Zunow
Zunow (ズノー光学, Zunō Kōgaku), short for Zunow Optical Industry Co. Ltd., was a Japanese optical company. Zunow began as Teikoku Kōgaku Kenkyūjo (帝国光学研究所) in 1930, and made military material before and during WWII. In 1954 it became Teikoku Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha (帝国光学工業株式会社). Zunow began to make camera lenses in 1953, including lenses in Leica screw mount and Contax rangefinder mount, among others. Its lenses were famous for their speed, and the 50mm/1.1 Zunow was a revolutionary design at the time.
Zunow also provided less expensive lenses for the fixed-lens cameras (such as the Neoca) of other Japanese manufacturers.
In 1958, Zunow also introduced a very ambitiously designed 35mm SLR, simply marked "Zunow", the first 35mm SLR camera with auto diaphragm, instant-return mirror, and bayonet mount, interchangeable lenses. Production and capital problems resulted in low production and helped bring on the collapse of the company, which was acquired by Yashica in 1960.
Contents
Lenses made by Zunow
Cameras with lenses made by Zunow
This section is incomplete.
Zunow 60/2.8
- Halma 44
- Prinz 44
- Walz Automat 44
Zuminor 75/3.5
(This lens was labeled Zunow but actually designed and perhaps also made by Ofuna.)
- Mine Six IIIS, IIISB
45mm f1.8
- Neoca SV Deluxe
- Auto Terra Super
- Optika Auto 35
45mm f2.8
- Neoca S
- Neoca SV Super
Others
- Miranda T (50/1.9)
Links
In English or with some English:
- Zunow at Pacific Rim's Photographica pages
- Zunow at Cameraquest
- Zunow SLR at Ukcamera
- Cameras with Zunow lens in Nekosan's website
In Japanese:
