Olympic

The Olympic are Japanese bakelite cameras made before World War II. They were distributed from 1934 by Asahi Bussan and from 1938 by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō. It seems that they were made by a company called Olympic Camera before 1937 and by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō after that date (a company that is unrelated to the predecessor of Pentax).

This article deals with the 3×4cm and 4×4cm models using 127 film: see also the 24×36mm Super Olympic, the 4.5×6cm Semi Olympic and the 4×6.5cm Vest Olympic and Regal Olympic.

The Olympic A, B and Junior

General description

The Olympic A, B and Junior take 3×4 pictures on 127 film and share the same rounded bakelite body. There is a bakelite helical supporting the lens and shutter assembly and driven by a bakelite ring. This helical is used both to collapse or extend the lens and to focus the camera: there is a small distance scale on the right of the ring (as seen from the front). The advance knob is at the top right (as seen by a photographer holding the camera) and the viewfinder is in the middle of the top plate. The back is hinged to the right and has two uncovered red windows. The back is opened by pushing a button placed at the left end of the body.

The Olympic A

The first model was the Olympic A. Introduced in 1934, it was certainly the first Japanese camera made of bakelite. It seems to be a copy of the Rubette or Baby Ruby by the German company Ruberg & Renner.

The Olympic A has a folding frame finder and a concave advance knob with a hexagonal nut in the middle. The shutter housing is octogonal and the shutter only has time and instant settings. The shutter plate is inscribed Olympic and probably MADE IN JAPAN at the top. There are only two aperture settings: SMALL and LARGE.

The camera was advertised under the name "Olympic" in the March 1934 issue of The British Journal of Photography and is one of the very first Japanese cameras that was offered for export. The advertisement says that the lens is a double achromatic f/8.

The Olympic B

The Olympic B, also from 1934, had a 50mm f:6.3 Olynar Special lens, a B, 25-50 shutter and a rigid optical finder, but it still had the same crude focusing system. Both the Olympic A and B were introduced in 1934.

The Olympic Junior

In 1936, the Olympic A was probably replaced by the Olympic Junior, that looked like the Olympic B with a 50mm f/8 Olynar lens and a time & instant shutter.

The Olympic C

The New Olympic C, also from 1936, used the same 3x4 format. It had a Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f:4.5 triplet lens with front cell focusing and a T, B, 150-100-50-25 shutter advertised as "Olympic System". It had a rigid optical viewfinder of a different shape, and different knobs too. Behind the lens and shutter assembly the helical ring was now metallic, marked NEW OLYMPIC MOD.C 3X4CM. On the shutter plate there was marked New Olympic and Pat. No. 194303, and a logo with "A" and "B" mixed in a circle, probably for Asahi Bussan. There was also a plate engraved The Olympic Camera Works on the camera body, near the back opening. The Olympic Junior and the Olympic C were still advertised in 1938.

The New Olympic C also existed in 4×4 format, like the 3×4 version except the finder. There were three red windows in the back because the rollfilm paper was not adapted for 4×4 exposures. It was marked NEW OLYMPIC MOD.C 4X4CM on the helical ring. Shutter speeds were always T, B, 150-100-50-25. Three different shutter plates have been observed:

• marked Olympic Four with AB logo (on a camera with a flush metal part replacing the top right knob)
• marked Olympic Four with AKK logo
• marked New Olympic with AKK logo in a circle, surely for Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō (see for example here at Asacame)

The Olympic Four, taking 4×4 pictures, was almost the same as the New Olympic C 4×4. The knobs differed and the helical ring was now unmarked. The lens was the same Ukas Anastigmat 50/4.5. It has been observed with a shutter plate marked New Olympic with AKK logo (see here at Japan Family Camera) and reversed 25-50-100-150, B, T shutter speeds. At Ricoh's site it is shown with a shutter plate marked Heil and shutter speeds apparently 5-10-25-50-100-150, B, T. According to Ricoh, the lens was renamed Heil Anastigmat at some point. (The names used by Riken, like Adler or Heil, remind sinister times.) A 1940 advertisement, shown at some website and barely readable, seems to list two variants, Olympic Four I and Olympic Four II, at two different prices. A Japanese catalogue, probably from 1942, listed the Olympic Four for ¥37, case in supplement for ¥6.70.

Miscellaneous

Shutters from 1s to 1/250 and lenses with f:3.5 maximal aperture were advertised in the 1938 British Photography Journal Almanac as "available on request". None has been observed since.

An Olympic enlarger model D was also sold, with darkroom equipment and tripods.

Bibliography

• Arimura Katsumi (有村克巳). "Rikō Ryakushi" (リコー略史, Ricoh short history). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 6–7.
• Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Items 41–4 and 47–8. (See also the advertisements for items 46 and 323.)
• The Japanese Historical Camera. 日本の歴史的カメラ (Nihon no rekishiteki kamera). 2nd ed. Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2004. Pp.  18 and 21.
• Template:Kakaku1940
• Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard). P. 43.
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). Pp. 746–7.
• Ricoh Camera no Subete (リコーカメラのすべて, All the Ricoh cameras), issue no. 14 (1 October 1989) of Classic Camera Senka (クラシックカメラ専科). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama.
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Items 3041 and 4057–9.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Rikō kamera no nagare" (リコーカメラの流れ, Evolution of the Ricoh cameras). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 8–11.
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Senzen no kamera 1: Orinpikku" (戦前のカメラ1・オリンピック, Prewar cameras 1: Olympic). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp. 12–16.

Links

In Japanese:

• Pages from the Ricoh corporate site and the Ricoh camera list:
  • Olympic A
  • Olympic B
  • Olympic Junior
  • Olympic C
  • Olympic Four
  • article about the Olympic A–C
• Pages of the Asacame website:
  • Olympic (the first camera pictured is a Baby Chrome, not an Olympic) among the 127 film cameras from A to Z
  • Riken 127 film cameras
• Olympic Four at Japan Family Camera (the back picture mistakenly shows a Vest Olympic)
• Olympic Junior in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
• Prewar Japanese 127 camera page at Nekosan's website, with an Olympic C and an Olympic Four