references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . december 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message canon inc. native name type public k.k. traded as tyo 7751 nyse caj industry electronics founded august 10 1937 ; 79 years ago 1937 08 10 as seikik gaku kenky sho jpn . precision optical industry co. ltd. tokyo japan founder takeshi mitarai goro yoshida saburo uchida takeo maeda headquarters ta tokyo japan area served worldwide key people fujio mitarai chairman & ceo products slr cameras still cameras photocopiers digital cameras camcorders printers scanners lenses lcds ophthalmic instruments magnetic heads micro motors and other office supplies revenue 3.800 trillion 2015 1 operating income 355.21 billion 2015 1 profit 220.20 billion 2015 1 total assets 4.427 trillion 2015 1 total equity 2.966 trillion 2015 1 number of employees 191 889 2015 2 divisions office business unit consumer business unit industry and others business unit subsidiaries oc website global.canon canon inc. kyanon kabushiki gaisha is a japanese multinational corporation specialized in the manufacture of imaging and optical products including cameras camcorders photocopiers steppers computer printers and medical equipment . it is headquartered in ta tokyo japan . 3 canon has a primary listing on the tokyo stock exchange and is a constituent of the topix index . it has a secondary listing on the new york stock exchange . at the beginning of 2015 canon was the tenth largest public company in japan when measured by market capitalization . 4 contents 1 name 2 history 2.1 1937 to 1970 2.2 1970 to 2009 2.3 2010 to present 3 products 3.1 digital cameras 3.2 digital copiers 3.3 printers 3.4 flash units 3.5 scanners 3.6 computers 3.7 camcorders 3.8 virtual reality headset 4 operations 5 environmental record 6 charitable activities 7 sponsorships 8 see also 9 notes 10 references 11 external links name edit the company was originally named seikik gaku kenky sho jpn . precision optical industry co. ltd. . in 1934 it produced the kwanon a prototype for japan s first ever 35 mm camera with a focal plane based shutter . 5 in 1947 the company name was changed to canon camera co. inc. 5 shortened to canon inc. in 1969 . the name canon comes from buddhist bodhisattva guan yin kannon in japanese previously transliterated as kuanyin kwannon or kwanon in english . history edit 1937 to 1970 edit the origins of canon date back to the founding of precision optical instruments laboratory in japan in 1937 by takeshi mitarai goro yoshida saburo uchida and takeo maeda . during its early years the company did not have any facilities to produce its own optical glass and its first cameras incorporated nikkor lenses from nippon kogaku k.k. the later nikon corporation . 6 between 1933 and 1936 the kwanon a copy of the leica design japan s first 35 mm focal plane shutter camera was developed in prototype form . 7 in 1940 canon developed japan s first indirect x ray camera . canon introduced a field zoom lens for television broadcasting in 1958 and in 1959 introduced the reflex zoom 8 the world s first movie camera with a zoom lens and the canonflex . in 1961 canon introduced the rangefinder camera canon 7 and 50mm 1 0.95 lens in a special bayonet mount . in 1964 canon introduced the canola 130 the first japanese made 10 key calculator a substantial improvement on the design of the british bell punch company which introduced the first fully electronic calculator two years earlier with the sumlock anita mark 8 unit . in 1965 canon introduced the canon pellix a single lens reflex slr camera with a semi transparent stationary mirror which enabled the taking of pictures through the mirror . a logo from 1934 depicting bodhisattva kwan on kwanon camera replica with the kasyapa lens hansa canon with the nikkor 50mm f 3.5 lens canon 7 with the canon 50mm f 0.95 lens canon pellix 1970 to 2009 edit in 1971 canon introduced the f 1 a high end slr camera and the fd lens range . in 1976 canon launched the ae 1 the world s first camera with an embedded micro computer . citation needed in 1982 wildlife as canon sees it print ads first appeared in national geographic magazine . canon introduced the world s first inkjet printer using bubble jet technology in 1985 . canon introduced canon electro optical system eos in 1987 named after the goddess of the dawn . eos 650 autofocus slr camera is introduced . also in 1987 the canon foundation was established . in 1988 canon introduced kyosei philosophy . 8 the eos 1 flagship professional slr line was launched in 1989 . 9 in the same year the eos rt the world s first af slr with a fixed semi transparent pellicle mirror was unveiled . in 1992 canon launched the eos 5 the first ever camera with eye controlled af and the powershot 600 its first digital camera . 9 in 1995 canon introduced the first commercially available slr lens with internal image stabilization ef 75 300mm f 4 5.6 is usm . eos 1n rs the world s fastest af slr camera with a continuous shooting speed of 10 frame s at the time . based on the eos 1n the eos 1n rs has a fixed semi transparent pellicle mirror with a hard coat . in 1996 canon introduced a pocket sized digital camera with the advanced photo system named elph in america and ixus in europe . canon entered the digital video camcorder market in 1997 . in 2004 canon introduced the xeed sx50 lcd projector . canon introduced its first high definition camcorder in 2005 . in november 2009 canon made a 730 million us 1.1 billion all cash offer for the dutch printer maker oc . 10 canon had acquired majority ownership of oc by march 2010 11 and completed the acquisition of 100 % of shares in oc by the end of 2011 . 