Current Olympus digital cameras echo Maitani's innovations...
[EDITOR'S NOTE: While this story originally appeared here on May 15, 2009, I've bumped it up and updated it after learning of the passing of Yoshihisa Maitani on July 30, at age 76, of respiratory failure. As you will see here, the photo industry has lost a giant.]
"The object of photography is to express what is in your heart and mind. Technique is nothing more than an intermediary of that expression. No matter how automated we make cameras, automation will not place limits on the photographer’s activities. Rather, it will expand them." - Yoshihisa Maitani
Yoshihisha Maitani was one of the first superstars of camera design.
Working for Olympus from the 50s until 1996, Maitani was the genius behind three of the most influential 35mm cameras ever: the Olympus OM-1, the Olympus Pen-F, and the Olympus XA. What they all had in common was that they were exceptionally small, and they delivered uncompromising image quality. The Olympus ad, reproduced at right, is right.
I started thinking about Maitani (who my former boss, Herbert Keppler often spoke about with the greatest awe and respect) shortly after an Olympus insider confided in me that in his opinion, the upcoming Micro Four Thirds system camera that Olympus was promising for this summer would be the digital descendent of the Pen-F. Turns out this prediction was on the money.
And it made sense: The Olympus Pen-F was the world’s first half-frame 35mm SLR camera, and a Four Thirds sensor is roughly half the size of a 35mm-format sensor. Like the forthcoming digital compact, the Pen-F had a system of small, interchangeable lenses and a sophisticated reflex mirror system, but it also had large enough controls so that it was ergonomically easy to use. No matter how small his cameras were, Maitani always wanted the controls to be big and comfortable.
The concept cameras preceding the announcement of the Olympus E-P1 projected the Pen heritage, as did a flood of Olympus pre-release publicity. When the camera finally was introduced, the resemblance was uncanny (and the words "Digital Pen" are engraved into the camera's body, just in case you missed the point).
The original Olympus Pen F...
...The new Olympus E-P1 "Digital Pen". A deliberate resemblance.
Who was Maitani?
Maitani, who retired from Olympus in 1996, started designing cameras at age 10 and had several patents by the time he attended university. He joined Olympus in 1956 and by 1963 had designed the Pen-F, which enjoyed a long run and many fans. In 1972, the photo industry was turned on its head when his OM-1, the world’s smallest SLR, was unveiled and proved to be intensely popular. The OM-1 was followed by the more automated OM-2, OM-3, and OM-4—all small cameras. The OM’s run continued well into the 1990s.
Then, in 1979, Maitani’s latest and possibly greatest creation, the XA, was released. Legend has it that Maitani was had just finished taking a bath at a public bathhouse in Japan and didn’t have his camera with him when a trucker stopped by to take a bath, too. However, he left his truck engine running, and the truck caught fire. The trucker ran out to his truck, straight from his bath, stark naked. Maitani couldn’t photograph this once-in-a-lifetime shot because he didn’t have a camera with him. This, so the story goes, inspired him to create a camera that was so small it could be taken everywhere: the XA.
Featuring an innovative clamshell lens cover design, tab-focus lens and a big red shutter release, the XA (and its three follow-up cameras) won awards and sold like crazy. I still have mine, and indeed it became my “no excuses” camera for many years. It was always in my pocket, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Maitani died last night — July 30, 2009 — at age 76, and left a legacy of groudbreaking, influential cameras over a distinguished carreer.
Maitani's influence today
Olympus, I am glad to say, has kept Maitani’s philosophy of camera design alive well into the digital age, as they continue to produce innovative, small digital cameras. The Olympus Tough series of shock/water/weatherproof cameras keep Maitani’s “no excuses” camera concept alive and up to date, while Olympus’s consumer DSLRs like the Evolt E-420 are among the smallest in the world while delivering big-camera performance. All that was missing, then, was a digital equivalent to the Pen-F. At least based on its looks, the E-P1 delivered the goods. How did it do on the streets? Read my report.
Before the release of the E-P1, I wrote that Micro Four Thirds is a perfect opportunity for a company with Olympus’s design heritage to create something that’s extremely compact, and according to Olympus’s Micro Four Thirds blog, that’s exactly what they’re aiming to create. But as with so many plans these days, Olympus’s strategy is based on research, rather than the gut of a genius. Quoth Olympus: “Research has shown that some consumers desire the image quality and versatility of interchangeable lens cameras, but would also like more portable and easier-to-use designs.”
Well, duh. Maitani could have told them that.
