Canon Evolution
AE-1
Canon Founders
Takeshi Mitarai
Goro Yoshida
Takeo Maeda
Saburo Uchida
Takeshi Mitarai, one of the four founders of Canon, was born in Japan in 1901. He trained to be a medical docter but found an interest in cameras. He had a son, Hajime, who took over Canon after he died in 1984. Takeshi also had a nephew, Fujio, and a wife, Toyoko.
Goro Yoshida was born in Hiroshima in 1900, and he died in 1993. He completed high school in Tokyo and and internship at a company's repair and renovation of the movie camera and projector. This lead to him being the man behind Canon's first camera.
Canon History Video
Canon started when Goro Yoshido created Canon's first camera, the Kwanon. This was a great accomplishment and led to Canon's second camera, the Hansa Canon. Soon after, an oil shock in Japan led to calls for a fully automatic camera, resulting in the AE-1. Canon encountered many problems during their sruggle to mass-produce these cameres. Some problems included the high cost of plastic and the problems that lead to the abandonment of the FD lens. Some of the brands that Canon was competing with would include Nikon, Minolta, Pentax, and Olympus.
Canon AE-1 Original Commercial With Famous Tennis Player John Newcombe
Takeo Maeda was born in 1909 and lived until 1977. He was a former subordinate to Saburo Yoshida. Takeo and Saburo established a Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Tokeo to develop a 35mm rangefinder camera in November 1933
Saburo Ushida was born in 1899 and died in 1982. He was Goro Yoshida's brother-in-law. He created a Precision Optical Instruments Lab in Tokyo along with Takeo Maeda in 1933, which is where Canon's first cameras were produced.