Olympus Eye 44

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The Olympus Eye Flex was a 4×4 TLR camera with automatic exposure. It was made only at prototype level, in two variants. It was announced a couple of years after the Rolleiflex Baby Grey. The chronology page at the Olympus official website says 1958, but it is not always a reliable source. Other sources, such as the book by Francesch or this page by John Foster, say 1959.

The Eye Flex B had a pair of four element 60/2.8 lenses. It is the best known variant, because one of them is kept at the Olympus collection. On this particular camera, the lenses are marked Olympus D.Zuiko with serial number 100001 for the taking lens and 100002 for the viewing lens. This indicates that they were the two first lenses produced. Maybe this is the first body produced. The finish is chrome and blue, with a grey leatherette. This trend was clearly set by the Baby Grey.

It has an advance lever on the right and a focusing knob on the left. There is a big selenium cell covering the top part of the front panel, and small levers on both sides of the taking lens, to set the aperture and speed. The Eye Flex B had shutter priority automatic exposure, and the aperture scale has a position marked AUTO past the 16 setting. There is a control window above the viewing lens, that probably contains a needle indicating the aperture in manual mode.

The shutter is a Seikosha-S with B, 1–500 speeds in geometric progression and M-X sync selector. The sync post is at the bottom right, opposite the shutter release. The ASA setting is at the bottom of the shutter cover. There is also a guide number scale. There is no accessory shoe on the Eye Flex B pictured on this page at the Map Camera Museum. On one of the pictures in the book by Francesch, it would seem that there is one on the body preserved by Olympus.

The Eye Flex A had two 60/3.5 Zuiko lenses and a Seikosha-SLV shutter to 1/500. Very little is known about it. The only known picture is displayed at John Foster's page. The controls do not appear the same as on the Eye Flex B. Apparently there is only one lever setting, perhaps for the guide number, as on the 1961 Olympus Pen EE. There is no sync post on the front plate, it seems to have moved to the left panel. There is also an accessory shoe on the left panel. The control window above the viewing lens is smaller than on the Eye Flex B. Under close scrutiny, the viewing lens seems to be marked C.Zuiko, it would be a three element lens.

Note: Some sources call it Eye Flex 44 or Eye 44 with or without hyphen. In this page it is called "Eye Flex" because both variants were only marked EYE FLEX and OLYMPUS on the finder hood. Japanese: オリンパスアイフレックス.

Bibliography

• 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. Item 1168.
• Francesch, Dominique and Jean-Paul. Histoire de l'appareil photographique Olympus de 1936 à 1983. Paris: Dessain et Tolra, 1985. ISBN 2-249-27679-X.
• 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). Pp.98–9.
• Orinpasu-ten — oputo-dejitaru-tekunolojī no kiseki (オリンパス展・オプトデジタルテクノロジーの軌跡, Olympus exhibition, the tracks of opto-digital technology). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2005. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.24.
• Shashin Kōgyō no.86, June 1959. "Orinpasu Ai 44 (kashō)" (オリンパス・アイ44[仮称], Olympus Eye 44 [provisional name]). P.594.
• Shirai Tatsuo (白井達男). "Orinpasu Ai 44" (オリンパス・アイ44, Olympus Eye 44). Pp.97–106 of Maboroshi no kamera o otte (幻のカメラを追って, Pursuing phantom cameras). Gendai Kamera Shinsho (現代カメラ新書). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1982. ISBN 4-257-08077-9. (First published in Kamera Rebyū / Camera Review. no.5, May 1980.)
• 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. Item 2206.

Links

In English:

• Pages of the Olympus official history site:
  • Olympus Eye Flex among Olympus medium format cameras (Japanese version)
  • the chronology (Japanese version)
• Olympus TLR page at the Biofos site by John Foster
• Eye Flex in the Olympus company history of the Unofficial Olympus OM Sales Information File

In German:

• Eye Flex A and Eye Flex B at Olypedia

In Japanese:

• Eye Flex and Eye 44 in the history pages of the Olympus Photo Club
• Olympus Eye Flex at the Map Camera Museum