Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Olympus Pen EE

Olympus · Fixed lens · 18×24 mm on 35mm film · 1961

Also known as: Olympus Pen EE · Olympus Pen EES · Olympus Pen EE-2 · Olympus Pen EE2 · Olympus Pen EE-3 · Olympus Pen EE3 · Olympus Pen EES-2 · Olympus Pen EED · Olympus Pen EF · オリンパス ペンEE · ペンEE-3

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Pen EE (1961) Half-frame 1961 — No per-model figure; the E series is the bulk of the 17 million Pens
Pen EE-S (1962) Half-frame 1962 — No figure published
Pen EE (EL) and EE-S (EL), 1966 Half-frame 1966 — No figure published
Pen EED (1967–72) Half-frame 1967–1972 — No figure published
Pen EE-2 (1968–77) Half-frame 1968–1977 — No figure published
Pen EES-2 (1968–71) Half-frame 1968–1971 — No figure published
Pen EE-3 (1973–83) Half-frame 1973–1983 — No figure published
Pen EF (1981) Half-frame 1981 — No figure published
Pen Rapid EE-S and EED (1965–66) Half-frame 1965–1966 — No figure published; 'met very little success' (camera-wiki)
  1. The shutter speeds are a known error in the secondary literature: 1/30 and 1/250 appear widely, and camera-wiki's editors checked the instruction manuals, which say 1/40 and 1/200. This entry follows the manuals.
  2. One family for nine badges because Olympus sold them as one line — the same body, the same selenium ring, the same two-speed programme — and changed the lens twice (the S models' 30mm f/2.8, the EED's 32mm f/1.7) inside it. By the strict optical-design rule the EED at least could be its own page; it is here because the makers, the sellers and every review treat the E series as one camera in trims.
  3. No production has ever been published per model. The 17 million total for all half-frame Pens is mostly this family, and the EE-3's ten-year run makes it the one most often found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The selenium (or CdS, on the EED) cell in a ring around the lens: the one look shared by every E-series Pen
  • A red flag rising in the finder and locking the shutter when the light is too low — the same idea as the Trip 35's
  • Two speeds, chosen by the meter: 1/40 and 1/200

Pen EE (1961):

  • D.Zuiko 28mm f/3.5, fixed focus; the selenium cell ring around the lens
  • First version: a single 1/60 speed for flash and daylight alike; later EEs and every derivative switch between 1/40 and 1/200 (the 1/30 and 1/250 in some accounts are wrong — the manuals say 1/40 and 1/200)
  • ASA 10–200; leather-look covering on the first version, a grey basket-weave on the later one

Pen EE-S (1962):

  • D.Zuiko 30mm f/2.8 with a zone-focus ring, which the faster lens made necessary

Pen EE (EL) and EE-S (EL), 1966:

  • EL for Easy Loading: a redesigned take-up spool, and a small EL label on the front — otherwise indistinguishable from the outside

Pen EED (1967–72):

  • F.Zuiko 32mm f/1.7 with focusing, CdS meter, hot shoe; ASA 12–500; a wider body than the other EEs

Pen EE-2 (1968–77):

  • Hinged back in place of the removable one, hot shoe, automatic frame counter; ASA 25–400; 43.5 mm filters only

Pen EES-2 (1968–71):

  • The EE-S modernised as the EE-2 was: hinged back, hot shoe, counter, ASA 25–400; the D.Zuiko 30mm f/2.8 with four-zone focus

Pen EE-3 (1973–83):

  • An EE-2 with the Flashmatic system: set the distance (1–4 m) on the aperture ring for a GN14 flash and the camera sets the aperture
  • The longest run of any Pen and the one most often met today

Pen EF (1981):

  • The last Pen: a built-in flash, black finish with white lettering only; 1/40 and 1/200, ASA 25–400

Pen Rapid EE-S and EED (1965–66):

  • EE-S and EED bodies rebuilt for the Agfa Rapid cassette instead of a 35mm cassette

Specifications

Format
18×24 mm on 35mm film · 72 exposures
Finder
Direct-vision optical finder with a bright frame and the red under-exposure flag · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Leaf, programmed, two speeds · 1/40 and 1/200 selected automatically (a single 1/60 on the first EE); the flash setting fixes the slow speed
Film advance
Thumbwheel on the back
Back
Removable on the EE, EE-S and EED; hinged from the EE-2 onward
Meter
Selenium ring around the lens driving a programmed two-speed shutter and the aperture; CdS on the EED. No battery except on the EED.
Designed by
Maitani Yoshihisa (米谷美久) — designer of the Pen series
Country
Japan

What reviewers say

History

In 1961 Olympus took the Pen and removed the decisions. The Pen EE put a selenium cell in a ring around the 28mm f/3.5, gave the shutter two speeds the meter chose between, fixed the focus, and added a red flag that rose in the finder and locked the release when the light ran out. It is the idea Olympus reused in the Trip 35 six years later, and it made the half-frame Pen a camera for everyone.

The line ran twenty-two years and nine badges without changing that idea. The EE-S of 1962 added a 30mm f/2.8 and a focusing ring; the 1966 EL versions changed only the take-up spool; the EED of 1967 was the ambitious one, a 32mm f/1.7 with a CdS meter and a hot shoe in a wider body; the EE-2 of 1968 gave the plain EE a hinged back, a hot shoe and a counter; the EES-2 did the same for the S; the EE-3 of 1973 added a flash-distance system and stayed in production until 1983; and the EF of 1981, black with a built-in flash, was the last Pen of all. Two short-lived Rapid-cassette versions of 1965 went nowhere.

One correction the secondary literature keeps needing: the speeds are 1/40 and 1/200, not 1/30 and 1/250. The instruction manuals say so, and camera-wiki’s editors went back to them. The rest of what reviewers report is the same for every badge — it works, it is small, the frames pair up into diptychs on the strip, and there is nothing to decide, which is either the point or the complaint depending on who is writing.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the Olympus Pen EE
Olympus Pen EE-2: the selenium ring around the lens — Jastrow, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Sample photo taken with the Olympus Pen EE
Pen EE-2, top plate — Banffy, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Olympus Pen EE? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $97 across 202 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $75–$120). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 3 days: unchanged from $97.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$97$75–$120202
2026-09-08$97$75–$120202
2026-09-06$97$75–$120202

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Related: Olympus Pen · Olympus Pen D · Olympus Pen F · Olympus Pen W

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.