Tomioka

Est. 1924

Tomioka

Tomioka was a Japanese optical manufacturer founded by Masashige Tomioka and later incorporated into the Yashica and Kyocera industrial groups. It produced camera lenses, optical components, and equipment for both its own products and other companies. Tomioka is important in the history of Japanese optical manufacturing, but the collapsible Lausar 50mm f/4.5 associated with the 1937 Tomioka Lausar camera is not a true Leica Thread Mount lens despite using a thread of approximately 39mm diameter.

History

Founding / Early Years

Masashige Tomioka established Tomioka Kogaku Kenkyujo, the Tomioka Optical Research Laboratory, around 1924 after earlier work at Nippon Kogaku. The operation expanded in the early 1930s into a larger optical and mechanical manufacturing business. Tomioka developed Lausar-branded lenses using Japanese optical glass at a time when the domestic industry was working to reduce its dependence on imported components.

Market Entry

The Tomioka Lausar camera appeared in 1937. Although its collapsible lens and body styling resemble Leica equipment, the camera uses 127 roll film for a 3 x 4cm image rather than 35mm film. Its Lausar 5cm f/4.5 lens has a nominally similar screw diameter to Leica M39, but a different thread specification. It should not be screwed onto a Leica camera, since doing so can damage the lens or camera threads.

Expansion / Modern Period

Tomioka expanded during the wartime period, lost a factory in 1945, and was reorganized in the postwar years. Kyocera's official corporate history records incorporation in Ome in 1949, production of SLR and copier lenses in the 1960s, and a capital relationship with Yashica beginning in 1968. A technical alliance with Carl Zeiss followed in the 1970s. Tomioka joined Kyocera through the 1983 merger with Yashica and was renamed Kyocera Optec in 1991. Its later role centered on advanced optical design, OEM manufacturing, and industrial components.

Product Lines

Lausar Cameras and Lenses

Early products included Lausar-branded photographic lenses and the 1937 Tomioka Lausar roll-film camera.

OEM Camera Lenses

Tomioka manufactured lenses and components for Yashica and other brands, although attribution of any individual third-party lens requires model-specific evidence.

Industrial Optics

Later operations included copier, projection, imaging, and precision optical products within the Kyocera group.

Technical Characteristics

Feature	Description
Original specialty	Japanese photographic lens and precision-optics manufacture
Reference lens	Lausar 50mm f/4.5 Collapsible
Reference camera	Tomioka Lausar, 3 x 4cm format on 127 roll film
Thread warning	Approximately 39mm diameter, but not Leica M39 or LTM
Leica compatibility	The original Lausar lens should not be mounted on a Leica screw camera
Later corporate lineage	Yashica, Kyocera, and Kyocera Optec

Market Reception

Tomioka has a strong reputation among collectors of Japanese vintage cameras and classic lenses, especially because of its long OEM role and later links with Yashica, Kyocera, and Carl Zeiss production. That reputation has also encouraged unsupported internet attributions. A reliable catalogue should separate documented Tomioka products from lenses assigned to the company only by resemblance. The Lausar 50mm f/4.5 is historically significant, but it belongs to the proprietary Lausar roll-film camera rather than the Leica LTM lens system.

Sources

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