Stories of camera makers
Explore the companies, workshops, people and design decisions behind the cameras in the collection. Each profile combines a historical timeline, important camera milestones, photographs with reuse rights, and a short account of changing brand identity.
AgfaCameras, film, chemistry, Optima automation and the split Agfa / ORWO heritage.
→CanonFrom the Kwanon prototype and Hansa Canon to AE-1, EOS and the mirrorless era.
→ContaxZeiss Ikon rangefinders, the East German SLR line and the Yashica–Zeiss revival.
→CosinaCamera manufacturing, OEM production, Bessa systems and respected optical designs.
→Fujica / FujifilmFrom Japanese film and Fujica cameras to Fujinon, X and Instax.
→HasselbladModular medium format, the 500 series and cameras carried into space.
→KodakBrownie, Kodachrome, Instamatic and Kodak’s early digital experiments.
→KonicaPhotographic materials, C35 cameras, flash automation and practical autofocus.
→LeicaOskar Barnack’s Ur-Leica, the 35mm format and the evolving M system.
→MamiyaMamiya Six, RB67, RZ67 and portable 645 medium-format systems.
→MinoltaFrom the SR and XD SLRs to the integrated autofocus 7000 system.
→NikonFrom Nippon Kogaku and NIKKOR to the F system, D1 and Z mount.
→OlympusPEN, Pen F and OM: compact camera ideas that changed the way people carried cameras.
→Praktica / PentaconDresden camera making, M42 SLRs, TTL metering and the Pentacon factories.
→PentaxAsahiflex, Spotmatic, the K mount and the long-lived K1000.
→SonyMavica, Cyber-shot and Alpha: an electronic-imaging path into full-frame mirrorless.
→VoigtländerCamera and lens making from Vienna origins to Cosina’s Bessa revival.
→ZEISSOptical science, Zeiss Ikon, Contax and lens designs used across camera systems.
→