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on Nov 7, 2023 20:57:58 GMT
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 20:57:58 GMT
Given that Tomioka was such a significant part of Yashica I thought this might warrant its own thread... hope that's okay! During my research for my upcoming article on Tomioka industrial and enlarging lenses, I got a link to a interesting short PDF document on Tomioka's history from user Calvin83 on the mflenses forum: www.city.ome.tokyo.jp/uploaded/attachment/10086.pdfIt's just a short summary and doesn't go into much detail, however it features a number of interesting details about Masahige Tomioka and a couple of milestones of Tomioka Optical on its way to become an important manufacturer. One sentence stuck out:   Not sure, if there is an error in the translation, but if it actually says "subsidiary" this would mean that Tomioka was part of J. Osawa in 1960 before it was bought by Yashica in 1968. At least if 日本映画機械（株）really was a unique organisation and not some common term used by several companies... From a quick look it rather looks like a single entity created by J. Osawa in 1958. That's very interesting if true, because it would explain the business ties to J.Osawa and why they created the series of enlarging lenses with them later on - they were already well-acquainted in this case. It also explains what Kyocera means with " Corporate capital source changed from Japan Film Machines Co., Ltd to Yashica" on their History site for Tomioka because Japan Film Machines just might be a different translation from 日本映画機械（株） and thus tell the same story. Can anyone here tell me if that's possible/likely or am I missing something? |
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on Nov 7, 2023 23:23:42 GMT
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 23:23:42 GMT
There may be mistakes in translation or some imaginative misinterpretations that someone assumed, but as far as I know, Osawa was a photo/optical aggregator (i.e., like Vivitar or Spiratone), a retail photo products distributor, and at some point may have owned - or may have owned a significant share of - Mamiya. Tomioka was wholly acquired by Yashica in 1968, and they are later absorbed into the Kyocera-owned company, and known contractually as Kyocera Optical in a separate division. They were - and still are - the only surviving original entity after Yashica's demise in 2005.
They've had partnerships and licensing and manufacturing deals as Tomioka (before and after acquisition), but I highly doubt they were ever owned by anyone other than Yashica.
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on Nov 7, 2023 23:46:54 GMT
Posted: Nov 7, 2023 23:46:54 GMT
There may be mistakes in translation or some imaginative misinterpretations that someone assumed, but as far as I know, Osawa was a photo/optical aggregator (i.e., like Vivitar or Spiratone), a retail photo products distributor, and at some point may have owned - or may have owned a significant share of - Mamiya. Tomioka was wholly acquired by Yashica in 1968, and they are later absorbed into the Kyocera-owned company, and known contractually as Kyocera Optical in a separate division. They were - and still are - the only surviving original entity after Yashica's demise in 2005.
They've had partnerships and licensing and manufacturing deals as Tomioka (before and after acquisition), but I highly doubt they were ever owned by anyone other than Yashica.
Thanks for your input! But we‘re talking before Yashica bought them… 1960! What does that (on the official Kyocera Optec history page) mean, if not that Tomioka was owned by someone called 'Japan Film Machines Co.' before? "1968 Corporate capital source changed from Japan Film Machines Co., Ltd to Yashica" Who is 'Japan Film Machines Co.' if not another company? |
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on Nov 23, 2023 16:32:38 GMT
Last Edit: Nov 23, 2023 16:55:00 GMT by xkaes
I think I've written about OSAWA / BHMC on this FORUM before. BHMC was a conglomerate with two parts -- Bell & Howell in the US (BH) and Mamiya Corporation in Japan (MC). The Mamiya Corp. part (which also included Setagaya (SEKOR), the lens maker), was really Osawa. Mamiya / Sekor was just one part of Osawa. B&H went bankrupt first, and its assets went to OSAWA, and when Mamiya went bankrupt, it was the largest bankruptcy in Japan -- up to that point. Osawa didn't need Tominon to make lenses. They already owned Setagaya -- which sold lenses to lots of companies. But, of course, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
The question becomes, if Osawa bought Tominon in 1960, why would they sell it to Yashica in 1968?
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on Nov 23, 2023 21:59:07 GMT
Posted: Nov 23, 2023 21:59:07 GMT
I think I've written about OSAWA / BHMC on this FORUM before. BHMC was a conglomerate with two parts -- Bell & Howell in the US (BH) and Mamiya Corporation in Japan (MC). The Mamiya Corp. part (which also included Setagaya (SEKOR), the lens maker), was really Osawa. Mamiya / Sekor was just one part of Osawa. B&H went bankrupt first, and its assets went to OSAWA, and when Mamiya went bankrupt, it was the largest bankruptcy in Japan -- up to that point. Osawa didn't need Tominon to make lenses. They already owned Setagaya -- which sold lenses to lots of companies. But, of course, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
The question becomes, if Osawa bought Tominon in 1960, why would they sell it to Yashica in 1968?
Thanks a lot! It's impressive how much you know about that stuff... Because of my research I've looked into some parts of that quite a bit and a couple of times when I found some more information, I had a vague feeling you had already mentioned this or that... When I looked back at the posts here that was indeed the case! Yes, you are correct, Osawa didn't have any need for Tomioka in order to make lenses, however even though there was a close relationship between the two companies Osawa only had 10% in shares of Mamiya, right? Had they even bought those in 1960? Regardless for a company like J. Osawa trying to buy another - likely still smaller - lens manufacturer doesn't seem like an outlandish idea. Because they bought Tomioka via their subsidiary "Japan Cine Equipment" my assumption is, that they probably had intentions to let Tomioka produce stuff in that vein: 16 mm projection lenses, TV-/video lenses... and low and behold there are some (rare) Tominon-labeled lenses like that out there: Tominon 25 mm f/1.8 TV lens  Tominon projection lens  They might have been manufactured at a different time, so far I honestly don't know... but I'm actually pretty sure the acquisition in 1960 took place. Whatever the reason, the company relationship between J. Osawa and Tomioka likely just didn't work out. So if Yashica (who seemed highly dependend on Tomioka at that time) approached J. Osawa with a good offer, why wouldn't they say yes to that? Particularly if they managed to get some additional trading deals in for later: Remember the Osawa Tominons? And how strange it is, that Yashica didn't sell all of the focal lengths under their banner? It could very well have been a contract-thing. Only Osawa (and later Hoya and Bogen) got to sell certain focal lengths and even though Yashica owned Tomioka completely there was no mention of Yashica on the Tominon labeled lenses, packaging included as far as I know. All of that seems a little bit weird.. unless there's some history behind it (like a company transaction) we didn't know before. |
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on Nov 24, 2023 15:33:14 GMT
Last Edit: Nov 24, 2023 15:38:53 GMT by xkaes
Whatever happened to Tomioka makes sense to me. They were making lenses for various companies before Yashica even existed. When Yashica was "born", Yashica became just another customer. And after Tomioka and Yashica "merged", Tomioka continued to make lenses for other companies.
So I'm not surprised at all that Tomioka provided lenses for some of Osawa's various photographic subsidiaries. And perhaps Osawa did procure Tomioka for a period of time. Stranger things have happened.
I have an Osawa 650mm f8.5 CAT (made by Tokina) that was also sold as a Soligor and Bell & Howell lens -- but never a Tokina lens. Tokina was just another lens maker that Osawa used to sell lenses. Perhaps Osawa owned Tokina for a while, too?!?!?!? Just a thought.
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