Since last week, Olympus Imaging Website has started showing videos in relation to the 50th Anniversary of Olympus PEN. The video shows a hand sketching a model of the Olympus PEN camera coupled with a catchy music. Those short videos are interesting and intriguing as well since the up coming videos coincidentally culminates near the release of the much awaited Mircro Four Thirds Camera from Olympus. So does Olympus Pen have anything to do with the much anticipated camera Olympus would introduce on the 15th of June?
Just to give a brief background, the Olympus PEN is a half frame camera developed by Olympus during the 60’s. A half-frame camera is a camera using a film format at half the intended exposure format. Quoting from the Olympus Website:
By using the half-frame format, Olympus was able to reduce both the weight and size of the Olympus Pen. It featured a simple rear-winding mechanism, a D-Zuiko lens for superior photographic quality, and an attractive design that also made the camera extremely easy to use. The Pen was a compact mix of innovative ideas that triggered the half-frame camera boom of the 1960s and 1970s. Cumulative sales of Pen Series cameras exceeded 17 million units. The highly original concepts embodied in the Pen Series would eventually lead to the creation of the legendary Pen F Series half-frame single-lens system.
So with this, is Olympus set to revive the PEN line with a digital Micro Four Thirds PEN? We can only speculate for now as Olympus has been very tight lipped on the specs and even on the final look of the camera. The only thing they have shown so far is a Mock-up revealed last year at PMA 2008. But recently they have released some very interesting teasers as the official announcement draws close. I’m just hoping the camera would be worth the wait with the anticipation it has built. Truly we are on a very exciting age of digital imaging.
View the Olympus PEN 50th Anniversary Videos here.
Click here for details of the Four Thirds Format.
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