Company Profile: Miranda

Pekka Buttler, 08/2025

Orion Seiki Sangyō / Miranda Camera

The Miranda Camera Company, founded in Japan, traces its roots to 1947 under the name Orion Seiki Sangyō Y.K (Orion Precision Products Industries Co., Ltd.). Its founders, Ogihara Akira and Ōtsuka Shintarō – two former naval armaments engineers – initially set up a small camera workshop doing modifications and adapters for existing cameras. The company was named after the constellation of Orion, because Ogihara had a special interest in astronomy.

In the early 1950s – at a time when most Japanese cameras were still rangefinders – Orion Seiki set out to develop single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras. In 1953, they presented the Phoenix SLR prototype to potential investors. With funding secured1, the company was 1955 renamed to Orion Camera K.K. and the Miranda T camera was launched.

With the launch of the Miranda T was, Orion Camera was the second Japanese camera company to launch an SLR (second only after Asahi/Pentax), while the Miranda T was the first Japanese SLR to come with a pentaprism finder (and an interchangeable at that). The Miranda T was also the first Japanese interchangeable lens SLR to be launched using a proprietary bayonet mount (although the camera also had a thread mount that other lenses could easily be adapted to). In 1957 the company renamed itself Miranda Camera K. K.

During the company’s first decade as an SLR manufacturer, it launched altogether 15 different SLR models and one can generally say that early Miranda cameras did not lack in terms of innovative features. There were however two aspects that held Miranda back.

First, Miranda was a pure camera company and it did not manufacture lenses. Hence Miranda was also entirely dependent on other companies to produce lenses for its cameras2. While the original Miranda T of 1955 would theoretically have been the first Japanese camera to offer auto aperture lenses (and by a considerable margin), it took a a couple of years for those lenses to become available3. This gave other camera manufacturers (especially those who also made their own lenses) sufficient time to catch up.

Second, Miranda did not have the best of fortunes in terms of distribution. Matsushima Shashin-yōhin K.K which acted as Miranda’s Japanese distributor (and even had played a crucial role in funding the Miranda T) reoriented its business in 1959 away from distribution and customer service and moved into manufacture of specialised equipment4. Distribution was briefly taken over by Ricoh, but this state lasted less than a year. This left Miranda without a Japanese distributor for the crucial period of 1959–1964.

In the meantime, Miranda had found a reliable US distributor in the Allied Impex Corporation (AIC) meaning that Miranda was not left high-and-dry. Moreover, in AIC’s Soligor brand, Miranda found a reasonably stable supply in lenses5. While AIC had not been Miranda’s only international distributor (Mayfair Photographic Suppliers acted as UK distributor6, and a German subsidiary of AIC handled much of continental Europe, but clear records on others are not available), it is reasonable to say that Miranda became overdependent on AIC. After AIC’s going public AIC ended up taking over the entire Miranda company in 1968–1969.

While Miranda had started slightly lagging behind other Japanese camera companies as the 1960s progressed, the situation was not yet dire. AIC seems to have thought that an infusion of cash and some new management ideas would be all that was needed to make Miranda into an international star product. Problematically, both assumptions turned out untenable7.

After 7 years of AIC (mis)management, at best modest profitability and a product portfolio increasingly lagging behind (especially in terms of electronics and automation) the Miranda camera company of Japan declared bankruptcy in 1976.

Miranda camera models (1955–1976)

Model name (year)Lens mountShutter releaseMeteringMetering typeExposure automation?Interchangeable viewfinder8Max shutter speedNotesManual
Miranda T
(1955)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – YES1/500 swinding knob
Miranda T-II
(1957)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – YES1/1000 swinding knob
Miranda A
(1958)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda B
(1958)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/1000 s
Miranda ST
(1959)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/500 swinding knob
Miranda S
(1959)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/500 swinding knobExternal link
Miranda C
(1959)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda D
(1959)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/500 sExternal link
Miranda automex
(1960)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnot TTL, SeleniumOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem II1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda DR
(1962)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone– – – – System I1/500 sExternal link
Miranda automex II
(1963)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnot TTL, SeleniumOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem II1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda F
(1963)		Miranda bayonet & M44Front & Topnone– – – – System I1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda automex III
(1964)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnot TTL, CdSOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem II1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda FM
(1964)		Miranda bayonet & M44Front & Topnot TTL, CdSmetering prismMatch-needlen/a1/1000 sFM = F plus Miranda Penta-prism CdS meter
Miranda G / GT
(1965)		Miranda bayonet & M44Frontnone(metering prism)9(Match-needle)System I1/1000 sGT = G plus uncoupled metering finderExternal link
Miranda Fv / FvT
(1966)		Miranda bayonet & M44Front & Topnone(metering prism)(Match-needle)System I1/1000 sFvT = Fv plus uncoupled metering finderExternal link
Miranda Sensorex
(1966)		Miranda bayonet & M44FrontTTL, CdSOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem II1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda Sensomat
(1968)		Miranda bayonet & M44FrontTTL, CdSStop-down meteringMatch-needleSystem I1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda Sensomat RE (1970)Miranda bayonet & M44Front & TopTTL, CdSStop-down meteringMatch-needleSystem I1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda Sensomat RS (1970)Miranda bayonet & M44Topnone– – – – System I1/1000 s
Miranda Sensorex-C
(1970)		Miranda bayonet & M44FrontTTL, CdSOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem III1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda Sensorex II
(1972)		Miranda bayonet & M44FrontTTL, CdSOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem III1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda Auto Sensorex EE
(1972)		Miranda bayonet & M44TopTTL, CdSOpen apertureShutter priority, ManualSystem III1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda dx-3
(1974)		Miranda bayonet & M44TopTTL, CdSOpen aperture –OK+ LEDNO1/1000 selectronically controlled shutterExternal link
Miranda Sensomat TM (1974)M42TopTTL, CdSStop-down meteringMatch-needleSystem I1/1000 sSlightly modernised Sensomat RE with M42 mountExternal link
Miranda
RE-II (1975)		Miranda bayonet & M44TopTTL, CdSOpen apertureMatch-needleSystem III1/1000 sExternal link
Miranda
EE-2
(1976)		Miranda bayonet & M44TopTTL, CdSOpen apertureShutter priority, ManualSystem III101/1000 sExternal link

