for the National Police Agency in 1948. In 1950 Komamura announced the Horseman 102 for police identification work, giving the Horseman name a practical foundation in controlled, repeatable evidentiary photography.
Transfer from Komamura Shokai to Kenko Professional Imaging completed · About the Company / FalconEye
The company expanded into twin-lens reflex, 16mm subminiature, and 35mm cameras while continuing the Mamiya Six line. Its 1957 Mamiyaflex C Professional made the entire paired-lens and shutter board interchangeable and used bellows focusing for close work. The Mamiya Magazine 35, also dated 1957 by the Japanese Camera Museum, carried a Sekor 50mm f/2.8 and used an interchangeable film chamber.
Mamiya Sekor Guide · Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Mamiya TLR System Summary
Komamura completed the Horseman 104 as an identification camera for the police. The model linked the early public-service cameras to the compact professional system that soon appeared under Topcon Horseman branding, combining Komamura direction with Tokyo Kogaku participation.
Notice of products that cannot be repaired · About the Company / FalconEye
The 960, 760, 970, 980, and 985 developed the compact 6x9 press and technical-camera idea through several generations. Official service records preserve these distinct names alongside Super Topcor optics, while surviving manuals and systems show the importance of backs, cams, and rangefinder coupling.
Horseman VH-R owner's manual · Notice of products that cannot be repaired
Mamiya introduced the Press camera in 1960 and developed a broad system of roll-film backs, sheet and instant-film accessories, and lenses. The C-series TLR evolved through C2, C3, C22, C33, C220, and C330 branches. Mamiya also sold 35mm SLRs using the Praktica/Pentax M42 screw mount and later proprietary mounts. A new Urawa factory opened in 1963; Setagaya Koki was absorbed that June, and its Tokyo factory operation was integrated into Urawa in 1964.
Mamiya Sekor Guide · Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Mamiya TLR System Summary · Corporate history
The VH and rangefinder-equipped VH-R carried the compact roll-film technical-camera concept into a mature system. Movements, interchangeable backs, ground-glass focusing, and model-specific rangefinder provisions made the cameras unusually versatile, but also created compatibility boundaries collectors must respect.
Horseman VH-R owner's manual · Notice of products that cannot be repaired
Mamiya established a production subsidiary at Saku in 1970 and released the RB67 Professional that year. Its rotating film magazine changed between horizontal and vertical 6×7 framing without turning the camera, while body bellows handled focusing and lenses supplied leaf shutters. In 1975 the M645 opened a smaller 6×4.5 SLR system using a focal-plane shutter; the M645 1000S followed in 1976 with a 1/1000-second top speed.
Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Mamiya RB67 Pro-S instruction manual · Corporate history
Mamiya continued professional medium-format development while changing its 35mm strategy through NC, ZE, and Z-series proprietary mounts. The RZ67 Professional arrived in 1982 as an electronically integrated development of the RB concept. Contemporary patent records assigned to Mamiya document active optical calculation, including zoom-lens work, rather than a catalog built entirely from external designs.
Mamiya Sekor Guide · Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Mamiya RZ67 Pro II instruction manual · JPS58100115A — Zoom lens
Horseman 45FA, 45HD, and Woodman 45 brought folding-field portability to 4x5 photography. The 45FA and 45HD shared an 80 mm board concept but differed in rear movements, extension, focusing equipment, and front-rise control, so they represent distinct working bodies rather than trim variations.
Horseman 45HD instruction manual · FAQ for Horseman Technical Cameras · Horseman manual downloads
The LS, LE, LX, and LX-C optical-bench cameras extended Horseman into modular studio work, with documented 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 configurations. Their rail, bellows, standards, and interchangeable rear frames made format and movement capacity central parts of the system design.
Horseman L Series owner's manual · Horseman manual downloads
Osawa & Co., Mamiya's important international distributor and shareholder, sought court-supervised rehabilitation in February 1984; Mamiya Koki filed on 5 March. Government records treated both as major failures with effects on suppliers and employment. Mamiya's 35mm camera line ended during the reorganization, while its professional medium-format systems continued.
