OM System Inside Story - Interview with Y. Maitani (part 2 of 3)
Mainani was born in 1933. As a "prodigal son" of a soy sauce
brewer, he was very fond of taking pictures with his Leica from his
childhood.
"Before I joined the company, I used my Leica IIIf very often. I
spent about 10 rolls per session. In those days I didn't use film
in patrones (cartridges) but magazines instead. I didn't have
enough film magazines, and camera stores didn't stock them. I had
to place an order through the importer and wait for three months, so
I did, just because I had to."
"Therefore, my basic attitude toward designing a camera has always
originated from the desire to take a picture. I'll look for the
necessary equipment, and if not available, make one myself. If a
half format camera already existed, I wouldn't planned one myself.
If a camera suitable for practical use was available somewhere, then
I would rather go there and simply buy it. But it wasn't available
anywhere, so I made one myself. Today, people say my ideas were
unique, but I simply made what I needed but not existed anywhere."
"Then, the export department desired a new product that can take
over the Pen (i.e. a full format SLR) to be developed as soon as
possible. They even didn't mind to buy cameras from somewhere else
just to sell them. Today this is commonly known as OEM, but in
those days this idea rose a great disturbance."
Heavy-thick-long-big vs. Light-thin-short-small
It is known that 5 years were spent for development of the OM
system, but the planning meetings started in January 1966, that was
6 years before the release.
The main condition or must was to "make a system camera". Olympus
is a comprehensive optics manufacturer who also makes microscopes
and endoscopes. If they are making an SLR, it should be capable of
taking all kinds of photographs through a wide variety of lenses and
adapters. Nobody was against this concept.
The second must was to "make a unique camera, not available anywhere
else". The beauty points of Maitani's favorite Leica were its light
weight, small size, and the great fitting in the user's hands. SLRs
in those days were too big and heavy for Maitani.
However, nobody understood Maitani's new concept. "In those days,
it was important for a camera to be heavy, thick, long, and big.
The phrase "Light-thin-short-small" didn't exist yet. Small cameras
were considered as toys." Maitani called big, heavy and noisy the
"three BADs of an SLR" and tried to througly get rid of them. But
people severely refuted "A new spec is required for a new product.
A product without something new is NOT a new product. Small size and
light weight are not advantages and rather DISadvantages."
Maitani says "In such mood we couldn't calmly discuss about the new
product and we didn't have any progress in our meetings for a long
time. When I was inquired "What's the new features?" I couldn't
dare answer "Light and small, but the specs are equivalent to a
conventional SLR."
One day about six monthes later, an OM meeting started in the
morning as usual. When everybody left the room for lunch, Maitani
scribbled a whole spec chart on the blackboard. "When everybody came
back and saw the specs, they said 'Looks good. Let's proceed with
this plan.' and I almost succeded to persuade them." But those
specs were just copied from an instruction book of an other
manufacturer's new camera. "I shouldn't have done that, but I told
everyone the truth and made the situation much worse than before."
Six more months have passed without any further progress, but at the
last meeting in December 1966, the design department manager finally
gave up and just said "Do it as you like." Decision has been given
at last. "So, the development of the OM system started in 1967 but
for me, it started in 1966."
(to be continued)
kazuya matsumoto
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