Canon and the Export Market

Canon’s early attempts to sell cameras outside Japan

Canon EOS 630 Camera

A Balfour, Guthrie advertisement from November of 1952 for the Canon Model IV.

In the two or three years after the war, 1945 thru 1947, Canon almost ceased to exist. In the chaos of those years all of Japan was in turmoil and mere survival was a struggle. The truth is that there was no home market for a fine 35mm camera. Finding a home and enough food to live was all that most people could handle.

Luckily for Canon Japan was flooded with American soldiers firstly as an occupation force and then as troops bound for the Korean War. These foreign troops in Japan noticed Canon’s well made cameras which were obviously of good quality and by their standards extremely inexpensive.

From 1946 to 1949 Canon was perfecting and producing the Model S-II which, for the time, was an excellent camera that closely reflected in form and function the Leica II then available.

They were constantly upgrading their cameras and in 1949 introduced the Model IIB which incorporated a revolutionary viewfinder that offered different selectable magnifications of

of the image for more accurate focusing. These magnifications also approximately gave the view seen by a 50mm lens as well as 100mm and 135mm lenses. This meant an auxilliary viewfinder was not necessary when using lens in these focal ranges.

As a result of their quality and very attractive price Canon was able to secure a place in US Army Base PX Stores on army bases. and it was this market that sustained the company in the late 40’s and early 50’s.

C.R. Skinner Manufacturing Co.

By 1950 Canon had established itself as a maker of affordable quality cameras however Canon knew that their pathway to real growth lay with the international export market, especially in Europe and America.

But there was a problem. One must remember that just five years prior the United States was fighting a bitter war with Japan and the conventional wisdom going around was that the Japanese products were inferior and poorly made. This bias continued into the 1950’s and even later. To now try to convince the American consumer to invest in a Japanese camera, regardless of the lower price, was a tough sell.

To give credibility to their products in North America Canon knew that the fastest way was to enlist the aid of an American agent to represent them. I early 1950 they contracted with C.R. Skinner Manufacturing Co. in San Fransico to market their cameras in America. Unfortunately Canon overestimated the ability of Skinner and Skinner underestimated the difficulties of breaking into this new market regardless of how good the cameras were.

Skinner had no established national sales network in the United States and so its only way to encourage sales was to advertise. Unfortunately, they did not have the budget or experience required to create an effective ad campaign. In April of 1950 Skinner placed an ad in Popular Photography magazine for the Canon II (this was actually the S-II) and the IIB.

Canon EOS 630 Camera

This advertisement from Popular Photography in April of 1950 was placed by C.R. Skinner and is the first Canon ad to appear in U.S. media.

To aid in promoting foreign sales, in May of that year Canon offered a 5 year guarantee, the first such guarantee on a 35mm camera, on the purchase of one of their cameras. It was of no use. Skinner’s efforts were too little too early and sales in North America remained flat.

Jardine, Matheson & Co.

In August of 1950 company president Mitarai made a trip to the United to attend a trade fair and study trends in the camera market outside Japan. The Canon Online Museum tells us that he was still looking for an opportunity to break into the American home market. In those days, before modern jet travel, Japan was a long way away. Japanese equipment was viewed with suspicion and getting it serviced was seen as a problem by the consumer. Canon was looking for a partner that could mount an effective sales campaign and assure customers that their cameras could be serviced in America.

On his trip President Mitarai visited Bell & Howell, a large vendor of camera equipment in the United States, to seek their assistance in entering the American market. Bell and Howell said they were not interested and used as an excuse that the Canon factories were in wooden buildings which they felt were subject to fire. This meant that supply could be interrupted unexpectedly putting at risk the investment in promoting the cameras. Personally I also think that so close to the war, racism played a part in that decision. But that is just my take on it.

Near the end of 1950 Canon entered into a five year contract with Jardine Matheson Co. to manage their overseas export business. This was a large international British company with head offices in Hong Kong and connections world wide. As part of this deal Jardine was to invest in Canon a large sum, possible in the million dollar range, which gave Canon additional capital while they worked on a toe-hold in the international market.

