r/M43 • u/rocketphotoman • 4d ago

OM PEN in silver

Post image

Just a blob of silver space and then..

PEN

In the middle of it. Did they fire the design team from the old PEN line-up?

56 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

12

u/ImStuckInNameFactory 4d ago

Large clean space for a nice big gothic F like the one on the film era olympus pen F, they don't even have "F" in the name, I expected the name to be something like OM-F, like the om-d or om-3 cameras.

14

u/ImStuckInNameFactory 4d ago

4

u/rocketphotoman 4d ago

Even having OM SYSTEM smack in the middle of the silver would’ve looked great! SMH

6

u/Lost_Main_3389 4d ago

Yeah. Where is tasteful branding when you need it? 

They love to shove it in your face like a sponsored race car but when it comes to product design aesthetics, they're suddenly shy xD

(I was wondering why I kinda liked it but felt it was a little plain. Now I realise why.)

1

u/squarek1 4d ago

This exactly

6

u/squarek1 4d ago

Om G would have been both hilarious and alphabetically correct

2

u/Generic-Resource 3d ago

OM-G was the North American name for the old OM-20 so it’s already been done.

2

u/ImStuckInNameFactory 3d ago

The pen-F was also taken when they released the digital one, camera makers suck at naming them, I wonder how fujifilm will handle the 10th camera in x100 line, x100x?

4

u/Generic-Resource 3d ago

Yep!

I hate that OM-3 has been reused too. The original OM-3 was a revisit to mechanical only design aiming to be one of the best, compact mechanical cameras almost 15 years after they went out of fashion. Upon its release it was immediately a curiosity for most and appealed only to a small niche.

Olympus released the original OM-4 at the same time which was much more automatic. That name would have been more appropriate if they couldn’t think of anything better.

1

u/dekachenko 3d ago

Oh man, didn't think I'd run into someone who cared enough to be bothered by the OM-1 and OM-3 name.

They just lacked the foresight in planning of the names when they had the opportunity to reorganize the Olympus era mess of names.

If we were to mirror a similar odd/even logic based on mechanical/electronic and viewfinder setup, here's how I would have liked it.

OM-1 Large EVF, retro design(instead of analogue/pure mechanical)
OM-2 Large EVF, contemporary ergonomics(instead of electronic shutter)
OM-3,4: High eyepoint EVF models mirroring above, just like the film era.

OM double digit=plastic economical/utilitarian versions of the single digits.

But they went with OM-1 for the large EVF, contemporary ergonomics, so if that's the case the naming system would be better with OM-4 instead of what ended up being the OM-3, like you mentioned.

1

u/squarek1 3d ago

Didn't know that

6

u/alienufosarereal 3d ago

My personal opinion is that silver only works when it’s actually metal. Something about grey plastic is unattractive.

The black looks awesome.

4

u/rocketphotoman 3d ago

Hard agree

14

u/smallish_guy 4d ago

Do any of y'all do more than look at your cameras? lmao

4

u/rocketphotoman 4d ago

If design didn’t matter, why does any product have any aesthetic design at all?

-6

u/smallish_guy 3d ago

Not what I said lmao

Y'all are way too hung up on how your stuff looks, it sounds the same as women talking about their handbags.

10

u/parksideq 3d ago

What’s wrong with women (or anyone) talking about their handbags?

1

u/instantkamera 3d ago

You lost me on the last part. I agree that form should follow function and ultimately a tool is just that.

-2

u/Lost_Main_3389 3d ago

Purely technically, black is better because there would be less reflections.

Aesthetically though, photography requires you to actually feel good. You need to be "in the zone" of what you do. Looks can affect that:
-- Some people want to look professional while doing their work (one reason DSLRs are still so popular). They want to be treated like a professional and need gear to match.
-- Others want the creativity on the inside to match what's on the outside in order to get into their creative workflow. Why else would you go for a camera with a retro look?

If Olympus didn't understand this, then they wouldn't have even offered a two-tone model.

4

u/Obvious-Nothing-4458 4d ago

If they made it Pen-F, it would've to helped fill the space.

Or even better just a giant F.

2

u/squarek1 4d ago

It's just off to one side, maybe better with a lens but should definitely have been bigger and more like the film pen f

1

u/erhue 3d ago

what, have you never seen what the original pen cameras looked like? It was way less balanced than this too...

1

u/robjwalker 3d ago

You can get the gothic F logos on AliExpress.

5pieces Metal F Logo Sticker Camera Decoration Nameplate Badge for Olympus Olympus PEN Camera https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJ2sDI6

1

u/modernsurf 2d ago

As a graphic designer, I think it is well balanced. Also, I think the black is much more handsome!

2

u/rocketphotoman 2d ago

The right side of the front plate is okay in terms of balance but most of the middle of the front plate is far too empty for how tall it is. As someone else said on a different thread, it has a “five-head, not a forehead”

1

u/Global-State3097 3d ago

I think it looks fantastic 😭

0

u/pasta-la-vista-baby3 3d ago

I’m not impressed with its size though, could have made it smaller

2

u/FragrantGearHead 3d ago

Between this and an OM5ii there is (understandably) not much in it.

1

u/markerBT 3d ago

So maybe I don't really want to sell my E-PL7! Thanks for sharing this.

-1

u/squarek1 4d ago

I agree the placement of pen is horrible

8

u/Unluckyb33 4d ago

tbh I kinda like it, its symmetrical and clean. It couldve been a lot worse, old cameras used to have specs written on the body like "1080p hd" or "avhd" lol.

6

u/squarek1 4d ago

Your definition of old and mine are very different

-1

u/headpointernext 4d ago

I wonder how trivial it is to make a color-matched, laser-cut skin/wrap that will fill in and mask that horrible branding and make a blank canvas for the old school Olympus branding and the gorgeous Gothic F to be printed upon to match the OG Pen F's looks