Minolta Drivers Update

Minolta Drivers Update

Company: Minolta

Description: Kazuo Tajima started a company called Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten in 1928. The name meant “the Japanese-German camera shop.” In 1929, the year after its incorporation, the company released Nifcalette, its first camera product. The release of Minolta Flex, the first twin-lens reflex camera followed in 1937.

In 1962, the company officially changed its corporate name to Minolta Camera Company, Ltd. The name was derived from the 1937 Minolta Flex model. In 1994, the name was further shortened to Minolta Company, Ltd. The 2004 merger between Konica and Minolta resulted in the current corporate name Konica-Minolta Holdings, Inc.

Minolta first entered into the field of SLR technology with the release of Minolta SRT-101 in 1966. It was the company’s first SLR camera that has through-the-lens full aperture and light metering. To further develop its camera technology, Minolta entered into agreements with several companies.

In 1972, Minolta entered into an agreement with Leica. The agreement aimed to further develop Minolta’s SLR technology. The first camera model produced from this collaboration was Minolta CL, which was released in 1973. The first product in the Leica R series, the Leica R3, was released in 1976. Minolta manufactured the R3, R4 and R5 models while Leica manufactured the other cameras. in the series.

Minolta also joined with Sony to develop its camera technology. The spin-off company became the Konica-Minolta Photo Image Inc. It focused on CCD and CMOS technologies. The partnership with Sony further boosted Minolta’s camera technology.

The company also boasts of many firsts in the camera industry. It released the Minolta Maxxum 7000 in 1985. It was the first autofocus SLR which was received well by the customers. It also developed and produced RD-175 camera in 1995. It was a 1.75 megapixel camera similar to the Maxxum 500si, and possessed of the earliest SLR digital system.

Aside from camera equipment, Minolta manufactures and distributes camera accessories, laser printers and fax machines. The company retains its main offices in Tokyo, Japan. Its Japan headquarters has about 30,300 employees and maintains the sale of business technologies, optics, medical and graphic imaging and sensing products. At the end of the 2007 fiscal year, the company reported a revenue of 1.03 million Yen.