Canon EOS 630 Camera

An advertisement by Jardine, Matheson & Co. with their Japanese Address. The Canon IV Sb was ofen called the IV S2 which it is called in this ad.

Canon Catalogue

Canon Brochure issued by
Jardine Matheson & Co.

Canon Camera 1954 Catalogue

Canon Catalogue  from 1 February 1954 issued by Jardine Matheson & Co.

Canon IVSb Camera

Canon Advertisement published by Balfour, Guthrie

Canon Advertisement issued by
Canon Camera Co. Inc., New York.

Canon IVSb Camera

Balfour, Guthrie & Co.

By 1952 Canon realized that the C.R. Skinner arrangement was
not working and sales were not building in America.  Jardine and Canon moved to end that agreement and they began a search for a different sales agent for the U.S. market.

The company they came up with was Balfour, Guthrie and Co. Ltd. Of New York as their new exclusive agents in the United States. Balfour was a more experienced company with the ability to run a large and effective sales campaign.

With this change in agent US Photographers finally became aware of Canon cameras. One of the earliest, if not the earliest, serious reviews of Canon cameras appeared in November of 1952 in Modern Photography. With greater exposure and with very attractive pricing and the five year guarantee foreign sales began to grow. Peter Dechert tells us that total cameras sold by Canon in 1949 was 5,317 and by 1952 it was 18,021 and that it is estimated that 40,000 cameras or more were sold in 1954. By this time Canon had become a major player in the Japanese home market and was beginning to tap into the export market.

To Canon’s mind U.S. sales were lagging far below what they felt they could be. They were having success at home and the sales on military bases to foreign troops was still sustaining them but their export trade was not what they envisioned. This resulted in 1955 in a revision to the agreement with Jardine and on September 23rd of that year Canon opened its own office in New York City as Canon Camera Company Inc..  The earlier Canon Sales Company, which had never been a useful vehicle, was quietly dispensed with. At the same time the New York office took over the distribution in the United States and terminated the agreement with Balfour, Guthrie.

It was in September of 1957 that Canon opened the European Distribution Center in Geneva Switzerland and took over direct control of European sales from Jardine Matheson there as well.

Canon Model III
Open Button

An early review of the Canon camera found in Modern Photography from November of 1952. Articles such as this alerted the American photographer to the availability of Canon cameras.

Some Bell & Howell History

Bell & Howell Share Certificate

This is a stock certificate (a sample one and not an actual issued share certificate) for the Bell & Howell company. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

At the turn of the last century photography was beginning to find its place in every day life. It was the heyday of Kodak and the emergence of the amateur photographer. This time also saw the beginnings of the modern movie industry.

By 1900 there were those who saw the future in films. In 1913 Cecil B. DeMille made the first of his 70 feature films. In 1914 Sam Goldwyn released his first feature length film. And in 1918 Louis B. Mayer moved his family to Hollywood. The industry was creating itself.

But by the time of these events there was already a nascent industry showing short films and novelties to a curious public. Two early projectionists, Donald Joseph Bell (1869-1934) and Albert Summers Howell (1879-1951), saw an opportunity in creating and selling equipment to this new and growing business.

On February 17, 1907 they incorporated the “Bell & Howell Company” to manufacture motion picture projectors. Their venture paid off and they slowly branched into other devices and equipment for their industry. And in 1934 they introduced the first light weight amateur motion picture camera which used a cassette of film that could be loaded in daylight. This move established them as manufacturers and vendors of amateur photographic equipment.

The company began contracting other camera and photographic equipment manufacturers to create products for them and in this way became a major vendor of cameras and gear. By the time Canon entered into an agreement with Bell & Howell it was a major vendor in the American market.

Bell & Howell

Canon had opened offices in New York but the sales were still slow to build. They felt they still needed to partner with a big American company with a solid reputation in photographic products. They had not forgotten about Bell & Howell and near the end of the 1950’s they entered into further discussions with them and in 1961 they finally came to an agreement with Bell and Howell which resulted in a relationship that lasted through to 1976.

At the time of the agreement the Canon 7 was in production and the Canonflex RM was just a few months away.

