was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, printers.
Minolta Co. Ltd. (ミノルタ, Minoruta) was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928. As Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten (日独写真機商店, meaning Japanese-German camera shop). It made the first integrated autofocus 35 mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its final name, an acronym for “Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima”.
Kazuo Tashima was the founder of the company, not an engineer, but he was a clerk in a newspaper. When a terrible earthquake hit Tokyo he lost his job. He then returned to Osaka to his father, who sent him to Europe on business. He visited Paris, London and Berlin and literally fell in love with the cameras produced there. So much so that, once back home, he decided to devote himself to manufacturing his own camera. It was 1928 when Kazuo, overcoming the strong resistance of his father, set up a camera factory together with two German friends.
Minolta Co., Ltd – Osaka (Japan)
The long history of the Japanese company can be traced on the internet, with a simple search… if you’re interested. Here I would like to highlight that the company has produced many excellent objectives since the post-war period (IInd WW). It has become famous more than for the production of cameras, precisely for the production of camera lenses also for professional use.
In 2003, Minolta merged with Konica to form Konica Minolta. On 19 January 2006, Konica Minolta announced that it was leaving the camera and photo business, and that it would sell a portion of its SLR camera business to Sony as part of its move to pull completely out of the business of selling cameras and photographic film.
I consider MINOLTA lenses to be among the most interesting and valid in the panorama of vintage lenses. In particular, the ROKKOR editions are particularly successful. Price / Quality ratio on the second-hand market is currently (2021-2023) acceptable. In particular, I found the wide-angle and 50mm lenses interesting. But I haven’t explored the range of the Japanese manufacturer in depth yet.
I suggest you to verify the quality of these lenses in the list you can find in the VINTAGE LENSES section of the website. You will find test photographs (NOT EDITED), and you will be able to independently judge what I am writing.
