Once upon a time, we used to get cameras that were bold. Brave. Ballsy, even. And sometimes even bad ideas.
They were cameras that took risks, that did something different. Not because they had to, but because manufacturers wanted to. Because trying new things and pushing boundaries is how innovation happens.
After the success of the newly resurrected OM System OM-3, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and I've become a bit obsessed with the Olympus O-Product – a bold, brave and ballsy 35mm camera from 1988.
It wasn't made because the market demanded it, or to keep up with what other companies were doing; it was made because Olympus just wanted to make something different. And accordingly, it hired one of Japan's most inspired (and opinionated) industrial designers to dream it up: Naoki Sakai.
ABOVE: A quick tour of the Olympus O-Product by Dario Viola
Sakai famously declared in Popular Photography magazine that, "My products are mistakes. We should make mistakes."
And it really does feel like the camera industry is terrified of making mistakes. Perhaps rightly so, given how far sales have fallen since the digital camera heyday of a decade or so ago, but still – if everyone is afraid to make a mistake, it's less likely they will make anything exciting either.
But just look at the Olympus O-Product: it's very exciting. It exists simply because it looks cool, and people who like cool things might want to own one even if they don't own a camera. Heck, Sakai designed two cars even though he didn't own a car (or even have a driving license).
I dare say that the O-Product looking cool was more important than whether or not it could take a good picture. Although apparently it could, according to people who owned or used one (a very rare breed, since only 20,000 of these cameras were made – and only 10,000 of those were sold outside Japan).
Either way, this idea of making a camera that people might actually want – rather than just making a camera because everyone else is making it – is really important.
I'd love to see more cameras like the OM-3, the Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C, the Nikon Z fc, the Pentax 17 and the Instax Wide Evo. These are cameras that don't have to be cool, but that don't have to do cool things, but are all the better for it.
"Japanese companies say they think about the consumer," Sakai continued. "They're liars. They only think about their competitors. Olympus only thinks about Canon or Nikon. Nissan only thinks about Toyota or Honda. I think about people. I am a consumer."
I'd rather have a camera that risked making mistakes than yet another black box with some clever circuits inside it. Come on, camera companies – show me your balls.
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Some of the best retro cameras adhere to the same design ethos, encompassing some of the best Olympus / OM System cameras and the best Fujifilm cameras.
