Mr. Yoshihisa Maitani question

[DCB]

Is there a list of all the camera Mr. Yoshihisa Maitani designed?

Thanks

Peace

 

[DCB]

Found a good page.
http://www.maitani-fan.com/maitani_fan/maitani_chrono.html


Peace

 

[Rodchenko]

The interesting question is who designed the rangefinders. They nestle neatly into a family with the Trip and the Pen series, but there doesn't seem to be any indication who was responsible for the RFs.

 

[kshapero]

Found a good page.
http://www.maitani-fan.com/maitani_fan/maitani_chrono.html


Peace

nice read.

 

[Range-rover]

Great thanks for posting.

Range

 

[Chris101]

The interesting question is who designed the rangefinders. They nestle neatly into a family with the Trip and the Pen series, but there doesn't seem to be any indication who was responsible for the RFs.

Maitani was unique. He was a star who designed icons like the Pen, OM and XA cameras. These unique Olympus cameras are part and parcel of what brought the company to the forefront of the industry, and in my opinion, Olympus continues to ride on his laurels. (Sorry for the intentionally mixed metaphor.)

Other cameras by Olympus and other Japanese companies are not the brain-children of a single designer as these cameras were. They were built by teams of designers (even Maitani's Olympus had teams) with no clear star at the head. Maitani belonged to a small club that also included Ernst Leitz, Victor Hasselblad, Edwin Land, George Eastman, Zenzaburo Yoshino and a few other camera geniuses that made monumental advances during the heyday of film photography.

 

[Bille]

a small club that also included Ernst Leitz, Victor Hasselblad, Edwin Land, George Eastman, Zenzaburo Yoshino and a few other camera geniuses that made monumental advances during the heyday of film photography.

Let me add Luigi Colani and Giorgetto Giugiaro.

 

[Chris101]

Thanks Bille!

I have followed and been a cheerleader for individual designers/inventors over committees for decades. There is a world of difference between objects concieved and built by individuals, and those made by committees brought about by marketing needs. All of my favorite things are products of people, like the Volkswagen, OM cameras, and General Relativity. Committee designed objects like Fords, Nikons and Quantum Mechanics serve us well, but lack ... elegance.

ps, I've always hated the design of the T90, but I HAVE noticed it. That alone speaks volumes. I have owned an F5, and want another at some point. My favorite pistol is the Ruger, and the Bunsen spectroscope is shear genius. I've designed and built my own spectroscope, but the gun has reached it's zenith already. I do all my shooting with cameras now.

 

[tunalegs]

Don't forget Heinz Waaske.

 

[Rodchenko]

Nor Walter Zapp and Professor Richard Fischer

 

[Rodchenko]

Nor Karl Nuchterlein (Ihagee) or Heinz Kupperbender.

 

[shadowfox]

Oscar Barnack...?