Canon Products

In 1933, a small laboratory dedicated to making high-quality cameras was set up in a simple apartment room in the Roppongi area of Tokyo. At the time, all high-quality cameras were European with the majority coming from Germany. It was in this small room that young people with a big dream earnestly began their work on producing a high-quality Japanese camera, marking the beginning of Canon. Through hard work and with an enterprising spirit, they eventually succeeded in building a prototype, which was named Kwanon after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The following year, in 1935, Japan's first-ever 35mm focal-plane-shutter camera, the Hansa Canon, was born, along with the Canon brand. Canon is a manufacturer of business and consumer imaging products which includes printers, scanners, binoculars, compact digital cameras, film and digital SLR cameras, lenses and video camcorders.

The Business Solutions division offers print and document solutions for small and medium businesses, large corporations and governments. These include multi-functional printers, black and white and color office printers, large format printers, scanners, black and white and color production printers, as well as software to support these products.

Lesser known Canon products include medical, optical and broadcast products, including ophthalmic and x-ray devices, broadcast lenses, semiconductors, digital microfilm scanners, and Handy Terminal Solutions.

Canon digital SLR cameras continue to advance picture quality to greater heights. Combining decades of camera expertise with leading-edge digital technology, Canon develops such key technologies as interchangeable lenses, image sensors, and image processors.