12 researched events, 1873 to present. Each is dated as its sources date it and carries the references it rests on.
Read the Konica company history →
Rokusaburo Sugiura began selling lithographic and photographic tools and materials at Konishiya Rokubeiten in Kojimachi, Tokyo, then established his own Konishi Honten business in Nihonbashi. By 1882 the firm was making lightproof photographic boxes, an early move from importing and retailing into domestic production.
History: 1873-1959 Cameras and Film—The Beginnings / Steps to a Global Company · Company Overview
The company expanded practical manufacturing around photography and lithography, building the skills needed to supply a young Japanese photographic culture. That foundation led to the 1903 Sakura Hakkin photographic paper and Cherry Hand Camera, products that joined the light-sensitive material and the picture-making instrument under one house.
History: 1873-1959 Cameras and Film—The Beginnings / Steps to a Global Company · Replica of Cherry Portable Camera
The Cherry Hand Camera appeared in 1903 as a branded, mass-produced Japanese camera for amateur use, while Sakura paper anchored the materials side. Konishi Honten broadened the camera range during the following decades, founded a professional photography school in 1923, and introduced Sakura Film for general photography in 1929.
History: 1873-1959 Cameras and Film—The Beginnings / Steps to a Global Company · Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera · Replica of Cherry Portable Camera
The Konishi Professional School of Photography linked the company to photographic education, while Sakura Film brought in-house sensitized-material production to general photographers. The business reorganized as a joint-stock company in 1936 and announced Sakura Natural Color Film in 1940, the first Japanese-made color film in the company's chronology.
History: 1873-1959 Cameras and Film—The Beginnings / Steps to a Global Company · Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera
As Konishiroku became an incorporated photographic manufacturer, its prewar Pearl folding cameras shared the range with sensitized materials and optical work. During the war the company developed and produced military aerial cameras. Civilian production resumed afterward, and the Konica I brought the Konica name to a 35mm camera by 1948.
History: 1873-1959 Cameras and Film—The Beginnings / Steps to a Global Company · Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera · Konishiroku Konica I Cs
The fixed-lens Konica I established a durable camera brand within Konishiroku, alongside Pearl folding cameras and other popular formats. Hexar and Hexanon names became closely associated with the firm's lenses. In 1960 the ambitious Konica F carried the company into interchangeable-lens 35mm SLRs with a fast metal focal-plane shutter.
Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera · Optical Products · Konishiroku Konica I Cs · Konica F, record 103310371208
The Konica F introduced a large lens interface and a vertically travelling metal shutter capable of one two-thousandth of a second, but it was expensive and short-lived. Konishiroku kept developing the idea through later reflex cameras, reaching the Auto-Reflex and then the Autoreflex T, whose open-aperture TTL metering worked with automatic Hexanon lenses.
Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera · Konica Autoreflex T Instruction Manual · Konica F, record 103310371208
The Auto-Reflex combined a focal-plane shutter, interchangeable lenses and shutter-priority automatic exposure, and could switch between full and half frame. The Autoreflex T moved metering through the lens. Successive AR-mount bodies and Hexanon lenses carried that practical automation into the 1980s before Konica's SLR line wound down.
Systematic Survey on 35 mm High End Camera · Konica Autoreflex T Instruction Manual
The C35EF put a pop-up electronic flash into a compact 35mm camera, with Japanese museum records dating its release to December 1974 and the corporate chronology presenting it as a 1975 milestone. In November 1977 the C35AF added passive triangulation autofocus, turning two frequent causes of failed snapshots into camera-managed tasks.
History: 1960-1979 Innovative World Firsts / Rapid Growth of Copier Business · Konica C35AF, record 103310371356 · Konica C35EF, record 103310371333
Konica translated camera-lens experience into ultra-precise aspheric plastic optics for compact-disc pickups while continuing photographic work. The Hexar and HEXAR RF kept high-grade 35mm cameras in view, digital Revio models addressed the new market, and camera OEM production grew even as optical components became strategically important.
History: 1980-2002 Digital Age Impact and New Business Challenges · Annual Report 2001 · Optical Products
Konishiroku Photo Industry changed its name to Konica Corporation in 1987 and brought the company's products under the Konica brand. Cameras and films remained visible, but copiers, medical imaging, digital systems and optical components grew in weight. A business-technology partnership with Minolta prepared the ground for their 2003 integration.
History: 1980-2002 Digital Age Impact and New Business Challenges · Annual Report 2001 · History: 2003 onward — Konica and Minolta Integration
Konica and Minolta integrated management in 2003. Konica Minolta withdrew from cameras in March 2006, transferred part of the digital-SLR assets to Sony, ended film and paper production on a staged schedule, and completed photo-sales withdrawal in 2007. The current successor remains an imaging and optics company, but not an own-brand camera maker.
History: 2003 onward — Konica and Minolta Integration · Konica Minolta, Withdrawal Plan for Camera Business and Photo Business · Optical Products · Company Overview
