The Olympus PEN Half frame camera - history

Until the early 1960s, full frame 35mm film (24X36mm) cameras had struggled to gain acceptance amongst serious photographers but by this time, several Japanese manufacturers were offering half frame (24 X 18mm) models which could shoot 72 frames on a standard cassette of 35mm film.

Olympus Optical Co Ltd., was a leading edge manufacturer of half frame cameras with a design so compact it could easily be pocketed. The Olympus Pen series fitted with a fixed f/3.5 2.8cm D - Zuiko lens started life in October 1959, being manufactured for the company by an OEM supplier. The company's first in-house half frame model made at its Suwa plant was launched in 1960 as the Pen S 2.8 and was followed in 1965 by the Pen S 3.5. Both were fitted with Copal shutters.

Twenty three different models of half frame cameras were produced by Olympus including four variations of the Pen F reflex camera with interchangeable lenses. Excellent image quality was possible with almost all Olympus half frame cameras and some of the most poplar models were the Pen EE of 1963, the Pen D fitted with a Zuiko f/1.9 lens and the Pen W, a special black version of the Pen S fitted with a 25mm f/2.8 lens launched in 1964. Other models included the Pen EED with automatic Cds metering. Reflex models began with the Pen F of 1963. This was followed in 1966 by the Pen FT with Cds meter. The Pen FV was a simpified version of the F and FT without a meter.

In 2009, Olympus announced plans to launch a new digital compact style camera based on the design of the original Pen F models. Using the micro four-thirds interchangeable lens mount, its 4/3rds format sensor is only slightly smaller (17X13mm) than the half frame film format.