Miranda Camera Company
Encyclopedia
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
between 1955 and 1978. Their first camera was the Miranda T
Miranda T (camera)
The original Miranda T 35mm SLR camera was launched by the newly established Japanese Orion Camera Co. in 1955. It is the first Japanese 35mm SLR camera to have an eyelevel Pentaprism finder...
. Many of their products were single-lens reflex cameras for 135 film
135 film
The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
(35 mm). Unlike many Japanese made cameras, Miranda did not make their own lenses and had to rely on other manufacturers to supply them.
All 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 producing cameras.
Miranda cameras were a line of quality 35mm single lens reflexes, a range of over 30 models between first prototypes in 1953 through to the last production model in 1978. 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.
Later use of brand
In the early 1980s, the British electrical and photographic retailer DixonsDixons
Dixons is an online retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is owned by Dixons Retail plc.With its origins in a photographic shop opened by Charles Kalms, the chain had a store in most towns and cities across the UK and Ireland...
acquired the rights to the name and used it on a range of photographic equipment. This included badge-engineered
Badge engineering
Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...
versions of Cosina cameras which were distributed in several European countries.
, Dixons Retail still has the rights to the brand in several countries but no longer uses it and plans to sell the brand off.