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.

Olympus Flex and Olympus Flex BII

The original model has both the advance knob and the focus knob on the right-hand side. There are two wheels are the front, for speed and aperture settings, imitating the Rolleiflex controls. The shutter is a Seikosha-Rapid (B, 1–400), in #0 size. Both lenses are 7.5cm f/2.8 and have bayonet filter attachments; the taking lens is a six-element F Zuiko F.C. and the viewing lens is a Zuiko F.C.

The camera was released in 1952. At the time, it was merely called Olympus Flex, with no version name, as visible in various original advertisements.

The Olympus Flex was initially released with eye-level focusing ability via a small mirror folding inside the hood. This feature was quickly abandoned because it was infringing a patent by Franke & Heidecke for the Rolleiflex. Other minor modifications occurred during the production of the camera. The ASA bayonet synch post was replaced by a PC socket, and the fine milling pattern on the advance and focus knobs of the earliest cameras was replaced by coarse knurls.

It seems that the original model was renamed Olympus Flex BII only after the release of the Olympus Flex A models (see below), to distinguish it from its less expensive counterparts. Today, the earliest examples — made before most modifications were applied — are called "Olympus Flex I" in retrospect. Some collectors insist on identifying an "Olympus Flex B" or "Olympus Flex BI" with intermediate features, but there is no evidence that this name was actually used by the company during the production of the camera.

At least one example of the Olympus Flex BII was produced with an f/3.5 taking lens and f/2.8 viewing lens. It seems that this camera is currently held by the Olympus company. On the basis of this single camera, some sources have wrongly claimed that the Olympus Flex BII has an f/3.5 lens, but this version was not advertised in Japanese publications and no other example has yet been observed. On the contrary, many advertisements published after It is most probable that this f/3.5 BII was an isolated prototype.

Olympus Flex A

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

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
• Advertisement for the Olympus Flex published in 1954, reproduced in a page of Japanese postwar advertisements at Shashin-Bako