Nidec Copal Corporation

The Nidec Precision Corporation (ニデックプレシジョン株式会社), or The ex. Nidec Copal Corporation (日本電産コパル株式会社), or Copal, is a Japanese manufacturer of optical, electronic and mechanical equipment, primarily for the photographic industry. It has been a subsidiary of Nidec Corporation since 1998, and was formerly known as the Copal Corporation. The company began operation in 1946, with small-scale production of photographic shutters;[1] these are still one of the company's best-known products.

In the 1960s the company began producing the well-known Copal Square vertically travelling metal blade focal plane shutter, which was very successful and was used in cameras by many prominent manufacturers.

The Copal Square-S, for example used in the Konica T3s (1973-1978)[2][3] and the Nikkormat FT,[4] is very reliable. It works over a wide temperature range.[5] The electronically controlled Copal Square E (1968) was used in the Yashica TL Electro X, the Canon EF, the Nikkormat EL. For Minolta XE and the Leica R3 the Copal-Leitz Shutter CLS was developed in 1972. For the professional Nikon F4 built 1988 until 1996 the Copal Square was developed and reached 1/8000 s and 1/250 s with flash.[4]

In 2020 Nidec Copal has round about 6,450 employees[6] and manufactures devices, that are used in automobiles, optical products and Tablets beside shutters for digital cameras.[7][8]

References

  1. Nidec Precision Corporation. Nidec Precision Corporation Official Site retrieved 2026-03-29^
  2. buhla.de, Konica Autoreflex T3 Technical Data and Features, Retrieved 7 November 2020.^
  3. [https://buhla.de/Foto/Konica/eT3NDaten.html buhla.de, Konica Autoreflex T3N 1975-1978, Technical data and features. Retrieved 7 November 2020].^
  4. [http://www.konicafiles.com/6-technical-questions/-konica-and-the-copal-shutter konicafiles.com, Metal shutters. Retrieved 7 November 2020]^
  5. [https://buhla.de/Foto/Konica/eT3Haupt.html buhla.de, Konica Autoreflex T3 1973-1975. Retrieved 7 November 2020].^
  6. nidec.com, Company Profile, retrieved 8 November 2020.^
  7. nidec.com, Business Summary, retrieved 8 November 2020.^
  8. nidec.com, Shutter for digital camera, retrieved 13 November 2020 (english).^