1933
1933 Yoshihisa Maitani is born in Onohara Town, Japan as the third son of a rice wine and soy sauce maker.
1943
Maitani builds his first toy camera.
1956
After studying mechanical engineering, Maitani joins Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (now Olympus Corporation).
1959
With Maitini as the driving force, Olympus finalises development of and releases the first PEN camera.
1961
Release of the easy-to-use Pen EE.
1963
Release of Pen F, first and only half-size SLR camera.
2009
Yoshihisa Maitani dies at the age of 76 in Tokyo after a life rich with excitement and innovation.
Yoshihisa Maitani's philosophy
Maitani once said: 'Deciding which products to make is the same as deciding how to live your life. What matters most is your vision. You must have a vision, a dream, a philosophy, for the course of your future will change depending on whether or not you have a vision. You can't simply drift through life aimlessly, the first step is to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life.'
One still meets with barriers after a decision is taken: in the world of cameras, these are the technology barriers and the barriers of accepted wisdom. To be successful, it is essential to break through these. Finding new approaches on the technological front and breaking through set patterns in people's minds is fundamental to progress.
The PEN story
Still relatively new to the company, Maitani was asked to develop a camera that would cost just 6,000 Yen, about a third less than conventional cameras on the market at the time. Because resources were not there to train him properly, he was left completely to his own devices. He decided the new camera needed to be equipped with a high-quality lens and insisted on the costly D-Zuiko lens. To reduce additional costs, he eliminated gear wheels entirely to form 'Zero gear', opting for a plastic dial instead. In October 1959, Maitani's first camera, the Pen, was released and became an immediate bestseller.
His next aim was to develop a camera that was easier to use. After much thought and deliberation, overcoming barriers in both technology and wisdom, he developed Pen EE, which was characterised by far fewer controls than before. After the launch of Pen EE, sales amongst female buyers jumped from 2 to 33 percent.
Two years later, the Pen F came to be. What made it so different was that it was a half-frame SLR. Changes made to the reflex mirror and the evolution of the focal plane shutter made out of titanium were cutting-edge developments at the time, allowing for 1/500 sec flash synchronization.
