It was December 1949 when the  Yashima Seiki Company was formed with an initial investment of just $566 and Yashica started business in Nagano, Japan making electric clock parts. They branched into camera components and by 1953 had changed name to Yashima Optical Industry Company, Ltd. and released their first complete camera, the Yashimaflex, a 6x6cm twin lens reflex. Lenses were bought from the Tomioka Optical Works.

Yashica Inc.was formed in 1957 in New York to market their products in USA. At this time the Yashica Mat range was released and proved hugely popular. A year later and another name change to Yashica Company Ltd. saw the acquisition of the Nicca Camera Company Ltd. which explains why the Yashica YF made in 1959 retained the Nicca name on the front. 1959 also saw the introduction of the Pentamatic 35mm SLR with its bayonet mount interchangeable lenses

Yashica acquired Zunow Optical Industry Co. Ltd around 1960-61. Zunow was known for its advanced SLR which was the first Japanese 35mm SLR with an auto diaphragm. It had an instant return mirror and interchangeable pentaprism or waist level finders. Today this camera is a rare collector’s item fetching $4,000-$6,000 and more. The Zunow 50mm f/1.1 lens sells easily for $1,200-$1,800 in Japan.

The Yashica Electro-35 released in December 1965 was the world’s first electronically controlled 35mm camera. It had a Yashinon-GX f/1.7 45mm lens. 14 Electro models were released up to1973.

In 1968 Yashica bought Tomioka, its lens supplier, which was by now one the largest and most reputable lens manufacturers in Japan, and renamed the company Tomioka Optical Co. Ltd. It was this year which saw the end of the 6x6 TLR range, the last model being the highly popular (even today) Yashica Mat 124G