OLYMPUS OM-30
1983
In the early 1980s everybody
was experimenting with
autofocusing in 35mm SLRs
and, in the OM-30, Olympus,
like others, first dabbled with
focus-assist, which delivered
full AF via a motorised lens.OLYMPUS XA2
1980
Yoshihisa Maitani’s other great
triumph at Olympus was the XA
series of 35mm sub-compacts
which employs a clever clamshell
design so serve as both the body
casing and lens cover. The first XA
appeared in 1979 and the last of the
line was the XA4 from 1985.
OLYMPUS OM-3
1984
Designed as a replacement
to the long-serving OM-1N,
the OM-3 wasn’t nearly
as successful, perhaps
because demand for an
all-mechanical 35mm SLR
had steadily declined over
the previous decade.OLYMPUS C-AF
1981
This was Olympus’s first autofocus
35mm compact camera and also
its first with a built-in flash. The
film advance and rewind were still
manual though.
OLYMPUS OM-4
1983
Olympus was committed to
developing more accurate
TTL metering and the OM-4
introduced multiple spot
measurements (up to eight)
with the option of biasing to
emphasise either highlights
or shadows.OLYMPUS AFL-T
1986
The first Olympus AF 35mm compact
to offer twin focal length settings
(36mm f2.8 and 60mm f4.5) which
was a popular configuration before
the built-in zoom arrived.OLYMPUS AF-1 TWIN
1988
Another twin focal length
AF compact – this time with
35mm f3.5 and 70mm f6.3
settings – but this time with a
weather-proofed body.that inspires increasing satisfaction
as the photographer gets to know
it better, it will gain a permanent
place in his affections as an
indispensable photographic tool.
“To achieve such distinction was
the aim of the OM System and the
reason for its conception.”
Maitani achieved his objectives
by re-arranging the internal layout
of the 35mm SLR, utilising what
he called the “empty areas” inside
the camera. Among other things,
this resulted in the shutter speed
selector being located around the
lens mount. Lightweight alloys
replaced brass for the body covers,
and the pentaprism viewfinder was
completely redesigned to eliminate
the traditional condenser (further
saving weight). Even brass screws
were replaced by steel ones
which helped save a few precious
milligrams. He initially toyed with
the idea of a modular box-form
camera with interchangeable film
backs, viewfinders, lenses and a
handgrip, but this ultimately proved
too expensive to build, although
the concept stayed alive until
well after the launch of the more
conventional design that had been
developed at the same time.
This camera was unveiled as
the Olympus M-1 at the 1972
Photokina exhibition in Cologne,
Germany. It’s well recorded that
Leica subsequently objected to the
‘M’ model prefix – even though
the Olympus was an SLR and not
a rangefinder camera – so, when
Maitani’s new baby was officially
launched in 1973, it was called the
OM-1. It was, of course, a game-changer not just for Olympus but
for 35mm photography. It was
soon followed by the electronic
OM-2 (1975) which pioneered
off-the-film (OTF) metering for
more accurate exposure control
and, subsequently, came multi-
spot measurements (with biasing
for either highlights or shadows)
in the OM-3 and OM-4 (both
introduced in 1983), spot metering
in the OM-2 Spot Program (1984),
and the multi-zone ‘Electro-
Selective Pattern’ (ESP) system in
the OM-40 Program (1985).
At the height of the OM
System’s popularity, it boasted
a veritable who’s who of ‘big
name’ photographers as users –
among them David Bailey, Patrick
Litchfield, Uwe Ommer, Terence
Donovan, Ernst Haas, Eric Hosking(best known for his stunning
images of birds) and Don McCullin
(who participated in early testing of
M-1 prototypes). It was the camera
system of choice for National
Geographic’s photographers and
there were plenty of celebrity
users too, including F1 champion
James Hunt, mountaineer Chris
Bonnington and British decathlete
Daley Thompson.
By the mid-1970s Olympus
had been propelled into the ‘big
five’ of 35mm SLR manufacturers
alongside Canon, Minolta, Nikon
and Pentax.
Many of these sales were of the
“Two Digit” series of consumer-
level OM 35mm SLRs which
started with the OM-10 in 1979- incidentally the very first winner
of this magazine’s annual ‘Camera
OLYMPUS 1OO YEARS