Olympus Flex

The Olympus Flex is a series of 6×6 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 and Olympus corporate site. 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.

There is some confusion around the Olympus Flex BII, released the same year. Francesch (and also John Foster at Biofos) says it was a variant with a 75/3.5 taking lens. Other sources, including E. Suzuki's page and the chronology at Olympus corporate site, say that it was just a variant of the B with flash sync changed from F to X, and a new type of sync plug. In the pictures shown as a BII, the lens is f:3.5, so the version by Francesch is the most probable. There are other doubtful points in the Olympus chronology, concerning the Olympus folders.

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

• 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 459–61 and 1166–7. (See also the advertisement for item 446.)
• 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. Pp.32–4 and 72–6.
• 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.79, 85 and 87.
• Matsuzaki Sōichirō (松崎惣一郎). "'Orinpasu kurōmu shikkusu' to sono koto domo" (「オリンパスクロームシックス」とその周辺のことども, "About the 'Olympus Chrome Six'"). 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.76, June 2005. ISBN 4-257-13078-4. Kurashikku kamera katachi to kinō 'supuringu kamera hen' (クラシックカメラ形と機能「スプリングカメラ編」, special issue on spring cameras). Pp.28–31. (The author worked for the Olympus company from July 1949.)
• 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.748–9.
• 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 2202–5.
• Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.30.

Links

In English:

• Olympus Flex page at the tlr-cameras.com website
• Olympus TLR page at the Biofos site by John Foster
• Olympus Flex page at medfmt

In Japanese:

• Olympus Flex page by E. Suzuki at the Olympus Photo Club website
• The Olympus corporate history site, with:
  • the medium format camera page
  • the chronology
• Olympus Flex A3.5 and Olympus Flex specifications at Japan Family Camera
• Olympus Flex A3.5 repair page at the Takasaki Motohiro's camera site
• Olympus Flex I and Olympus Flex A 2.8 at TLR Milestone
• Olympus Flex in the classic camera section of Shintake Shashinkan
• Olympus Flex: first post and second post at this blog
• Advertisement for the Olympus Flex published in 1954, reproduced in a page of Japanese postwar advertisements at the Shashin-Bako website