This was an agreement on a totally new level for Canon. Not only was Bell & Howell to represent them and sell their cameras but there was to be Bell & Howell branding on some  Canon cameras sold in the United States.

Three forms of branding were apparent. Firstly, Canon cameras were simply promoted by Bell & Howell and Bell & Howell published sales literature under their own name. They advertised and sold Canon Cameras.

Secondly, many cameras came out carrying both company names, Canon and Bell & Howell.

This is an ad for the F-1 camera. Although this was a Canon flagship the advertisement still has in the lower right the Bell & Howell name although that name does not appear on the cameras. But Canon needed the reputation for quality and service that B&H could give them.

This is why you will find Canon camera models branded as Canon and others branded as Canon/Bell & Howell. The cameras were identical except for different names appearing on them.

In this advertisement the names of both companies appears in the ad and on the camera giving the American consumer the comfort of knowing a large well known American company stood behind the cameras.

Both company names appear on this Canonflex RM which was introduced in April of 1962 shortly after the Canon / Bell&Howell agreement was entered into. In all respects it is identical to the Canon branded model except for the names. These B&H branded models are easy to find for the most part and don’t appear to command significant higher prices in most cases.

This Canon FP was produced as a Canon camera but for importation into the United States many displayed both company names however the cameras were identical.

I don’t know if all Canon cameras that came into the United States through Bell & Howell had to have Bell & Howell’s name on them in addition to Canon’s. But some certainly did.

And finally, Bell & Howell put their name alone on some Canon cameras. Usually the lens bore the Canon name but there were bodies that were B&H alone. An example of this is the Canon EX. This camera came out under the Canon name and also was sold as a Bell & Howell camera called the Auto 35/Reflex. They were identical cameras and the lenses all said Canon.

The Canon EX EE was produced also as the Auto Reflex 35 under the Bell & Howell banner.

Canon EX EE Camera

This camera was not released with dual names and on both versions the lenses are the same and bear only the Canon name. Totally the same Camera body.

The Canon case for the EX EE  was also branded as B&H for the Auto 35/Reflex.

Bell & Howell approached Canon about creating another camera they could sell as their own. Canon proposed the TLb but B&H wanted a camera that had flash synchronization and so Canon added a hot shoe to the TLb and the Bell & Howell FD35 was born.

Canon looked at the FD35 and decided to release it as a Canon camera and the Canon TX came out in March of 1975. 

 According to Dechert both cameras were really an updated TLb which itself was a stripped down version of the FTb. Both had a top shutter speed of 1/500th, no self timer, they did not support the Canon Auto-tuning flash system and they had a simpler center weighted average metering system. The major improvement in the FD35 over the TLb was the addition of a hotshoe.

The FD35 was created for Bell & Howell to market. Even the lens on this camera is B&H branded.

This camera was never released with both Canon and Bell & Howell names on it..

It was after the release of the FD35 that Canon also sold this camera  calling it the TX.

The FD35 was introduced first and later Canon came out with the TX which was essentially the same camera. It appears that Canon supplied the FD35 to B&H long after their marketing agreement had run out.

In the photo on the left above examine the name ring on the lens. Compare it to the one on the right. This is the only example I have seen of one of the lenses on a Bell & Howel camera version having any Bell and Howell branding whatsoever. Here you can read “B&H/Canon Lens”. All other cameras I have seen with the B&H brand had strictly Canon lenses. The lens in all respects appears to be the same as the Canon branded lens and of course it fits on any FD lens mount.

And that is what I have been able to learn about Bell & Howell’s connection to Canon. I still have many questions. For instance, did any of the Auto 35’s or FD35’s come out in a black version? (I don’t think so as the TX was never issued in black, which I do know.) Or were there any other lenses bearing B&H markings? (Yes, there were six.  Check out Page 37 of the FD35 Manual.) And that’s what makes a hobby so much fun. So much to learn and so little time to do it in!

This website is the work of R. Flynn Marr who is solely responsible for its contents which are subject to his claim of copyright. User Manuals, Brochures and Advertising Materials of Canon and other manufacturers available on this site are subject to the copyright claims and are the property of Canon and other manufacturers and they are offered here for personal use only.