Hanimex Corporation was an importer and distributor in Australie and New Zealand of cameras, lenses, and other photographic equipment made by Tōkyō Kōgaku, Sedic and Royal in Japan, by Finetta, Montanus, Vredeborch and Dacora in West Germany, by Pentacon in East Germany, and by other manufacturers.. The company also distributed consumer electronics and other non-photographic gear. Hanimex cameras and lenses were often sold under the Hanimex brand name. Hanimex distributed SLR lenses for several different lens mounts under the Hanimex brand name.
Hanimex Corporation was founded in 1947 by Jack Hannes and the company name is an abbreviation for Hannes Import Export. Hannes apparently sought low cost providers and therefore Hanimex lenses have a poor reputation among users. Hanimex distributed SLR lenses for several different lens mounts of renowned camera systems.
In 1985, Hanimex acquired American company Vivitar, which was losing money, and in a year made the company profitable again. In 1989 Hanimex was acquired by Gestetner Corporation and then acquired themselves by Ricoh Co., Ltd in 1996.
Lenses:
I have a number of early Hanimex lenses which are identifiable as having been made by Tokina :-)
ReplyDelete