In 1940 Canon developed Japan's first indirect X-ray camera. īetween 19 'The Kwanon', a copy of the Leica design, Japan's first 35 mm focal-plane-shutter camera, was developed in prototype form. During its early years the company did not have any facilities to produce its own optical glass, and its first cameras incorporated Nikkor lenses from Nippon Kogaku K.K. It became the company Precision Optical Instruments, Co., Ltd. The origins of Canon date back to the founding of Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Japan in 1933 by Takeshi Mitarai, Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda. The name Canon comes from Buddhist bodhisattva Kannon ( 観音, ' Guanyin'), previously transliterated as Kuanyin, Kwannon, or Kwanon in English.
In 1947 the company name was changed to Canon Camera Co., Inc., shortened to Canon Inc. In 1934 it produced the Kwanon, a prototype for Japan's first-ever 35 mm camera with a focal-plane-based shutter. The company was originally named Seikikōgaku kenkyūsho (Jpn.
