Komamura is a Japanese company, maker of the Horseman cameras and distributor of other products.
History[]
The company was founded in 1933 in Kyoto, under the name Komamura Keitei Kaisha (駒村兄弟会社), based in Kyoto.[1] It took its present name K.K. Komamura Shōkai (㈱駒村商会) in 1947, and opened a branch in Kanda, Tokyo, in 1950.[1]
The company made its first camera in 1948.[1] It was a wooden kabine-size field camera called PC-101, for the Japanese police.[1] In 1950, it developed the Horseman 102, also for the Japanese police; in 1958 this camera evolved into the Horseman 104, made in cooperation with Tōkyō Kōgaku.[1] This was the predecessor of the Topcon Horseman camera series, which started in 1960 with the model 960.[1]
Nowadays (2010), the company still makes Horseman cameras, and also distributes Minox and Rollei products as well as German and US photo accessories, and US and Australian video equipment.
Horseman products[]
This list is incomplete:
- Horseman 102 (1950)
- Horseman 104 (1958)
- Topcon Horseman 960 (1960)
- Horseman L45 (monorail camera)
- Horseman LB, LE, LS, LX, and LX-C (1990, focus computer) monorail L-frame cameras
- Horseman LD (monorail camera for DSLR)
- Horseman LD Pro (monorail camera for digital back)
- Horseman Roll Film Holder
Other distributed products[]
- Doryu 2-16 pistol-shaped camera, distributor for Kansai (Western Japan) in 1955[2]
Later it took over Horseman. Nowadays it also distributes Minox and Rollei products as well as German and US-American photo accessories as well as US-American and Australian video equipment.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Company history in Japanese.
- ↑ Advertisement in Sankei Camera September 1955.
Links[]
In English:
In French:
In Japanese:
- History in the Japanese website