Category: Olympus

Olympus introduced its first camera in 1936, the Semi-Olympus I, fitted with the first Zuiko-branded lens. The first innovative camera series from Olympus was the Pen, launched in 1959. The half-frame format, allowing 72 pictures of 18 × 24 mm format on a standard 36 exposure roll of film, made Pen cameras compact and portable for their time.

The Pen system design team, led by Yoshihisa Maitani, later created the OM system, a full-frame professional 35mm SLR system designed to compete with Nikon and Canon’s bestsellers. The OM system introduced a new trend towards more compact cameras and lenses, being much smaller than its competitors and presenting innovative design features such as off-the-film (OTF) metering and OTF flash automation. Eventually, the system included 14 different bodies, approximately 60 Zuiko-branded lenses, and numerous camera accessories. This category aims to describe some of those Olympus cameras.

Olympus now manufactures compact digital cameras and is the designer of the Four Thirds system standard for digital single-lens reflex cameras. Olympus is also the largest manufacturer of Four-Thirds lenses, under the Zuiko Digital brand.

Visit the Olympus website to view its current range. 

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