43 Rumors

See the Compass 2 camera, made in England in 1937.

http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk

I just saved $800 over x100
Phenomenal if it was
1992 again

The Olympus O-product and Ecru were limited edition boutique items, with internal components from and specifications similar to the Olympus Stylus and Stylus Epic. A Japanese design firm called Water Studio was responsible for at least one of these designs. The motivation of these design studies were to create special items for a limited market with emotional rather than rational appeal, using nostalgic themes and colors, and unexpected combinations of surface treatments. Retro design was a fairly new concept then, which takes design language from previous eras and applies it to products with contemporary technology. Minolta took a similar route with their PROD-20; Canon (somewhat later) released APS models Elph Sunshine and Elph Glacier. Sharp marketed retro theme tape players, Seiko introduced watches styled as though they were from the 1960′s and 1970′s. Nissan exhibited several retro theme concepts like the Figaro, a tiny roadster based (I recall) on Nissan Micra mechanicals, but looking like a distillation of 1950′s Italian cars.

I’ve found one photograph taken with O-product.
http://rikikiphotolabo.com/blog/cameras/oproduct/

The base model of O-product was AF-10 as far as I remember.

I’ve also found a short review in a Japanese magazine (2003).
…Operation is very simple indeed. A shutter button aside, it only has self-timer and rewind button. As sliding the lever in front, the cover will open. Holding is not bad at all.
The image quality of the lens has no problem, color and sharpness is quite good…

No wonder Olympus lags behind when engineers are busy with such a @!#$
Focus on E-50 instead?

The entire retro design is to appeal to modern users, so yes, it can be implemented to modern digital design, which is my pet project for the last few months…. I think I’ve brought up Olympus O-Product for the last few months for half a dozen times already…. Does nobody read my posts at all?

In any case, the original designer (forgot his name) mentioned the priority of this design is form over function (my own words, his words are very confusing so people won’t notice his insinuation that this is not a “photographer’s camera” but a “designer camera”). In term of usability though, it is a capable P&S but that’s it, a simple P&S, 35mm, f/3.5, based on Olympus’s Acura P&S. It’s not a professional SLR, it’s a museum piece meant for collectors, but not to be shot with. It is however, better than Minolta PROD, which has design issue with its flash (cannot be turned off).

The design, to be usable for digital, the entire camera needs to be revamped, which has given me a hard time because of LCD screen issue. The flash also needs to be redesigned. Unlike the original designer, I am also a photographer, so the new design will be a compromise between form and function, not form over function.

When Admin posted the first leaked GF3 photos, first thing I thought of was the O-product.