12 a canon f1 a canon ae 1 a canon av 1 a canon eos 650 an original canon digital ixus 2010 to present edit in 2010 canon acquired tereck office solutions inc. 13 on 16 march 2010 canon announced that it was seeking to acquire a new . canon generic top level domain . 14 in the third quarter of 2012 canon s global market share in the sale of printers copiers and multifunction devices amounted to 20.90 percent . 15 in early 2013 canon usa moved into a new 500 million headquarters in melville new york . 16 17 in february 2014 canon announced it would acquire texas based molecular imprints inc a developer of nanoprint lithography systems for an amount speculated to be around 98 million . 18 on 13 june 2014 canon announced it had acquired danish ip surveillance vms software company milestone systems . milestone provides open platform software to allow video management from various vendors in a single interface therefore the company will operate as a separate entity . 19 on 10 february 2015 canon announced that it had intentions to buy swedish security camera maker axis communications for 2.83 billion . 20 on 23 february 2015 axis communications reacted to this news and confirmed that it had received a purchase proposal from canon . the purchase was effectively completed in april 2015 . 21 in november 2015 canon usa filed lawsuits against a number of camera gear retailers in an attempt to stop the sale of gray market camera gear . retailers include get it digital all new shop and f & e trading . 22 in march 2016 canon acquired toshiba medical systems corporation for 5.9 billion . 23 products edit see also list of canon products canon manufactures consumer imaging products including printers scanners binoculars compact digital cameras film slr and digital slr cameras lenses video camcorders and visual solutions . the business solutions division offers 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 . devito verdi was hired for an award winning humorous campaign with the concept if business were that easy you wouldn t need us using old office footage to describe the new ways canon business solutions was bringing copiers and office supplies forward . lesser known canon products include medical optical and broadcast products including ophthalmic and x ray devices broadcast lenses semiconductors digital microfilm scanners and handy terminals . digital cameras edit main articles canon powershot canon powershot g canon digital ixus canon eos canon ef lens mount canon ef s lens mount and canon ef m lens mount canon has been manufacturing and distributing digital cameras since 1984 starting with the rc 701 . the rc series was followed by the powershot and digital ixus series of digital cameras . canon also developed the eos series of digital single lens reflex cameras dslr which includes high end professional models . related to the consumer trend of switching compact cameras to smartphones in q1 2013 canon inc. operating profit fell 34 percent year on year . 24 a canon eos 50d a canon powershot g9 a canon ixus 240 hs digital copiers edit canon s largest division in terms of revenue is its multifunction copier division . canon distributes its consumer and home office imageclass line though retail outlets and professional grade imagerunner series through subsidiary canon business solutions and independent distributors . the professional grade series ranges from small table tops to large digital presses . printers edit for many years canon was the principal maker of the print engines found in industry standard laser printers . the first models of apple laserwriter and the equivalent products made by hp used the canon lbp cx engine . the next models laserwriter ii series laserjet ii series used the canon lbp sx engine . later models used the canon lbp lx lbp ex lbp px engines and many other canon print engines . current printers use the proprietary bjnp protocol usb over ip port 8611 . a canon wide format printer a canon large format printer flash units edit main article canon eos flash system canon produces a range of high output flash units for its dslr cameras including the 270ex 320ex 430ex 580ex and 580ex ii speedlites and the canon 600ex rt speedlite . canon also produces macro flash units including the macro twin lite and the macro ring lite . scanners edit canon manufactures a wide range of flatbed scanners film scanners and document scanners for home and business use including the canon canoscan 8800f . a canon canoscan 9950f scanner a canon canoscan lide40 computers edit canon introduced two msx home computer models in 1983 the v 10 and the v 20 . both offered just the minimum range of the msx standards without any additional features . the v 20 was able to receive shooting data from the t90 canon camera with the data memory back t90 expansion . canon also sold a canon as400 pc 640x480 color display computer based on 8086 processor using cpm or msdos . options included a 5mb hard drive . shortly before release of the ibm pc . camcorders edit main article list of canon camcorders virtual reality headset edit canon is developing a prototype virtual reality headset canon vr . the headset offers a wider viewing angle 120 degrees than other vr devices but requires handles rather than a head strap . the headset is not yet available on the market . 25 operations edit canon s world headquarters are located at 30 2 shimomaruko 3 chome ohta ku tokyo 146 8501 japan . canon has regional headquarters in america europe middle east africa japan asia and oceania including australia & new zealand . canon europe has two principal