Duncan had met a young Japanese photographer, Jun Miki, who introduced Duncan to Nikon lenses. Duncan was working in Tokyo when the Korean War began. Nikon lenses were popularised by the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan. In 1948, the first Nikon-branded camera was released, the Nikon I. During World War II the company operated thirty factories with 2,000 employees, manufacturing binoculars, lenses, bomb sights, and periscopes for the Japanese military.Īfter the war Nippon Kōgaku reverted to producing its civilian product range in a single factory. Over the next sixty years, this growing company became a manufacturer of optical lenses (including those for the first Canon cameras) and equipment used in cameras, binoculars, microscopes and inspection equipment. Nikon Corporation was established on 25 July 1917 when three leading optical manufacturers merged to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kōgaku Tōkyō K.K.
Īmong Nikon's notable product lines are Nikkor imaging lenses (for F-mount cameras, large format photography, photographic enlargers, and other applications), the Nikon F-series of 35 mm film SLR cameras, the Nikon D-series of digital SLR cameras, the Coolpix series of compact digital cameras, and the Nikonos series of underwater film cameras. Also, it has diversified into new areas like 3D printing and regenerative medicine to compensate for the shrinking digital camera market. The company is the eighth-largest chip equipment maker as reported in 2017. Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which it is the world's second largest manufacturer. West Building of Nikon in Nishi-Ōi, Tokyo