ideas type public kk traded as tyo 4902 industry electronics predecessor konica 1873 2003 minolta 1928 2003 founded august 5 2003 headquarters marunouchi chiyoda tokyo japan key people shoei yamana president and ceo products office equipment medical imaging graphic imaging optical devices measuring instruments revenue 1.011 trillion 2015 net income 32.70 billion 2015 number of employees 41 600 as of march 2015 website konicaminolta.com konica minolta inc. konika minoruta is a japanese technology company headquartered in marunouchi chiyoda tokyo with offices in 49 countries worldwide . 1 the company manufactures business and industrial imaging products including copiers laser printers multi functional peripherals mfps and digital print systems for the production printing market . konica minolta s managed print service mps is called optimised print services . the company also makes optical devices including lenses and lcd film ; medical and graphic imaging products such as x ray image processing systems colour proofing systems and x ray film ; photometers 3 d digitizers and other sensing products ; and textile printers . contents 1 history 1.1 company history 1.2 camera history 1.2.1 manual focus 35mm film slrs 1.2.2 autofocus 35mm film slrs 1.2.3 digital cameras 1.2.4 digital slrs 1.3 business equipment history 1.3.1 multifunctional devices 1.3.2 printers 2 business companies 2.1 konica minolta business solutions inc. 2.1.1 multi functional peripherals mfps 2.1.2 konica minolta printing solutions 2.2 konica minolta opto inc. 2.3 konica minolta medical & graphic inc. 2.4 all covered it services from konica minolta 2.5 konica minolta sensing inc. 2.6 kinkos 3 sponsorships 4 see also 5 references 5.1 specific references 5.2 general references 6 external links history edit company history edit konica minolta was formed by a merger between japanese imaging firms konica and minolta announced on january 7 2003 with the corporate structure completing the re organization in october 2003 . 2 3 different group companies such as the operations in the headquarters and national operating companies began the process around the same time however the exact dates vary for each group company . konica minolta uses a globe mark logo that is similar however not identical to the logo of the former minolta company . 4 it also uses the same corporate slogan as the former minolta company the essentials of imaging . on january 19 2006 the company announced that it was quitting the camera business due to high financial losses . slr camera service operations were handed over to sony starting on march 31 2006 and sony has continued development of cameras that are compatible with minolta autofocus lenses . originally in the negotiations konica minolta wanted a cooperation with sony in camera equipment production rather than a sell out deal but sony vehemently refused saying that it would either acquire everything or leave everything that had to do with the camera equipment sector of km . subsequently konica minolta withdrew from the photo business on september 30 2006 . three thousand seven hundred employees were laid off . 5 konica minolta closed down their photo imaging division in march 2007 . the color film color paper photo chemical and digital mini lab machine divisions have ceased operations . dai nippon printing purchased konica s odawara factory with plans to continue to produce paper under dai nippon s brand . cpac acquired the konica chemical factory . konica expanded its business presence and currently sells its products in the americas asia pacific europe middle east and africa . camera history edit manual focus 35mm film slrs edit minolta hi matic auto focus minolta had been a competitor in the 35 mm slr market since the development of the manual focus mf srt and other models in the mid 1960s . minolta positioned most of its cameras to compete in the amateur market though it did produce a very high quality mf slr in the xd 11 . minolta s last mf slr cameras were the x370 and x700 . shanghai optical co. seagull purchased tools and production plant from minolta at different times making some x300 series for minolta branding and continues to release md mount film slrs compatible with the old system under the seagull name . autofocus 35mm film slrs edit until the sale of konica minolta s photo imaging unit to sony in 2006 konica minolta produced the former minolta range of 35 mm autofocus single lens reflex cameras variously named minolta maxxum in north america minolta dynax in europe and minolta alpha in japan and the rest of asia . this range was introduced in 1985 with the minolta maxxum 7000 and culminated with the professional maxxum 9 de 1997 later made in a titanium body 9ti and technically advanced 7 1999 . the final minolta 35 mm slr af cameras were the maxxum 50 and 70 dynax 40 and 60 built in china . digital cameras edit the dimage a200 a bridge type camera the most sophisticated digital camera made by konica minolta konica minolta had a line of digital point and shoot cameras to compete in the digital photography market . their dimage line originally styled as dim ge later as dimage included digital cameras and imaging software as well as film scanners . they created a new category of slr like cameras with the introduction of the dimage 7 and dimage 5 . these cameras mixed many of the features of a traditional slr camera with the special abilities of a digital camera . they had a mechanical zoom ring and electronic focus ring on the lens barrel and used an electronic viewfinder evf showing 100 per cent of the lens view . they added many high level features such as a histogram and made the cameras ttl compatible with minolta s final generation of flashes for film slrs . the controls were designed to be used by people familiar