Pen EE (Olympus (オリンパス))

by Scott Bird

share it: digg | stumbleupon

The Pen EE (Electric-Eye) was amongst the first of the 35mm half-frame cameras. Produced in Japan during the early 1960s - a time when SLR camera production was restricted in many ways - this camera is a beautiful piece.

The model I have is one of the later EEs, with the text ‘OLYMPUS PEN’ on the front (early models only had ‘OLYMPUS’). The later model EEs also featured a leather front with a checkered appearance.

Specs

Produced: May 1961-1966, later re-released and sold until Oct 1986
Lens: D.Zuiko 28mm F3.5
Focus control: Stationary type 3.2m (listed as 4m in manuals)
Film sensitivity corresponding range: ASA10 - 200
Shutter: Olympus mechanical cable type 1/60 seconds (latter term: 1/30 and 1/250 seconds)
Power source: Selenium photo cell
Dimensions:108×66×42mm
Weight: 350g
Original sale price: 9,200円

A scanned copy of a manual for the slightly later EE2 camera (US version) is available from Favorite Classics.

• Olympus Pen Gallery (Japanese and English)
• Olympus Pen EE (Japanese)
• unofficial Yoshihisa Maitani (designer of Pen series) site (English)
• Scanned manuals for various Pen models are available from Michael Butkus Jr. A small donation is requested. Available are :
  
  Olympus Pen D2
  
  Olympus Pen EES-2
  
  Olympus Pen EF
  
  Olympus Pen FT

Comments

Receive email notification of new comments on this post :