Besides Minolta, which camera company made their own GLASS

[srt101man]

When I got into photography in 1970, the Minolta brochures would boast that only two camera companies made their own glass for their lenses but I never knew who was the other one. My guess at the time was it was either Pentax (Ashi Optical Co.) or Leica.

Anybody know the answer?

TIA.

[David Kilpatrick]

I think the reference was to Japan only, as several European companies made their own glass or owned subsidiaries which did it for them. Your Pentax guess is most likely correct, but Olympus may have been who they meant, as Olympus was not originally a 'camera company' but a lens and optical system maker responsible for some major advances in glass technology, which happened to make cameras and hit paydirt with the half-frame craze. Whatever the case, Minolta never meant they made all their own glass. They bought glass from Hoya and Schott and many other sources, and made very small quantities of their own specialised glass.

'Making' glass is a tricky word. All the camera companies bought in the glass types they needed and 'made' their own by mixing the raw glass to create new balances, or remelting it and adding minerals. Minolta was probably able to claim this because they made some special glass types starting with the basic silica and mineral ingredients, rather than with commercial raw glass to remelt. But most of the lens elements either used bought-in glass as it was, or remelted.

David