Miranda redux (1980->)

In the early 1980s, the UK photo distributor Dixon’s bought the rights to the Miranda name and started selling off-brand Japanese photo gear (cameras, lenses, accessories) under the Miranda name. All these cameras were Pentax K mount cameras and most of them were various Cosina products (with one Chinon thrown in for good measure11.

Similarly, most Dixon’s/Miranda lenses were rebranded Cosina lenses, but some other Japanese and Korean lenses were also featured.

For the sake of crystal-like clarity, these 1980s ‘Miranda’ products had nothing to do with the Miranda camera company of Japan.

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Footnotes

  1. According to records, the key funder of Orion Camera company was Mikami Makoto who operated the camera retail business Matsushima (Matsushima Shashin-yōhin K.K), which already acted as distributor for Orion Seiki Sangyō’s existing product portfolio. ↩︎
  2. In the Pre-1955 Japanese camera&optics industry this might have been less of an issue, because it used to be very much par for the course that companies made lenses for other companies’ cameras (The first Canon cameras were launched featuring Nikon lenses). However, after the mid fifties – with most of the Japanese camera&optics companies scrambling to launch their own system cameras – Miranda found that lenses were not as easily available, not even for a groundbreaking camera like the Miranda T. ↩︎
  3. Like with the Exakta camera, early Miranda cameras relied on a Pressure Activated Diaphragm (PAD) to facilitate auto aperture. In practice, the PAD is an extension of the lens that rests above the shutter button so that the photographer fires the camera by pressing the PAD, which stops down the lens before allowing the shutter to fire.
    While ingeniously modular, this also meant that for a lens manufacturer to offer lenses for the Miranda that facilitated auto aperture, they not only needed to re-engineer their lenses for the Miranda mount, but they also needed to add a PAD-mechanism to that lens. In practice few lens manufacturers were willing to take the gamble before being sure that the Miranda would not flop, hence slowing adoption. ↩︎
  4. Matsushima Shashin-yōhin K.K changed its name in 1964 to Kabushiki Kaisha Mikami and focused on manufacturing optics and cameras for the broadcast industry. ↩︎
  5. Online there are various sources that mention a 1963 Miranda investment into a lens factory. That is likely a spurious account repeated uncritically, because at no stage did Miranda start manufacturing its own lenses. That said, it seems that (within the wider portfolio of Soligor products) there was a point (likely in the early 1960s) at which a specific lens of Soligor lenses specifically for the Miranda system was engendered. ↩︎
  6. See https://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Mayfair_PS.html ↩︎
  7. See https://web.archive.org/web/20091021103012/http://geocities.com/bill14210/demise/demise.html ↩︎
  8. Miranda used 3 different interchangeable systems of viewfinders, commonly referred to as Systems I through III. Within system, viewfinders were interchangeable. Hence, as soon as a metering prism was made available for the Miranda G in 1965, you could slot it on your Miranda A (effectively giving your 1958 SLR (uncoupled) metering). ↩︎
  9. The Miranda G camera body in itself did not have any system for metering, but you could attach a T-type metering prism (the resulting camera is then typically referred to as a GT). ↩︎
  10. Miranda EE-2 uses special viewfinder type with hot shoe. ↩︎
  11. ‘Miranda’ named cameras sold by Dixon’s during the 1980s were the:
    • Miranda MS-1 (really: Cosina CT1G)
    • Miranda MS-1 Super (really: Cosina CT1 Super)
    • Miranda MS-2 Super (really: Cosina CT9)
    • Miranda MS-3 (really: Cosina CT9)
    • Miranda MS-1N (really Cosina CT1 EX) and
    • Miranda Memoflex (really: Chinon CE-4). ↩︎

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