Olympus Go

Olympus Go

#343

This photo is from the copy I own

History and technical features 

During the mid-to-late '80s Olympus lost ground to its competitors in the SLR field as autofocus took off. Research and development spending was focussed on high-selling compact point and shoots. Although the company did eventually release an autofocus SLR system it was not a serious challenge to Minolta, Nikon or Canon. Olympus changed its orientation and pioneered the concept of the "bridge" camera (an auto-everything SLR with fixed zoom lens) with the IS series. In the early '90s, Olympus had significant success with the compact autofocus Stylus (or µ[mju:] ) line. It carried on this success at the turn of the century into the digital field, as film camera production was ended in 2005. When the digital market took off with the launch of reasonably affordable, compact 2.3 megapixel cameras for consumers, there were only two real options for photographers — the Nikon Coolpix or the Olympus Camedia ranges. Before the availability of affordable (sub-$5k) digital SLRs, Olympus' E series of fixed-lens SLRs, evolved from the earlier analogue bridge cameras, was very popular among serious photographers.

The launch of cheaper digital SLRs saw Olympus lose ground again among serious photographers, but in 2003 the E series was developed into an innovative interchangeable-lens SLR system. Without the huge autofocus lens catalogue of Nikon and Canon, Olympus was free to build its system without concessions to an older 35mm-based system. Olympus is the champion of the Four-Thirds lens mount system with smaller sensor rather than the APS-sized sensors Konica Minolta, Canon and Nikon put into their DSLR bodies, which are derived from 35mm film cameras. This allowed Olympus to design its bodies and lenses specifically for digital use. The first model of its Four-Thirds E-series of DSLRs was the Olympus E-1. It was the first professional model of the modern type compact DSLRs for interchangeable lenses. Olympus is slow in evolving its professional DSLR line but fast in delivery of new consumer DSLRs of its E-line.

Along with Panasonic, Olympus has also launched a compact camera system based on the Micro Four-Thirds standard. This has half the flange focal distance of the orignal Four-Thirds, 6mm smaller throat size, and enables compact cameras with DSLR image quality. For this it revived its famous Olympus Pen brand. The new Pens are finderless compact digicams for Micro-Four-Thirds lenses, but including an accessory shoe where an electronic eye-level finder can be attached instead of a flash.

The company took its present name of Olympus Corporation (オリンパス株式会社) in 2003, and it continues to innovate and to challenge other manufacturers to do so by the incorporation of features such as 'Live-View', tilt/swivel LCDs and full user control over the noise filter on its 'E-System' range of DLSRs.

Revelations about the top management of Olympus made world headlines in late 2011, regarding accounting practices designed to disguise earlier losses.[42] As of February 2012, investigation continues into what is commonly referred to as a scandal, and has led to resignations and arrests of Olympus officials. These events cast doubt over the future of the corporation's camera division (whose earnings had not matched those of the medical-products arm); yet new Olympus camera and lens introductions continue.


Source: camera-wiki.org

Specifications

34mm lens

Point and shoot

Flash

AA batteries

Manually operated


Model


Reference sites

camera-wiki.org


Manual


Batteries

2 AA batteries

Film


Pictures taken with this machine


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