Olympus

Olympus was founded in Tokyo in 1919 as Takachiho Seisakusho, making microscopes and thermometers. Its designer Yoshihisa Maitani created the 1959 Olympus Pen, a half-frame camera that made 72 pictures on a roll of 36, and the small, light OM-1 SLR of 1972.

In digital it backed small sensors: the Four Thirds standard (2003) and, with Panasonic, Micro Four Thirds (2008). In 2021 its camera business became OM Digital Solutions.