OM System Is Surprisingly Eager to Talk About the Return of the Pen

For the last couple of years, PetaPixel has asked OM System executives about the company’s plan for the beloved Pen series. Previously, the response has been tepid, so it didn’t ask again this year. Surprisingly, OM System executives brought it up instead.

PetaPixel was prepared to wrap up its discussion with OM System Executives when Kazuhiro Togashi, SVP, Global Brand and Marketing Strategy, OM System Business Unit, asked why the Pen series wasn’t brought up.

“I’d like to ask you for some feedback about the Pen,” Togashi said, unprompted. “Maybe we are thinking of an opportunity for that in development.”

Togashi didn’t elaborate, but spent the next few minutes asking PetaPixel what it would want a camera like that to be sure to have. It seemed that the company had ideas, but was interested in making sure it was headed in the right direction.

PetaPixel, of course, said a new Pen camera would need to be small, work with Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lenses, and feature an offset viewfinder — either a full electronic viewfinder or some kind of hybrid system, similar to what Fujifilm does with the XPro and X100 cameras. These are not new ideas, and certainly are not unique wishlist items for fans of previous Pen cameras.

Togashi and his colleagues paid close attention, though — more so than in previous years. The main area of discussion was over the size of the proposed camera, and the conversation could not help but move toward the video on the Lumix GM5 that PetaPixel‘s Chris Niccolls released last year, where he called it the greatest camera ever made.

“Ironically, the world’s greatest camera is actually incredibly diminutive. Much of its charm is due to its insightful size as its chassis is as small as you can make a Micro Four Thirds body while still leaving room for an electronic viewfinder,” Niccolls said. “At just under ten ounces (280 grams), the GM-5 is also pocketable and portable. I’m instantly reminded of funky camera designs like the Olympus XA, Pentax Auto 110, and Rollei 35s: cameras that all attempted to make things small, stylish, and convenient.”

PetaPixel argues that Micro Four Thirds has largely forgotten that as one of its biggest selling points. Both Panasonic Lumix and OM System have slowly grown the size of the cameras over the years to where all modern Micro Four Thirds cameras are significantly larger than the GM5 — and also larger than the last Pen camera to come to market.

That was the Pen E-P7 that was released in 2021, but it was only available in Europe and Japan. PetaPixel is under the impression that it didn’t sell well, which might explain why OM System has been reluctant to dive back into this format.

But a lot has changed in the last five years, and compact is back.

Togashi and his colleagues listened carefully, took notes, and smiled coyly as the meeting ended. It seems that maybe the possibility of a new Pen camera — with everything that makes that system so desirable — isn’t as much of a pipe dream as it once was.

Image credits: Elements of header photo licensed via Depositphotos.com. All others via OM System.