Skip to content

Minolta

Defunct Japan Operated 1928–2003 No longer trading

Minolta Co., Ltd. (ミノルタ, Minoruta) was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, binoculars, 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 the German phrase "Mechanismus, Instrumente, Optik, und Linsen von Tashima" found in contemporary Japanese company papers.

Link to this page

Show everything

Films and chemistry are filtered on their production status. Cameras and lenses have none recorded — no source states whether a body or a lens is still made — so those sections only drop what is known to have ended.

Cameras

328