Cameras

Canon's name has an unlikely origin: when two Japanese engineers founded the company in 1937 to build Japan's first 35mm cameras, they named it after Kwanon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy — and the first camera logo depicted her image with a flame halo. The name was later anglicized to Canon, but the precision-optics spirit remains: Canon would become the world's largest camera maker and one of its most important printer companies. The modern Canon is built on three businesses: imaging (its EOS DSLR and mirrorless cameras are the professional standard, though smartphone cameras have shrunk the market), printing (inkjet and laser printers — Canon is the world's largest printer maker, selling to homes and offices), and medical & industrial equipment (X-ray machines, CT scanners, and semiconductor lithography equipment — Canon is one of only two companies making lithography machines, alongside ASML, though at older technology nodes). Its optics expertise also feeds a growing business in surveillance cameras and VR lenses. Headquartered in Tokyo with about 180,000 employees and annual revenue near ¥4 trillion (US$27 billion), Canon has survived the camera industry's collapse by diversifying into medical imaging and semiconductor equipment — its nanoimprint lithography is a potential challenger to ASML's EUV monopoly for advanced chips. For professionals and manufacturers, Canon remains the lens company — the optics house that has been making images since before World War II.