Canon Inc.

Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation specializing in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers, computer printers and medical equipment. It's headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.

Canon was founded in 1933 as Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory by Yoshit Gorō from Hiroshima and his brother-in-law Uchida Saburō. 

Yoshit Gorō

They released their first camera in 1934 named the Kwanon (pronounced kannon), named after the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy. Later it became the "Hansa Canon", the company's first commercial camera. In 1935 the camera's name was changed to the less overtly religious Canon. The company changed its name to Canon Camera in 1947, and to Canon in 1969. 

Early Canon logo

The company's earliest cameras were based on the Leica rangefinder cameras. At first they did not have their own optical factory, so they used lenses made by Nikon. Soon after they started to make their own lenses under the Serenar brand (later renamed Canon).

In 1959 The company introduced the Canonflex SLR system. In 2000 it launched its first DSLR Canon EOS D30. Canon continued to have the Canon EF-mount so that older Canon autofocus lenses are applicable with the newer cameras.

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