Cabinet response concerning the failures of Osawa & Co. and Mamiya Koki · Mamiya Z-Series 35mm Cameras
The New Mamiya 6 appeared in 1989 as an electronically controlled 6×6 interchangeable-lens rangefinder with a collapsible lens mount. The RB67 Pro SD followed in 1990. In 1992 Olympic Co., Ltd. absorbed Mamiya Koki; the combined company became Mamiya-OP in 1993. Camera and lens manufacturing subsidiaries Mamiya and Shibata Mamiya were combined at Saku in 1994.
Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · Corporate history
SW612 and SW617 cameras turned 6x12 and 6x17 roll-film panoramas into purpose-built professional systems. Later Professional, SWP, SW612D, and SWD-II Pro variants brought interchangeable mounts, digital backs, and shift movements into the same wide-angle design tradition.
Horseman Museum opens in Nakano · Horseman SWD-II Pro owner's manual · Horseman manual downloads
Mamiya extended the rangefinder concept to the 6×7 Mamiya 7 in 1995 and developed the 645AF platform for film and digital backs. The Mamiya ZD, shown in 2004 and released in 2005, used a large 36×48mm CCD and Mamiya 645AF lenses. Patent records from the period continue to show optical-design work assigned to Mamiya-OP.
Mamiya Camera Exhibition: The History of Invention and Ingenuity · JP2004102100A — Retrofocus type super wide-angle lens
DigiWide, DigiFlex, LD, VCC Pro, ISS-G3, TS-Pro, and Axella products translated view-camera geometry into digital workflows. Rather than treating a sensor as a fixed endpoint, Horseman used interchangeable mounts, bellows, rails, and standards to keep perspective and focus control available.
Horseman product index · Horseman manual downloads · Horseman Axella S system chart and technical data
Mamiya-OP transferred its optical-equipment business, including staff, facilities, inventory, trademarks, and patents, to the newly formed Cosmo Digital Imaging business in September 2006. The camera operation soon used the Mamiya Digital Imaging name. Mamiya-OP's own corporate chronology states that it withdrew from optical business, so the continuing camera brand and the continuing Mamiya-OP corporation must not be treated as the same enterprise after this transfer.
Phase One made a major investment in Mamiya Digital Imaging in 2009 and took strategic leadership in research, development, marketing, and distribution. Mamiya, Phase One, and Schneider Kreuznach then announced shared design, development, manufacturing, and delivery of leaf-shutter lenses for the 645DF platform. In 2012 Mamiya Digital Imaging and Leaf Imaging consolidated product development, marketing, and support under the Mamiya Leaf brand while retaining Mamiya labels on cameras and lenses.
Schneider Kreuznach, Phase One, Mamiya Digital Imaging Cooperate to Drive Innovations in Medium Format Digital Lenses · Phase One Invests in Mamiya Digital Imaging · Mamiya and Leaf brands and lineups consolidate
Komamura transferred its photographic and broadcasting-equipment operations to Kenko Professional Imaging. Komamura continued separately in advanced imaging, while Kenko became steward of Horseman products, documentation, service information, and the professional-camera heritage.
Transfer from Komamura Shokai to Kenko Professional Imaging completed · About the Company / FalconEye
Phase One acquired Mamiya Digital Imaging's assets in December 2015 and established Phase One Japan, taking control of medium-format camera, central-shutter, and lens design and development. The Phase One XF had already launched that June as a new Phase One-designed platform. Current Phase One material lists Saku as a regional office and maintains support or compatibility information for selected Mamiya equipment, but the current product system is Phase One-branded and centers on Schneider Kreuznach lenses. Axcel has held a majority investment in Phase One since 2019.
Which products can I get help with from Phase One and Mamiya-Leaf Technical Support · Leaf Shutter Lenses · Phase One · About Phase One · Phase One Japan established and succeeds Mamiya optical business · Phase One Unveils the Future of High-End Photography
Kenko Professional Imaging opened the Horseman Museum in Nakano in 2016 with cameras and accessories representing the brand's history, alongside then-current Axella and VCC Pro equipment. Current documentation preserves the system even though many historical bodies and lenses are no longer repairable.
Horseman product index · Horseman Museum opens in Nakano · Notice of products that cannot be repaired · Horseman manual downloads