with slr cameras however the manual zoom auto focus lens was not interchangeable . the model 5 had a 1 1.8 inch sensor with 3.3 megapixels and the fixed zoom was equal to a 35 250 mm relative to 24 36mm format . the dimage 7 later 7i 7hi and a1 had 5 megapixel sensors for which the same lens provided 28 200 mm equivalent coverage . the later a2 and a200 increased the sensor resolution to 8 megapixels . the dimage 5 and 7 original models were more sensitive to infrared light than later models which incorporated more aggressive ir sensor filters so have become popular for infrared photography . the a1 a2 a200 integrated a sensor based piezoelectrically actuated anti camera shake system . before the closure of the photo imaging unit the dim ge lineup included the long zoom z line the e g lines the g series finally incorporating former konica models the thin light x line and the advanced a line . the dimage g500 was a five megapixel compact digital camera manufactured by konica minolta in 2003 . it comes in a stainless steel case 3x zoom lens with a retractable barrel and dual secure digital and magicgate card slots the camera has a 1.3 second startup time . 6 7 digital slrs edit minolta made some early forays into digital slrs with the rd 175 in 1995 and the rd 3000 in 1999 but were the last of the large camera manufacturers to launch a successful digital slr camera using a current 35 mm af mount in late 2004 . the rd 175 was based on the maxxum dynax 505si 35 mm film slr and used three different inch ccd image sensors two for green and one for red and blue supplied with images by a light splitting mechanism using prisms mounted behind the lens . the rd 3000 used vectis aps film lenses and again used multiple ccds this time two 1.5 mp inch sensors stitched to give a 2.7 mp output image . it was not until late 2004 after the merger with konica that they launched the dynax maxxum 7d a digital slr based on the very successful dynax maxxum 7 35 mm slr body . the unique feature of this camera is that it features an in body anti shake system to compensate for camera shake . however by 2004 canon and nikon had a whole range of digital slr cameras and many serious photographers had already switched thus leading konica minolta to withdraw from the market and transfer assets to sony . the only two konica minolta digital slrs to reach production before the company s withdrawal were the dynax maxxum 7d and the dynax maxxum 5d which is an entry level model that shared the 7d s sensor and anti shake technology . in early 2006 sony announced its sony alpha line of digital slrs based on konica minolta technology and stated they were scheduled to launch production in the summer of 2006 . the sony alpha 100 announced on june 6 2006 is generally agreed to have been a konica minolta design based on the 5d with minimal sony input . the range of 21 sony lenses announced at that time also included only revisions of earlier minolta designs or models which had been in development rebadged and with minor cosmetic changes . the sony alpha range has remained compatible with all minolta af system lenses and most accessories from 1985 onwards . in 2000 minolta announced the introduction of super sonic motor ssm focusing to a limited number of new lenses . this dispensed with a mechanical drive between camera and lens but only slrs made from 1999 onwards the dynax maxxum 7 and later were compatible the professional dynax 9 requiring a factory upgrade to operate . sony announced a program in 2008 to fit more future lenses with ssm and these designs may therefore not be compatible with 1985 1999 slr bodies . business equipment history edit multifunctional devices edit for some time after the merger between konica and minolta both product lines continued to be sold while research and development efforts were underway to create new products . the first konica minolta badged products were almost entirely konica or minolta products however as they were the next generation products being produced by both companies before the merger . these products included mfps such as the konica minolta bizhub c350 a minolta design also badged as the konica 8022 and minolta cf2203 and konica minolta 7235 a konica design . successive models included greater integration between the two sets of technologies and current products such as the bizhub c451 pictured below in this article contain many technologies from both histories . some products such as the bizhub 501 are more noticeably an engine design from one company rather the other however the system itself including operation features and rip technologies are in the new style that holds little legacy from either former company . as with many mfp manufacturers some of the market segments are not produced directly by the manufacturer . in konica minolta s case many smaller soho mfp products such as the bizhub 130f wearing minebea marks in hardware and in software drivers are produced by third parties . by the same token many other companies also re badge konica minolta products under oem agreements . printers edit as the printer operations of the former konica company were limited to printer models of mfp models or re badged printers from other manufacturers while the printer operations of the former minolta company were strong since the purchase of qms completed in 2000 8 after increasing influence and shareholding by minolta printer operations were initially not affected greatly by the konica minolta merger . in the 1980s qms made the kiss laser printer the most inexpensive then available at 1995 . 9 due to the increased complexity of both mfp and printer devices konica minolta increased technology sharing between the two lines of products . in many regions this has led to the integration of the printer products company