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 (オリンピックA型). 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 on one side and seems to have patent numbers on the other.. There are only two aperture settings: SMALL and LARGE.

The Olympic A is one of the very first Japanese cameras that was offered for export. It was advertised under the name "Olympic" in the March 1934 issue of The British Journal of Photography. The advertisement was by F. Charten & Co., based in Kobe and had the mention "Agent wanted". The advertisement says that the lens is a double achromatic f/8. The Olympic A was advertised in Japan in December 1934 for ¥9.75. It was still advertised in August 1936 for the same price along more recent Olympic models.

Surviving examples are pictured in Tanaka, in this page of the Ricoh website and in McKeown.

The Olympic B

The Olympic B (オリンピックB型) has a tubular optical finder and an advance knob with a flat top. The shutter gives B, 25, 50 speeds selected by an index. The shutter plate is inscribed Olympic on one side, PAT. NO. 194303 and sometimes MADE IN JAPAN on the other. The lens is engraved OLYNAR SPECIAL 1:6.3 F=50mm N°xxxxx. The aperture scale is at the bottom of the shutter plate and reads 6.3, 8, 12.5, 16, 25 on some examples and 6.3, 8, 10, 12, 15 on others. It seems that the 6.3 to 15 scale is found on the examples marked as made in Japan, which were perhaps the examples made for export.

The Olympic B was released in 1934, some months after the previous model. It was offered for ¥15 in the December 1934 and August 1936 advertisements cited above. It was also offered for the same price in an advertisement dated March 1937 along with the Super Olympic and Olympic Junior. The Olympic B was still listed for ¥19 in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled in October 1940.

Surviving examples are pictured in Tanaka, in this page of the Ricoh website, in McKeown and in Sugiyama.

The Olympic Junior

The Olympic A was replaced by the Olympic Junior (オリンピックジュニアー) at the very end of 1936. The new model is very similar to the Olympic B but only has B and 25 speed settings and an Olynar 50/8 lens. The shutter plate has a different design and is inscribed OLYMPIC JUNIOR on one side and PAT NO 194303 on the other. The shutter casing is silver instead of black. The lens is engraved OLYNAR 1:8 F=50mm NO. xxxxx and the aperture scale goes from 8 to 24.

The Olympic Junior was offered for ¥8.50 in advertisements dated February and March 1937. It was exported to the United States and advertised by Candid Camera Supply Co. for $5.95 in February 1938. It was also briefly mentioned in an advertisement by Asahi Bussan published at the end of 1937 in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938. The Olympic Junior was still listed for ¥19 in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled in October 1940.

Surviving examples are pictured in Tanaka, in this page of the Ricoh website, in Lewis and in Sugiyama.

The Olympic C

Olympic C.
Picture courtesy of Rick Soloway. (Image rights)

The Olympic C (オリンピックC型) was released in 1936. It has a different bakelite body with angled edges. The lens is front-cell focusing and the bakelite helical is used only to collapse or extend the lens and shutter assembly. The helical is usually driven by a massive metal ring at the base, engraved NEW OLYMPIC MOD. C 3X4CM. (Despite this engraving, the camera was always called Olympic C in the advertisements and the name written on the original box is "Olympic Mod. C".) The knobs and the tubular finder are different from the previous models. The back is hinged to the right and is opened by sliding a button. The name Olympic is moulded in the bakelite at the top of the back and there are two uncovered red windows. There is a nameplate inscribed The Olympic Camera Works next to the back latch.

The shutter plate is inscribed NEW OLYMPIC (in capital letters with larger "N" and "O") at the top and PAT. NO. 194303 at the bottom, with an AB logo for Asahi Bussan on the right. The speed settings are engraved T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25 in that order in the shutter rim. The lens is engraved UKAS Anastigmat 1:4.5 F=50mm Nr xxxxx. On the early examples, the distance numbers are engraved on the front of the lens rim; on later examples the distance scale is on the outer edge of the rim (one such example is pictured in this page).

The Olympic C was offered for ¥24 in the August 1936 advertisement cited above. The advertising picture shows a very early example, perhaps a prototype. It has the same bakelite ring at the base of the helical and the same advance knob as the Olympic A, B and Junior, and it has only T, B, 100, 50, 25 speed settings.

The regular version of the camera, with the older focusing ring, was offered for the same price in February and March 1937 advertisement cited above. It was also offered in an advertisement by Asahi Bussan published at the end of 1937 in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938. (This advertisement also offered T, B, 1–250 shutters and f/3.5 lenses, mentioned as "available on request". None has been observed since on the Olympic C, but a Ukas Anastigmat 50mm f/3.5 lens and a shutter giving T, B, 250, 150, 50, 25 speeds have been observed on a Super Olympic.)

An Olympic C with the later type of focusing ring was pictured in an advertisement by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō dated September 1939. The Olympic C was still listed for ¥32 in the Template:Kakaku1940 short compiled in October 1940.

The 4×4 models

The Olympic Four I

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 II

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

• Advertisement by Asahi Bussan in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, edited by Arthur J. Dalladay, published by Henri Greenwood & Co., Ltd., London. Pp. 694–5. (By its very nature, the 1938 Almanac was published at the end of 1937.)
• 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

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

Original documents

In English:

• Advertisement for the Olympic Junior published in the February 1938 issue of Popular Photography, reproduced in Montanaman1's Flickr stream

In Japanese:

• Advertisements reproduced in the Japanese camera page, the small format camera page and the camera company page of the Gochamaze website:
  • Advertisement for the Olympic A and B published in the 23 December 1934 issue of Sunday Mainichi
  • Advertisements for the Riken range published in the 26 February 1939 and 10 September 1939 issues of Sunday Mainichi
  • Advertisement for the Kinsi I and Olympic Four published in the April 1941 issue of Gakusei no Kagaku