Olympus Pen family

Olympus pen current value

Model	Year	Meter	Distance	Shoe	Flash sync	Timer	Flash	Lens	Qty made
Pen	1959	Selenium						3.5	27,000
Pen S	1960	Selenium	X	X	X			2.8	645,000
Pen D	1962	Selenium		X				1.9	265,000
Pen D2	1964	CdS	X					3.5	140,000
Pen D3	1965	CdS	X					3.5	156,000
Pen D3 EL	1965	CdS	X					3.5
Pen EE	1961	Selenium						1.7	584,000
Pen EES	1962	Selenium	X		X			2.8	460,000
Pen EES EL	1962	Selenium	X					2.8
Pen EE-2	1968	Selenium		X				2.8	1,143,000
Pen EE-3	1973	Selenium		X	X			3.5	1,731,000
Pen EES-2	1968	Selenium	X	X	X			3.5	1,434,000
Pen EED	1967	CdS	X			X		1.7	953,000
Pen EF	1981	Selenium					X	3.5	482,000
Pen EM	1981	CdS	X					2.0	53,000
Pen S / wide	1964	CdS	X	X	X			2.5
Pen Rapid-EED	1967	CdS	X			X		1.7
Pen Rapid-EES	1962	Selenium	X		X			2.8

Olympus Pen EE

Pen EE is a humble, no-nonsense camera, cute as a puppy. Made in the early 60’s it stands in between the later, smart point and shoot cameras and the early dumb cameras. Lightweight 360 gr but feels right to its size. A nice touch is the way the camera name is marked, protruding rather than embossed, and the back-cover latch which is taken from earlier era German cameras. Nnothing much to set up, adjust the ISO speed, load the film, and start shooting. One thing baffles me, as the ISO and the aperture settings are on the same ring. Not sure how it sets both.

Fixed focus, made it simple to use. Speeds are modest, two of them.40 and 200, assume flash is on the 40. Has the world-famous Olympus red paddle the pops up with insufficient light, and the camera plays dead. The 2.8 lens is plenty for uses this camera was made for. Half frame size made this camera line the envy of shooters using 127 film, comparing the dozen or so exposures to 72.

The exemplar I have worked seamlessly so the was no need for a post-mortem or bringing it back from the dead.

List number	1868
Brand	Olympus
Format	35mm half frame
Model	Pen EE
Introduced	1961
AKA
Country	Japan
Type	Viewfinder
Body material	Metal
Mode	Auto / manual
Weight, gr	360
Class average weight, gr	400
ASA range	10-100
Kit lens	1.35/28
Filter size	22 mm
Lens mount	Fixed lens
Mount size	NA
Aperture	Set by camera
shutter	Leaf
Light meter	Selenium, external
Winder	Knob
Lock	No
Speeds	40, 100
DOF preview	No
Exposure lock	No
Exposure compensation	No
Shoe	No
External sync	X
Sync speed	100
Timer	No
Battery	None
Battery style	NA
Battery voltage	NA
Other

 

Olympus Pen EE-3

The EE-3 is identical to the EE, save for the addition of a hot-shoe.

 

 

 

Olympus Pen EES-2

Similar to the rest of the family, but having a focusing ring. Distance is estimated.

 

 

 

Olympus Pen EM

Legacy branding is common, for brand recognition and to preserve customer loyalty. A good example is Olympus’ current naming convention, which had dropped the early digital camera names in favour of the good old film camera names. It may well work for Olympus, so they keep on that track but do make it hard on camera collectors. Looking for information on an Olympus Pen or OM, there is a torrent of data about current digital and any information about the real Pen is buried deep in result pages, where no man had come back alive.

So much for the run of the mill Olympus film cameras. To get any data on rarer models, such as the one in question, is impossible. It could well be because there is simply no information, to begin with, but I suspect the in the billions of pages indexed by Google there should be more than what I found.

The Pen OM is a wired creature. In common with the rest of the Pen family are the name and the film format, being the same half frame. I wonder what did the Olympus design team have in mind when the EM was conceived. Other cameras of that series were made after the EM’s introduction, still adhering to the traditional Pen design. No reference about that is found.

As stated, the camera looks like a vanilla camera of the early ’70s, with design elements shared with the Canonet style, also made in that period. Other than passing similarities there is little in common between this camera and both Pen and Canonet lines.

The camera is a viewfinder disguised as a rangefinder due to the position of the light meter. It is an aperture priority, so only dials present are the distance, estimated, and the aperture setting. Speed selected by the camera. A trigger button within a shutter lock dial and a film speed selector are the only moving parts on top. It is kind of odd to have the ASA dial where the frame counter is expected to be. The frame counter is on the base cover nearby a pivot pin with a red dot to show film advance. On the back, there is a mode selector, ‘M’ and ‘A’. The viewer is tiny and dim, portrait orientation as with other Pen cameras. It takes two AA batteries to operate, or not operate at all, as with the exemplar I have. I will visit this camera later once it is brought back to life.

List number	1877
Brand	Olympus
Format	35mm half frame
Model	Pen EM
Introduced	1965
AKA
Country	Japan
Type	Compact viewfinder
Body material	Metal
Mode	Auto / manual
Weight	590 gr,  Body with lens
Class average weight	400 gr,  Body with lens
ASA range	10-400
Kit lens	2.0/35
Lens make
Filter size	42 mm
Lens mount	Fixed lens
Mount size
Aperture
shutter	Leaf
Light meter	CdS
Winder	Power winder
Lock	Yes
Speeds	30-500
DOF preview	No
Exposure lock	No
Exposure compensation	No
Shoe	Cold
External sync	X
Sync speed	NA
Timer	No
Battery	AA 2ea
Battery style
Battery voltage	1.5
Other

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Olympus Pen EES-2 service

Olympus Pen EES 2 skin

As the other compact Olympus cameras, the aperture tends to seize. While the shutter is cocked against a strong spring so operates even if some dirt reaches between the blades, the aperture is being triggered and closed via tiny levers and matching springs. What it means is that the common issue with this camera is malfunctioning aperture blades. It is easy to fix:

1. Release 3 screws Around the front ring. Pull the ring out. May be tight.

2. Unscrew front lens.

3 Remove three bottom screws to release the aperture assembly:

 

4. Another set of 3 screws to remove the lens:

 

5. Flip the aperture assembly to reach the lens ring underneath, remove the lens using a lens tool.

 

6. Remove the aperture plate from the housing.

7. Clean and let dry with non-woven tissue in between the leaves.

If still less than perfect movement, a tiny graphite puff will assist. Graphite powder is used to lubricate lock mechanism, can be found at hardware stores. A tube costs a little and may last you for the next decade.

Note:
To mount the aperture board into the bottom lens assembly slide it in with the blade towards the lens. There are two board types, one with little bulges next to the screw holes to slightly raise it, or there are tiny washers. In the washers option ensure they re there else it will not work. It’s a pain to install it but some tweezers acrobatics will do.

 

Olympus Pen cameras current value:

Pen
Pen S
Pen D
Pen D2
Pen D3
Pen D3 EL
Pen EE
Pen EE-S
Pen EES-EL
Pen EE-2
Pen EE-3
Pen EE-EL
Pen EE-D
Pen EF
Pen W
Pen EM

Pen Rapid-EED
Pen Rapid-EES

EES-2 repair notes elswhere