Australian Camera – September-October 2019

interchangeablelensesanda
systemofaccessories.
ThePenF wasintroduced
in 1963,theworld’sfirsthalf-
frameSLRcamera.Thekeyto
itscompactnesswasturningthe
reflexmirroronitssidein orderto
keepthebodyshellstreamlined.
ThiswasanideaOlympusrevisited
40-or-soyearslaterwiththeE-300
andE-330digitalSLRs(albeitit
somewhatlesssuccessfully).The
PenF’sviewfinderemployedan
arrangementcomprisinga prism,
mirrorsandlenses...theporro
prismdesignoriginallycreated
forcompactbinoculars.Another
cleverelementofthePenF was
itsshutterwhich,althougha focal
planetype,employeda rotary
disc(madefromsuperlightweight
titaniumfoil)whichallowedflash

syncat allspeedsuptothefastest

settingof1/500second.Therewas

a wideselectionoflenseswhich,

in theend,numbered 18 models

• spanning28mmto1150mm
  in theirfull-35mmequivalents–
  includingtwozooms,a macroand
  a reflex-typesupertelephoto.There
  werealsomountadaptorsfor
  Canon,Exakta,NikonandPentax
  35mmSLRlensesplus,lateron,
  itsownOMsystemlenses.
  Therewereeventuallythree
  models– theoriginalF, theFT
  (1966)witha built-inTTLexposure
  meter,andtheFV(1967)which
  wasanupdatedversionofthe
  meterlessoriginalwith,among
  otherthings,a brighterviewfinder.

MakingHistory

Bythemid-1960s,though,it was

clearthatthenextbigthingin

photographywasgoingtobe

the35mmSLR,already

popularisedbyPentax’s

Spotmatics.Maitani’schallenge

wastorepackagethesingle

lensreflexconfigurationand

thefull-frame35mmformatin

somethingthatwasbothsmaller

andlighter.Infact,hedidn’tjust

wanta slightreductionin thesize

orweight;hewantedbothto

behalved,takingtheNikonF as

thereferencepoint.Intheend,

thisprovedtobeover-ambitious,

particularlybecauseit would

havecompromiseddurability,

butneverthelesshestillwanted

tocreatea fully-featured35mm

SLRthatwouldlookandfeel

significantlysmallerthananything

anybodyhadseenbefore.

Olympus’sfirst35mmSLR–

theFTL,introducedin 1971– was

a competentbutunremarkable

camerawhichusedthePraktica 42

mmscrewthreadlensmount.

Maitanirealisedthiswasn’t

goingtocutthemustardin an

increasinglycompetitivemarket.

“Thereis littlevaluein

producinga newcamerathatis

hardlydistinguishablefromits

competitors,” hesaida fewyears

later.“If,however,a newsingle

lensreflexcameraappearsonthe

marketthatprovidesa functionality

anda systemperformance

unavailablein previouscameras

ofthistype,itswelcomewillbe

assuredsinceit makesa true

contributiontoraisingstandards

andestablishingnewvalues.If, in

addition,it is thekindofcamera

OLYMPUSMDN

1969

YoshihisaMaitani’soriginalideasfor

a morecompact35mmSLRinvolved

modular,box-formcameraswith

interchangeablefilmbacks,viewfinders,

lensesanda handgrip.TheM-1was

developedalongsidetheMDNanda

lower-endmodel,theMDS.

OLYMPUS OM-1

1973

The M-1 eventually launched

as the OM-1 after Leica

complained about the

original model designation.

Regardless of what it was

called, the OM-1 was always

going to be a huge success.

OLYMPUSOM-40PROGRAM
1985
TheOM-40employeda newmulti-area
meteringviaa systemOlympuscalled
“Electro-SelectivePattern”orESP.It
employedtwozonestoseparatelymeasure
thecentreoftheframeandthesurrounds.

OLYMPUS OM-10

1979

The “Two Digit” line of

OM SLRs were aimed at

entry-level users, and the

OM-10 was an aperture-

priority auto model (although

a manual mode adapter

became available later on).

OLYMPUS OM-2 SPOT PROGRAM

1985

Next-gen OM-2 adopted the restyled body

design of the OM-3/4 series along with a spot

metering option and programmed exposure

control.

OLYMPUS OM-4TI

1986

Olympus pioneered the use of

titanium body panels to provide

extra strength and durability with

pro-grade 35mm SLRs.

SPECIAL FEATURE