|
A Little Olympus History
from Wikipedia
Olympus Corporation ( Orinpasu
Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese company
specializing in optics and imaging. Olympus was established on
October 12, 1919, initially specialized in microscope and
thermometer businesses. It is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, while
its United States' operations are based in Center Valley,
Pennsylvania, and European operations are based in Hamburg, Germany.
Olympus has a long history in camera and lens design. In 1936,
Olympus introduced its first camera, the Semi-Olympus I. The first
truly innovative camera series from Olympus was the PEN models,
launched in 1959. 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 35 mm 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 through-the-lens flash
automation. Eventually the system included 14 different bodies and
approximately 60 Zuiko-branded lenses.
However, Olympus did not move into the autofocus market in the
way their competitors did, ultimately leading to their decline as a
maker of professional film camera systems.
The company is a leading manufacturer of digital cameras, with a
large range of compact digital cameras. Olympus is the designer of
the Four Thirds System standard for Digital single-lens reflex
camera design and development. Since 2003, Olympus has introduced
eight E-system cameras. The Olympus E-410 and E-510 were among the
first consumer-grade digital SLRs to feature live preview.
In 1983, Olympus, along with Canon, branded a range of video
recording equipment manufactured by JVC, and called it "Olympus
Video Photography", even employing renowned photographer
Terance Donovan to promote the range. A second version of the system
was available the year after, but this was Olympus' last foray into
the world of consumer video equipment until digital cameras became
popular.
Since the beginning, the company has also been a manufacturer of
microscopes and optics for specialized needs, such as medical use.
The first microscope manufactured at Olympus was called the Asahi.
Nowadays Olympus is a world-wide renowned manufacturer of
microscopes. Olympus offers a complete range of microscopes, which
covers applications from education and routine studies up to state
of the art research imaging systems both in life science and
materials science.
Olympus also invented the Microcassette. The Olympus Pearlcorder
L400, released in the 1980s, was the smallest and lightest
Microcassette Voice recorder ever offered for sale, 2.9 in. (L) x
0.8 in. (H) x 2.0 in. (W) / 73 mm (L) x 20 mm (H) x 52 mm (W) 3.2
oz.
|
