A lot has been said and written about Chinon lenses and the debate continues - all we know is that they were manufactured in Japan, but the question remains - WHO actually manufactured them?

This is from the "History of the Japanese Camera" And "Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras" books. Tomioka K.K. started in 1924, and was maker of OEM lenses for Shinano, Taiyo-do (later Beauty), Tougo-do and Yashima (later Yashica). From 1949 Tomioka was the only supplier of OEM lenses for Yashica until at least the mid 1970's. Can't find if Yashica owns Tomioka; as of 1985 Tomioka was still listed as independent lens maker. Yashica started as TLR maker, Yashica bought Nippon (Nicca) in 1958 for their 135 RF technology, moved into 135 SLR's in 1960, combined with Zeiss in 1975, and all was eaten by Kyocera.

Chinon was originally Sanshin Seikakusho in Chino City (thus Chinon) founded in 1948, and made camera and lens components for Olympus, Ricoh and Yashica. Made its first whole lens in 1959. From 1972, Chinon made products under their own name: their optical division made lenses for their cameras and for video and movie cameras. GAF, Argus, Agfa, Prinzflex, Revue (and even 2 late non-Swiss Alpa's) are rebadging of Chinon products for export distribution.