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Olympus is a Japanese company specializing in optics and imaging. Olympus was founded in 1919, and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is named after "Olympus", the home of the gods in Greek mythology; see: Mount Olympus.
Olympus has a history of groundbreaking camera and lens design. Their famous Zuiko lenses, first produced in 1936, were often years ahead of their time. Their camera designs have often been revolutionary.
The first highly successful camera system from Olympus was the PEN system, which were very small and used a half-frame format, meaning you could take 72 shots on a standard 36 exposure roll of film.
The PEN system design team was led by Yoshihisa Maitani. The design ethos behind the PEN system led to the creation of the OM system, a full frame professional 35mm SLR system designed to compete with Nikon and Canon's best sellers. The OM system took the camera world by storm, being much more compact than its competitors and boasting a string of innovative design features. Eventually the system included 14 different bodies and approximately 60 lenses.
However, Olympus did not move into the autofocus market in the way their competitors did, and this ultimately led to their decline as a maker of professional camera systems. Their compact cameras have retained their great popularity, though, and in recent years their digital cameras have won great acclaim. Olympus is a supporter of the Four Thirds System standard for digital SLR camera design and development, and the E-1 system is currently very highly sought-after.
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