You are here: Home » Photography » Brands » Olympus
Logo image of Olympus
1936
Japan

Olympus information and a brief history

Olympus is a long-existing company specialized in optical devices, founded by Takeshi Yamashita initially as a producer of microscopes. In 1936 it produces its first camera with a 75mm Zuiko lens and its first innovative camera was the Pen in 1959, a compact and portable film camera.

In 1996 entered the digital photo world with a 810'000 pixel camera, more than its competitor at that time. Later it was Olympus to design the Four Third system, that was later replaced by Micro Four Thirds system with collaboration of mainly Panasonic.

In 2020 Olympus signed an agreement with Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) to transfer its Imaging division, that produces and sells photographic goods, as a consequence of the photo market shrinking; the new division was called OM Digital Solutions (OMDS).

Olympus still produces microscopes and medical diagnosis devices.

In October 2022, the OMDS announced that is going to replace the "Olympus" name with "OM System".

Product TypeModels in Production / Total
Camera
Models: 13 , in production variants: 9 ,  discontinued variants: 4
Lens
Models: 5 , in production variants: 5 ,  discontinued variants: 0