Japan 1963 – Compact – 35 mm – Infrequent.
The Olympus Pen F is the first half-frame reflex ever built.
The Pen story begins with a challenge Olympus offered to one of its young engineers, Yoshihisa Maitani, in 1959. Yoshihisa was asked to build a compact reflex that could be sold under 6000 yens, when at the time the cheapest Olympus went for 23000 yens. The Pen F was the very successful result of this challenge and a technical breakthrough under many aspects, including the choice of a half-frame format. Those innovations brought about 50 new patents to Olympus.
The Olympus Pen F is a lightweight, precise and very compact camera that still has a very strong community of aficionados today.
