The creator some of the most innovative cameras ever made passed away last night in a Tokyo hospital at age 76, of respiratory failure.
The creator of such revolutionary cameras as the Olympus Pen half-frame pocket-sized SLR, the ultracompact 35mm XA series, and the OM series of small, lightweight 35mm SLR cameras, Maitani spent nearly 50 years working for Olympus. Maitani's consistent goal was to make cameras as small as comfortably possible, while keeping the controls full-sized.
Last month, a digital tribute to his innovative spirit, the Olympus E-P1 interchangeable lens compact camera, borrowed heavily from his original Pen design. In May, shortly before the release of the E-P1, the Weekend Wrap ran a tribute to Maitani's contributions to the world of photography on Adorama's Tech Tock Blog.
On the Olympus web site, Maitani's profile reads: "Since boyhood, Yoshihisa Maitani felt an affinity toward cameras and photography. After studying mechanical engineering at university, he joined Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (now Olympus Corporation) in 1956. As a camera designer, he was involved in the development of many cameras that triggered major booms and became milestones in world camera history, including the Olympus Pen (1959), the Olympus Pen F (1963), the Olympus OM-1 (1973) and the Olympus XA (1979)."
