Olympus Flex

The Olympus Flex was a series of 6x6 TLRs made by Olympus, during the great TLR vogue in Japan in the 1950s.

The typology of the Olympus Flex variants usually reproduced in Western reference books is the one in the book by Francesch. A webpage by E. Suzuki at the Olympus Photo Club website gives additional info about the original Olympus Flex I model. It is reproduced in English at the tlr-cameras website. (See links below.)

The Olympus Flex I was first released in 1952. It had two Zuiko 75/2.8 lenses, advance knob and focusing knob both on the right side, two filter bayonets and two wheels for the speed and aperture settings, imitating the Rolleiflex controls. The shutter was a Seikosha-Rapid B-1-400 (#0 size).

The following model is called Olympus Flex BI by Francesch and Olympus Flex B by E.Suzuki. It was released in 1953, with minor changes in the viewing hood.

At some point, there were minor changes in the advance and focus knobs and in the sync post.

The Olympus Flex BII, released the same year, was a variant with a 75/3.5 taking lens (E.Suzuki says 75/2.8, in contradiction with the pictures).

The Olympus Flex A3.5 was released in 1954. It was a simplified model: the setting wheels were replaced by ordinary speed and aperture controls (speed on the left and aperture on the right). The filter bayonets were replaced by screw threads. The A3.5 had two Zuiko 75/3.5 lenses and a Seikosha-Rapid B-1-500 shutter (#00 size).

In 1955, the Olympus Flex A2.8 had wider 75/2.8 viewing and taking lenses, and reintroduced the filter bayonets. The shutter was the same Seikosha-Rapid #0 with 1/400 top speed as the Olympus Flex B, to accomodate the bigger lens. The speed and aperture controls were inverted: speed on the left and aperture on the right.

The last variant, in 1956, was the Olympus Flex A3.5 II, the same as the A3.5 with filter bayonets and a Seikosha-MX #00 B-1-500 shutter with M/X synchro.

Bibliography

• Histoire de l'appareil photographique Olympus de 1936 à 1983, by D. & J.-P. Francesch, ed. Dessain et Tolra

Links

• Olympus Flex page at tlr-cameras.com
• Olympus Flex page by E. Suzuki at the Olympus Photo Club website
• Olympus Flex A3.5 repair at kochi-med.net