Popular Brands in Asia

GERMANY Leica

The name “Leica” derives from the founder’s surname, Leitz, and the first two letters of the word “camera”. Its first 35mm film prototypes were built in 1913, with the Ur-leica becoming the first commercially available 35mm still camera. The Leica company progressed to manufacturing binoculars, rifle scopes, microscopes, and ophthalmic lenses. Leica’s expensive pricing is due to the fact that its cameras are handmade by highly skilled experts in Germany. Costing around USD4,000, the company’s latest model, the M-E (Typ 240), is one of the more affordable digital cameras in its M series. FOUNDER: ERNST LEITZ

USA Gopro

Gopro’s American founder established the company after taking inspiration from a 2002 surfing trip to Australia. The company is known for its HERO series of compact action cameras, but it has also extended its reach to developing mobile apps and video editing software. In 2015, the company made an easy-to-use editing application, Gopro Studio, available to users. The HERO8 cameras, released in October 2019, are the latest Gopro products, with the “Black” model offering Hypersmooth video stabilisation, 4K recording at up to 60 frames per second, and live streaming. FOUNDER: NICK WOODMAN

AMERICA Polaroid

The Polaroid company was built around an innovative polarizing material developed by scientist and inventor Edwin Land, and its first products were polarising sunglasses. But Land’s company soon became famous for an entirely different kind of product, the instant camera. The first of its kind, the Model 95 Land Camera, went on sale in 1948 and was an “instant” hit. Largely as a result of failing to anticipate the impact of digital cameras on its business, Polaroid filed for bankrupcy in 2001. However, as the company’s assets changed hands over the following years, the Polaroid name lived on, appearing on digital still cameras and video cameras, digital photo frames, and instant mobile printers. In 2017, the company brand and intellectual property were acquired by the Impossible Project, a company founded in 2008 to produce materials for Polaroid cameras after Polaroid’s own production ceased earlier that year. The Impossible Project was renamed Polaroid Originals and its instant cameras began carrying the Polaroid name once more. FOUNDER: EDWIN H. LAND