Canon's 30 Million Milestone

Canon produced 30 million EOS SLR cameras since introducing it 1987. Featuring an all-new lens mount with only electrical connections between the lens and the camera.

Canon started in 1933 in a third-floor apartment of the Takekawaya Building in Roppongi, Azabu Ward, Tokyo as maker of high-grade cameras.

Two young men Goro Yoshida, , and his brother-in-law, Saburo Uchida, set out to compete with the German manufacturers, such as Leica, that were considered the most advanced of the day.

While they started by analyzing existing cameras and studying German camera’s internal workings, Canon now is a leading innovator in camera and lens design.

Canon were relative late comers to the SLR field launching their first model, the Canon F-1 in March 1971, after five years of product development.

With the increasing use of electronics in SLR cameras Canon decide to break with the past and incorporate a new lens mount in the new “Electro Optical System" or EOS series. Conventional SLR systems use mechanical couplings for aperture control and the autofocus motor resides in the camera body.

Canon’s revolutionary approach meant that existing Canon SLR lenses were not compatible with the EOS series cameras. The quality and functionality of the new system proved worthwhile and established Canon as a leader in the SLR market place.

While digital cameras now the norm, about twenty million of the EOS models are film camera bodies.

Canon’s use of their own proprietary CMOS sensor underlines their transition from imitator to innovator.

Using the EOS name has dual meanings, as it also is the name from Greek mythology for a goddess of dawn. This links back to the company’s original name of "Kwanon" after the Goddess of Mercy from the Buddhist faith. Seeking a more modern looking name it soon changed to Canon.