The Yashica company (https://www.yashica.com/) began in December 1945 as the Yashima Seiki Company in Nagano, Japan. In the last month of the war, they functioned as a subcontractor for gun shell fuses. After the warm, the company originally manufactured components for electric clocks and later camera components. By June 1953 they introduced their first complete camera, the Yashimaflex, a medium-format camera. The lenses for the Yashimaflex were manufactured for Yashica for many years by Tomioka Optical Works. Late in 1953, Yashima Seiki Company became Yashima Optical Industry Company, Ltd.
In 1957, Yashima founded Yashica, Inc., a subsidiary arm to operate in the United States. Yashima continued to grow, with 1,982 employees by 1958. In 1958, Yashima changed its name to Yashica Company, Ltd, when it acquired the Nicca Camera Company, Ltd., expanding its product line into advanced 35mm rangefinder cameras.
The Yashica Pentamatic was introduced In 1959, an advanced modern 35mm SLR camera with a proprietary bayonet-mount and interchangeable lenses. Around 1960, Yashica acquired the assets of the bankrupt Zunow Optical Industry Co. Ltd., known for limited production of a very advanced 35mm SLR camera, along with several high-quality, lens designs. As Yashica found it difficult to gain market acceptance with its proprietary SLR lens mount, they redesigned the SLR camera line in 1962 to accept the Contax/Praktica M42 lens mount.
In 1965, Yashica introduced the world's first commercially successful electronically controlled 35mm rangefinder camera, that in various model subvariants eventually sold 8 million units. The company continued to expand its international markets, and in August 1968, Yashica acquired its lens manufacturer, the Tomioka Optical and Machine Manufacturing Co., Ltd., one of the largest and most reputable lens manufacturers in Japan. Yashica was quickly acquiring a reputation for both electronic camera expertise and high-quality optics.
In 1972, Yashica introduced a very successful camera similar to the Pentax Spotmatic and in 1973, Yashica began a secret collaboration with Carl Zeiss to produce a new, professional 35mm SLR with the Contax brand. A new prestige line of Yashica/Contax lenses designed by Carl Zeiss were introduced for the camera, with a common C/Y bayonet mount allowing lens interchange between all 35mm Contax and Yashica SLR camera models. Yashica soon introduced several new 35mm SLR cameras.
In 1979, Yashica introduced a new inexpensive 35mm consumer SLR, the FX-3, intended for entry-level buyers. Like all Yashica manual-focus bodies, the affordable FX-3 featured a C/Y lens mount that would also accept Carl Zeiss T* lenses. This simple, lightweight manual-exposure SLR camera sold well, and with minor revisions, stayed in production until 2002.
Yashica Company Ltd. was acquired in 1983 by ceramics giant Kyocera. After 1983, all Yashica brand cameras were marketed by Kyocera (Kyoto Ceramics). By 1985, the company was facing intense market competition from other manufacturers, especially Minolta. In response, Kyocera gradually repositioned the brand as a budget-priced point-and-shoot camera line, moving production from Japan to Hong Kong, and discontinued high-end SLR camera production.
In 2005, Kyocera halted production on all Contax, Yashica, and other Kyocera-branded film and digital cameras and sold off the trademark rights of Yashica. In 2008, the Yashica name reappeared for a short time on cameras produced by the Hong Kong-based MF Jebsen Group.
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