The Miranda Camera Company (ミランダカメラ㈱) , originally named the Orion Camera K.K. (オリオンカメラ㈱) in 1955 and Orion Seiki Sangyō Y.K. (オリオン精機産業有限会社) in 1947, manufactured
camera
A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...
s in Japan between and . Their first camera was the
Miranda T. Many of their products were
single-lens reflex cameras for
135 film
file:135film.jpg, 135 film. The film is wide. Each image is 24×36 mm in the most common "small film" format (sometimes called "double-frame" for its relationship to the "single-frame" 35 mm movie format or full frame after the introduc ...
(35 mm). Unlike many Japanese made cameras, Miranda did not make their own lenses and had to rely on other manufacturers to supply them.
Miranda produced a line of quality
35mm still cameras; a range of over 30 models between first prototypes in 1953 through to the last production model in 1976.
Many had advanced or sophisticated features for their day. Almost all Miranda SLR's shared the same basic lens mount, but the mount complexity increased over the years to accommodate more aperture and metering controls.
All of their
SLR cameras, except the
dx-3, had interchangeable pentaprisms (released by moving a button or twisting the base of the film rewind knob), and a unique dual lens mount; an external bayonet mount or a 44mm thread mount within the mirror box.
Unable to keep up with the increasing manufacturing automation of the larger manufacturers, and the increasingly sophisticated electronics of competing cameras, Miranda ceased production on December 10, 1976.
Later use of brand by Dixons
In the early 1980s, the British electrical and photographic retailer
Dixons acquired the rights to the ''Miranda'' brand and used it on a range of photographic equipment.
This included
badge-engineered
In the automotive industry, rebadging (also known as badge engineering, an intentionally ironic misnomer in that little or no actual engineering takes place) is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. ...
versions of
Cosina cameras which were distributed in several European countries.
,
Dixons Retail (later merged into
Dixons Carphone which in turn became today's
Currys plc) still had the rights to the brand in several countries
but no longer used it and planned to sell the brand off.
References
External links
*
Camerapedia article
{{Currys plc
Currys plc
Japanese brands
Photography equipment manufacturers of Japan