What the heck is happening with OM System's PEN cameras?
I've been using mirrorless Olympus cameras (I know, I know, OM System cameras) for ten years. While I had an Olympus SLR before that, I dove headfirst onto mirrorless with the landscape-changing Olympus OM-D E-M5 – but I truly fell in love with the company's line of PEN cameras.
The problem is, despite assurances that the line would continue, we've yet to see a new PEN camera – and I'm starting to wonder if we ever will.
Under the Olympus regime, there were two tiers of interchangeable mirrorless cameras: the OM-D series of SLR-styled performance cameras (with an EVF), and the PEN series of rangefinder-style, fashion-first cameras (typically without an EVF).
While the OM-D series (now the OM range) was aimed at a core photography crowd, the PEN cameras were geared towards creators, street shooters and entry-level users… with the exception of the powerhouse Olympus PEN-F, which was a prestige camera and has become a cult classic.
PEN cameras were (and, in fact, remain to this day) enormous sellers in Japan, but never found much success in the US. Indeed, the most recent camera – 2021's brilliant Olympus PEN E-P7 – wasn't even released in the States.
While that was technically a camera launched by the new OM System regime, it was 100% a product made by the old guard that simply hadn't been released before the business got bought out.
Still, OM confirmed that the PEN line would continue after it purchased the camera business from Olympus – but that was over two years ago, and we haven't seen a peep of a new PEN. The company has teased interest in a PEN-F successor in various interviews, and even briefings with the press, but nothing official has been said… until this month.
"In Japan and Asia we continue to sell PEN E-P7," OM executive Kazuhiro Togashi told DP Review. "The E-P7 is small, with compact bright lenses, making it highly advantageous for travel photography. Therefore, we’ll reinforce such products in our lineup in the future." Which gives me a glimmer of hope that we might get a new PEN.
However, given OM System's overt rebranding as an outdoor and adventure camera company, a new PEN doesn't seem to make sense. OM is courting landscape and wildlife shooters, not street photographers or influencers – despite PEN cameras being such an obvious alternative to the Fujifilm X100VI.
Togashi did note that "our definition of outdoor use extends beyond just the adventurous; it encompasses outdoor activities in everyday life as well," adding that "we’d like to try to expand the scope of people enjoying cameras for travels or for everyday use to capture scenery."
So, two years on, the same answer: an assurance that PEN cameras will continue, but no actual evidence of that.
Come on, OM – the market for compact streetwise cameras is so enormous that Fujifilm, Ricoh and Leica are constantly sold out of X100VIs, GR IIIs and Q3s. This is SUCH an enormous, obvious open goal – please launching a PEN-shaped ball at it!
You might be interested in the best Micro Four Thirds cameras, along with the best Micro Four Thirds lenses – which includes some of the best Olympus / OM System lenses.
